Senior Columnist

They say football fans are born and not made. This is wh

at makes family a rare breed. The seat of our proud family is the urban sprawl of Los Angeles.

For this reason, the Sanchez clan swears fealty to the Dodgers and Lakers. However, our loyalties are scattered throughout the realm of football: America’s premier pastime.

The Raiders left town before I could come to the realization of how great sports are, so I never grew to appreciate what football was to the Southland. Traces of their allegiance still lingers in my uncle and his family. Others don’t care about football or are 49ers fans. Gross, huh?

Sorry, Rams. No one cares about you, because you’re awful.

Don’t get me wrong. The NFL is horrible. Roger Goodell performs his job with incompetency and dimwitted verve the likes of which are regularly displayed in Congress. Punishment is doled out like a child with a firehose, and the sport itself will kill its players in time.

Regardless, the feeling of affiliation is what makes us human. Being part of a group is engrained in our very nature. Every year that the NFL doesn’t have a team in my general area, it deprives me of my right to follow basic human instinct. I’ve got a case in court, right?

I get really excited when I see stadium plans for the L.A. area. I don’t even care if they’re just prototypes. The Chargers-Raiders shared stadium, complete with Al Davis Eternal Flame and lightning rod was just the thing for the casual fan like me.

If I had to choose a team now, I’d choose to be a Raiders fan in a heartbeat. The history is already there and the ties are stronger in my family than any other team. I also refuse to be a 49ers fan. They’re more annoying than their rival Seahawks fans. Wait.

Never mind.

The War of Five Kings may be over in Westeros, but football is coming, and The War of 32 Teams rages on in my head. And in my wallet.

Seriously. I’m a young Hispanic male. I’m economically and politically the most sought-after demographic right now. Wait a minute…

This may be my ego talking, but maybe the NFL needs to bow the knee to me, Lord Nate of the House Sanchez.