Should the NFL have a team in Los Angeles? Yes.

This is courtesy of Sports Illustrated.com
By Arash Markazi

Blame it on peer pressure or simple ignorance, but if you had asked me eight years ago what I thought about not having the NFL in Los Angeles I would have shrugged my shoulders and said, "Who cares?" That's basically what I did to Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke when he came to my high school and asked our fourth-period U.S. History class what we thought about a NFL-less L.A.

"It's really great being able to watch good games on Sunday, instead of always having to watch the Rams and the Raiders," I said.

Nice answer, kiddo, but a little too simplistic.

A decade has passed and a new generation of NFL fans is growing up in L.A. without a team of its own. Sure fans can watch the games on TV, but they aren't driving to the Big A or the Coliseum to watch the Rams or the Raiders. Some of the greatest memories I had growing up in L.A. were going to Raiders games with my dad and watching Marcus Allen and Bo Jackson run over helpless defenders. It's not that L.A. doesn't love football -- look at the attendance when the Raiders and Rams were contenders and the area's TV ratings last year -- it just doesn't support losing teams with crazy owners who constantly threaten to leave.

Los Angeles doesn't need the NFL, and the NFL doesn't need Los Angeles, but it's ridiculous the two have been apart for a decade. It's inexcusable that a region with two teams in every major sport doesn't have one team from the nation's most popular league. Angelenos may be laid back, but don't mistake our cool demeanor for apathy. Deep down, we want to be sunbathing in a new stadium watching our new team play the Patriots or the Eagles on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. So just build it NFL; trust me, we'll come.

Nice answer. I do not know if I buy it, though. That town belongs to the USC Trojans, Dodgers and Lakers. The rest just kind of exist and the NFL's blackout rules leave real NFL hometown fans out in the dark.