Over the weekend, I was blatantly rejected the opportunity to watch football in the living room where there is cable, in favor of the appalling Style Channel.

So I did what any other sports fan would do (I hope) and found the game streaming online at some not-so-legit Web site.

The best link I found was a stream from the channel ESPN America, and it was playing the same night game that was playing on NBC!

ESPN America, originally NASN (North American Sports Network), is ESPN for British fans.

This totally made my day, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Streaming sports on the Internet is no doubt frowned upon in our society, but I love it.

The government has recently cracked down on various Web sites that streamed my beloved Raiders when they weren’t on TV because they were stinking up the field.

I just wish they would leave us all alone and let us watch our sports. Okay, so we aren’t paying for the cable that is playing these games, but someone is.

And that sports fan should be able to share his privilege of watching the Raiders with all of us.

There are downsides of streaming sports online, though, and you definitely don’t get what someone paying for HD channels gets.

The picture is almost always pixilated, and the syncing of the audio and video is usually at least half-a-second off.

We sit through all these things because we think we deserve to watch our teams, regardless of the NFL’s dictatorial decisions on which games are aired where.

I feel like, with all the money I’ve spent on NFL-related crap, I deserve to be able to watch my favorite team without having to pay a ridiculous amount of money to Directv.

For the most part, I watch the games on 100-percent-legal cable, so it would be nice if I could find the games online a little bit faster and easier than it currently is at the moment.

I had my Web site that I always went to when that sort of thing happened, but the government shut it down. Now, I’m left scouring the Internet for a decent link.

As in so many aspects of my life, I just want the government to stay out of my sports-watching experience.

Back in February, when the Feds shut down multiple Web sites that were illegally streaming sports, it was carried out by Homeland Security Investigations.

Is streaming sporting events online really a threat to homeland security? I think not.

I just wish they would leave me be in my room while I freely (so be it if it’s illegal) watch my favorite teams on the Internet.

If anyone has a problem with that, they really need to rethink their priorities.

The government should just let me be on my holy Footballdays and let me watch my games for free.

I think the American people, as well as myself, deserve it.