Why support the teams you do...

[fiasco!]

... (and it's a sin to root anything Cleveland) ...

preach on, brother.

worst.

city.

ever.

[rmackman]

Miami Dolphins, Miami Heat, Florida Panthers, Florida Marlins, and back in the day the Miami Fusion - I live in Ft. Lauderdale and have grown up with these teams.

Milwaukee Brewers, Milwaukee Bucks, Green Bay Packers - My whole family is from Milwaukee. I spend a month every year up there and go to games. The first basebal game I ever went to was a 1989 Brewers vs. White Sox game at Milwaukee County Stadium with my older cousin.

Florida Gators - My kid brother and I went to school at the University of Florida

Wisconsin Badgers - Everyone else in the family are three generation Badgers

Pittsburgh Penguins - Before we had the Panthers I was a Mario Lemieux and Tom Barasso fan.

I don't consider myself a fan of the teams in the Bay Area, but I was born in Palo Alto, CA so if all of my teams are knocked out of the playoffs and there's a Bay Area team in it...I'll side with them. Key word is side with them...not really root.

[mjrbaseball]

I saw my first major league game in the summer of 1967 - KC Athletics at NY Yankees (doubleheader) ... Mickey Mantle had a monster home run in game #1, and a bunch of hits and RBIs in game #2. ... That was enough to hook me.

I don't much care for football, but if pressed, I will pull for the Packers, just because of the cool uniforms and logo. (Yes, I'm serious.)

I don't pay attention at all to the NBA (it's boring), and I don't really have a favorite in the NHL (not that it matters now).

College: I root for Penn because I went there for a year, and I follow all the Ivy League teams in football and basketball. Also, I back Rutgers because my college roommate's father went there, and my roommate has season tickets and sometimes takes me. (He's my roommate from King's, not Penn.)

Oh, in Premiership British Football ... My team is Tottenham Hotspur. That comes from a book I read many many years ago (84, Charing Cross Road) where one of the main characters is a "Spurs" fan. (He carries on a correspondence with an American woman who is devoted to the Brooklyn Dodgers.)

[See Red]

On top of the teams I already explained why I like -- I have a new team to add to the list.

Golden State Warriors - While at the NBA Jam Session (which we attended for free) here in Denver, Colorado, we were watching the NBA Legends shoot around at a court they have set up in the Denver Convention Center. They were also giving away free stuff. As the mascot of the Golden State Warriors, Thunder, walked by, we got his attention and asked if he could hook us up with tickets, and showed him the lady who had them all. Well, after grabbing tickets, and pretending like he was looking for someone to give them to, he turned and handed them to us. So therefore, I'm a fan because of their mascot. If not for him, I wouldn't be attending the Rookie Challenge ($45 per ticket for the ones he gave us) for free.

[WelshSteeler]

Football(Soccer)-Newport County-hometown team

(Premiership) Manchester City-had the kit for Christmas aged 9

(SPL)-Celtic-I'm Welsh/Irish

NFL-Pittsburgh Steelers-When the NFL came to UK TV the Steelers appealed as

1)Newport is (was) a steel town

2)The colours Black & Gold were close to Newport sporting colours Black & Amber

MLB-Pirates-stick with the 'Burgh!

NHL-Penguins-asabove

Aussie Rules-Essendon-During the 80's when I first watched it they seemed the only team to have a go at Hawthorn (hated Platten and Dipierdomenico!).

[Pat]

Green Bay Packers:The king of my world. Actually nothing even comes close. I live for them. Its because when I was little, my dad is a diehard Lions fan. Id naturally root against him. So i rooted against him suring a GB game, they became real good and i havent left them since i was a wee tot. So I totally disagree that you have to cheer for the team colsest to your area. No way. Theyll always be #1 for any team in any sport ever, no matter what.

Toronto Blue Jays:Canadian team, went to a lot of games. Theyre #2 in my books.

Toronto Raptors:same as above, tho not that into them.

All Canadian NHL teams, no preference really: Its a Canadian game. We should be kicking ass at it.

[CubsFanBudMan]

I've told some of these stories in various places on this board, so forgive me if I bore you with the repeat:

Chicago Cubs -- No. 1 on my list of all teams. WGN and a great uncle I spent a lot of time with as a kid were probably the biggest factors. He listened to every game on the radio. My hometown of Rock Island, Ill., also was across the river from the Quad-City Cubs Midwest League single A team from 1979-1984, right around the time I was really getting into baseball. When I was real young, I got upset when WGN preempted my cartoons with Cubs games, then it all clicked one year and I couldn't wait to watch. Grew up in a Cardinals household, and started making annual summer trips to Busch in 1983 to see the Cubs-Cards series. Parents gave in and took me out of school for a day to go to Wrigley in Sept. 1984 because the Cubs were doing so well. Took the strike hard and it was a while before I completely got back into baseball (well, in August 1996 I finally went back to Wrigley), but that great uncle died in 1994 and I always thought it was appropriate somehow that baseball didn't complete the season without one of its biggest fans around. After many travels around the country, I finally moved to Chicago and now I'm a season ticket holder since 2004. I hope to see a World Series title in my lifetime -- just one. My uncle was alive but too young to remember 1907-08.

Dallas Cowboys -- Same uncle bought all of my cousins football helmets in 1980. My brother picked the Bears, but I wanted something different from him. So I looked at all the pictures in the JCPenney Christmas catalog and liked the one with the star the best, so I took the Cowboys. Been a fan ever since and added a lot of memorabilia, but I still have that helmet. Didn't know a thing about the team. Just liked the star. Got to see them get beat by the Bears in Chicago on a Monday night in 1996 and got to see them get beat by the Jaguars in 2000 in Dallas. Probably shouldn't attend any more games. Otherwise, being a Cowboys fan has worked out OK.

Chicago Bulls -- Basically got into basketball late, mainly because I didn't play right off the bat as a kid like I did baseball, but picked the Bulls because they were the Chicago team, closest to my hometown. Never went to see a game in person before Jordan retired the first time. Swore I'd go as much as I could when he came back. Saw him play an exhibition in my hometown, and my first game in Chicago wasn't until Game 2 of the 1996 Finals vs. Seattle. Went back to Game 2 of the Finals the next season, as well as a couple of regular season games and an Eastern Conference Finals game, too. Also worked out OK overall.

Los Angeles Avengers (Arena Football) and Quad-City Steamwheelers (af2) -- Both teams debuted in 2000, and I moved to L.A. before the season. I had anxiously awaited the arrival of Arenaball to the QC, and had already bought season tickets. Came back for several games and had season tix to the Avengers, too. Crazy summer. Don't follow the sport as closely as I did in 2000 and 2001, but still try to get to one Chicago Rush game a year. What can I say? I like Arena Football.

Florida Panthers -- Moved to Fort Lauderdale in 2002, so this is a 'home team' pick along the lines of the Avengers above. Never went to an NHL game before, not sure why, but a lot of my co-workers were big hockey fans from the northeast (none Panther fans). They said I had to pick a hockey team, so I took the Panthers to be different, but during my two years there I probably saw 10 games or so, and really enjoyed seeing the game in person. So I've kept the Panthers as my team even after I moved to Chicago.

So I've taken a team from each of my homes as my tastes in sports have changed (or expanded, I guess -- baseball's pretty much always been No. 1). Sorry if all that is too much information.