Well I had to get to this eventually so better now than later.

NFL – Oakland Raiders – I grew up early on in Denver, and my father is a huge Broncos fan. To be contrary when I was around 5 years old I picked the Oakland Raiders as my team and it came in handy when my parents later divorced and I had a severe dislike for my father. It was almost salt in the wound in my eyes in that regard.

NBA – Detroit Pistons – I appreciate defensive effort, as a kid growing up I preferred playing defensive positions to offensive ones because it was a bigger challenge to prevent someone from reaching their goal than to do it myself. Because of that I left my basketball sabbatical in the late 90s and embraced the team that was local to me at the time. Ironically as a small child I was a big Denver Nuggets fan back in the Alex English era coached by Doug Moe…a team that didn’t know what defense meant.

NHL – Detroit Red Wings – I followed hockey a little bit growing up, but I wasn’t always in ‘hockey hungry’ areas. I met quite a few of the Wings players however in my early occupation days in the Detroit Metro area, and for the most part they were very likable guys. I went to a few games and got hooked. Who knows how things may have turned out if I’d grown up here instead of being a transplant in my 20s.

MLB – I’ve been a Chicago White Sox fan since the early 80s. The primary reason is when we lived in Denver we went to Denver Bears games (the Bears were the Expos AAA Franchise), and my favorite player then was Tony Bernazard. Around the time of my parents divorce, Tony went from the Expos to the White Sox, and I liked the uniforms (except for the tacky softball ones they tried out..damn you Bill Veeck) so I stuck with them even when he was traded away during the 1983 playoff run. (And yes, I still think you choked Tony LaRussa).

College – University of Oklahoma….I was a fan of the football team since I was a small kid in Denver in the late 70s watching Billy Sims run rampant, and I had my dreams of playing for OU when I got old enough. Things didn’t work out the way I would have liked, but I did get to attend OU so I’ve got that for me. Also in relation to pro sports, I tend to pull for OU Alumni in their pro sports, just a little less when they are playing against my favorite teams.

Soccer – This is probably the most ironic of choices..I follow Newcastle United and Barcelona with equal fervor. The thing that got me hooked was a Champions League match between the two sides in 1997 when Faustino Asprilla scored a hat trick and the Toon won 3-2 over the Blaugrana at St. James Park. I have high hopes every season with the Toon, and expect a high level of play from the Blaugrana every season. Both teams didn’t meet expectations this season (2007-08), but there’s always next year.