I only root for 2 teams...

Since I've told you that I more or less breathe sports, I thought it might be time I actually shared with you who I root for when the seasons change.

To start you'll have to know that I grew up in New Jersey. If you're not from NJ you'd probably assume I root for NY teams. If you're from NJ you'd probably want to know North or South before determining whether I should be a NY or a Philly follower. And if you're from NJ you will most likely forget that there is more than just North or South unless, like me, you grew up in Central NJ. Being from Central NJ provided me with more opportunities to find geographically legitimate sports-fandom than any sports junkie could ever dream of.

Where I grew up, I was 54.51 miles from NYC and 50.99 miles from Philadelphia, virtually equidistant from two professional sports meccas. My high school was relatively equally split between NY and Philly fans in all sports (and yes that includes both NY teams). For me though, "The City" had always been New York, and so I gravitated towards their teams (that and the fact that my family were all NY fans).

I was raised on the Yankees. I'm a fan not because of their 27 World Series rings (though that doesn't hurt), but because my Dad is a Yankees fan, and so is my Grandpa, my Mom, my aunts and my uncles. I didn't stand a chance, I was raised in Pinstripes. And the tradition behind the club, the great players, the stories, and the stadium all stir something in me. (Oddly enough, growing up I also wanted to be the first woman to play baseball in the MLB, but I wanted to play for that other NY team. Must have been the Mets' World Series win in 1986 that still had some buzz in my early years.)

When it comes to football, if you're from NJ again you might guess that since I'm a Yankees fan, I'm also a Giants fan as typically the NY sports pairings are Yankees/Giants and Mets/Jets. If I were anyone else in my family, you'd be right. I am one of a rare breed of NY sports fan who is a Yankees/Jets combination. I grew up with the Giants, but I started experimenting with my loyalties in about the 7th grade when in 1997, after only their 2nd year in the league, the Carolina Panthers made it to the NFC Championship game. After that I was a Panthers fan for a few years, and then the Jets added Chad Pennington to their roster in 2000, and I decided to swing back to the hometown team.

At that age, there were probably a few reasons I chose to return home to the Jets and not the Giants - all very valid I assure you. 1) I had a huge crush on Chad Pennington (I still do for that matter, and when he showed up on the campus I'm working at back in January, I about had a heart attack and squealed like a giddy school girl for a hot second before getting a grip on myself). 2) Green was, and still is, my favorite color. 3) I wanted to rebel a little from the family, and since the Yankees blow the other local teams out of the water, while the Giants, Jets and Eagles are all pretty equal, I chose to switch it up a little on the grid-iron. And so Gang-Green earned themselves a new follower.

As for the rest of professional sports, I don't really follow all that actively. We used to be Rangers fans when we watched hockey, but the lockout in 94-95 that caused a reduced season, also lost us as fans. We found other things to watch, and while I've tried to get back into it, it's only half heartedly, though that may change when I finally get my own apartment and a decent sports package on cable. I suppose if I had to choose a team I'd still be a Rangers fan for old times sake, but I wouldn't count the Devils out either.

I'm not really a fan of the NBA either. I personally don't feel like it's really about the game anymore. Professional basketball is where my loyalties have wandered the most. Back in elementary school I remember floating between the Charlotte Hornets (Yes, I'm old enough to remember when the Hornets were in Charlotte and the Bobcats didn't even exist) because of their colors and the Orlando Magic when Penny Hardaway and Shaq played there. I drifted to the Houston Rockets for a while, while Hakeem Olajuwon was playing and I can't even remember what my reasons for following him as a player were. Of course I ended up back with my hometown NJ Nets in the days of Jason Kidd and Keith VanHorn, and I guess if I had to choose, that's who I'd root for these days (can't call me a front runner on this one). I will say though that I did enjoy watching Denver play when my boy Carmelo was out there, and that leads me to college sports.

My heart for college sports belongs to the Syracuse Orange. While I grew up liking Michigan and Notre Dame (I think it was because they were good back then, but I don't remember), my loyalties now and forever lie with my alma mater. I bleed orange, and I will defend them with every bone in my body. I will soon be an alum of the University of Washington too, and as a result, I'll root for the Huskies as well, but if/when the Orange meet the Huskies (like they did this year on the grid-iron), I will always be rooting for the Orange.

And so, that is the storied history of how I came to cheer for each of my teams. Every season, I root for 2 teams. The Yankees/Jets/Orange, and whoever is beating the Red Sox/Patriots/Georgetown&UConn.

Until next time, I'll be enjoying my life of books, boys, sports and..., and I hope you'll be enjoying whatever it is that makes your life happy.