This is a topic that comes up pretty frequently among my friends. Fellow There’s No “I” in Blog writer Ian once asked me, “You don’t really have an NFL team, do you?” As recently as this weekend, I had to explain why I like the Colts now that I am living in Boston and am frequently faced with fervent Patriots fans. Also, I recently took a nice West Coast vacation over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, which included a trip to the Rose Garden to see the Blazers take on the 76ers and the Q&A session with the Mariners front office Joe wrote about yesterday. All of this got me thinking about my fairly scattered sports loyalties.

Like most sports fans, my fandom has been created by the places I’ve lived. I was born in Hawaii, which, as I’ve said before, is devoid of professional sports. The closest thing to pro sports in Hawaii is the University of Hawaii football team and the Pro Bowl, which is so awesome the NFL had to move it because even the players didn’t want to play in it. So, growing up there, I learned to like players more than anything, and sometimes that turned into liking the teams. It’s because of Randall Cunningham that I still like the Eagles and Vikings. I’m also a Donovan McNabb fan (though I miss his Chunky Soup afro), and Westbrook and the late Jim Johnson’s defenses always kept me hooked on the Iggles. The negative side of the Eagles is their fans. You know there’s a problem with fans that not only boo everyone out of town after an incomplete pass, but also require an in-stadium courthouse. The Vikings aren’t as fun anymore, especially with Brett Favre and his man tears. You can’t respect that. There are countless other situations like this: Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, and Ronnie Lott made me love the 49ers, Elway and then Jake Plummer made me like the Broncos, Thurman Thomas and Andre Reed made the Bills fun (as did their ability to lose a buttload of Super Bowls). Oddly, as much as I liked Bo Jackson, the only time I liked the Raiders was in Tecmo Bowl.

This made me a sort of NFL free agent fan. I loved the game, but hadn’t found the right team yet. Even after I moved to Seattle, the Seahawks never interested me. I refused to be like all the other Seahawks fans who jumped on the bandwagon after they made it to the Super Bowl. Then, while visiting my brother in Indianapolis, he brought me to a Colts game (still the only NFL game I’ve ever been to). I’ve never seen anything like that. From the top row of the 100 level seats, I could hear Peyton Manning clearly while he messed with the defense and called out routes. He had the crowd listening as intently as his receivers. Even though the Colts lost (against the Chargers in week 15 in 2005, their first loss of the season), I’ve been hooked since.

Unlike the Seahawks, I was immediately hooked on the Mariners when I moved to Seattle. I still love the Kingdome and all of its falling-apart goodness, and I went to Safeco Field’s opening game, where I sat as high and far away from the field as possible. Seriously, I was so high I could have pooped on birds. Like every M’s fan, I’ve mimicked Jay Buhner’s batting stance in a game (and struck out), I believe Edgar Martinez should be in the Hall of Fame; I will never forget Griffey under the dogpile; and I will never forgive Bill Bavasi for sucking at his job.

Yes, now that I live in Boston, I have become a Red Sox fan, much to the dismay of some of my family members. As much as I love the Mariners, I love the sports culture here much more than in Seattle, both in the stadium and in the city. Even when the Mariners won 116 games and were selling out the stadium, the place was so quiet you could easily have phone conversations. Sometimes it felt like the people that were there thought they had better things to be doing. That won’t fly in Boston. Fenway is all about the game. On big game days, everyone in Boston is a Sox fan. There’s something electric in the city that I love and that never happened while I was in Seattle. That being said, I’d still root for the Mariners over the Red Sox, and I’m very excited to see former Mariners Mike Cameron (and his kind of sideways hat) and Adrian Beltre (and his right testicle) join the Red Sox in 2010.

Living in Boston has also opened me up to the wonderful world of the NHL. I’ve always liked hockey, and it’s the only sport other than baseball that I get nostalgic about. Unlike baseball, I never played hockey, but like baseball, I watched it on television with my dad. He never seemed to care too much about basketball or football, but he always liked hockey, and I always liked watching it with him, even before we started making fun of the amazing mullets seen on Hockey Night in Canada. Now I own a Byron Bitz t-shirt and a Bruins jersey. I’ve been to a few games this season, and I cheer for Tuukka Rask because he’s good and has a ridiculously badass name. My original hockey allegiance is with the Seattle Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League. When I eventually move to Portland, OR, I will make it my mission to get Portland and Seattle NHL teams (Portland also has a WHL team, the Winterhawks). Both cities are great sports towns and are way more deserving of an NHL team than places like Phoenix and Nashville. I’m pretty sure Portland and Seattle would draw better attendance than those teams.

I also moved to Boston in time to jump on the Celtics bandwagon for their championship season. I was a Sonics fan (and would be in the future, if that ever happens), but by now we’re all aware of how the NBA allowed Oklahoma City to steal the team and give them a stupid name (seriously, the Thunder?). As a Celtics fan, I love Rondo’s alien-like wingspan, his crazy speed, and his ability to find passing lanes that few others can find. Brian Scalabrine also brings an underrated element into each home game. No matter what the score, anytime Scal comes into a game, the crowd goes wild for his curly redhead afro and cheers like nuts any time he touches the ball. How many players can get a crowd that into a game simply by standing up? Oh yeah, those other “Big Three” guys are pretty good too.

The other NBA team I’m a fan of is the Portland Trailblazers. This comes from living in Oregon for a few years. Portland is the city I want to live in, and the city I will hopefully move to in the (hopefully not so) distant future, so there’s that connection. On top of that, I like Greg Oden’s 55-year-old expressionless face and hope for him to get and stay healthy. I think Joel Przybilla’s nickname (Vanilla Gorilla) is one of the best in sports, and love the prospect of watching LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy playing together for a long long time.

And finally, I’ll close out this post by going back to those couple of years I lived in Oregon and attended Oregon State University. That’s right, I am a die-hard Beavers fan. I own more orange clothing than any adult probably should. On the rare occasion I see someone in Boston wearing Ducks green and yellow, part of me wants to yell “GO BEAVERS” at them. I’m not sure this needs a lot of explanation. Pretty much everyone I know, sports fans and non-sports fans alike, maintain a deep-seeded loyalty to their alma mater. Plus, if you’ve ever seen this blog, you’ve probably noticed that I like the Oregon State University Beavers.

*Photo of Squatch courtesy of Funktasm via Creative Commons License