Sports Teams I've Followed

1. NY Yankees: This got me a lot of grief when attending school in Massachusetts, but it really was more of an rebellion against my Mets-fan parents than anything against the Red Sox. Plus, how could you not love someone as hardworking as Hideki Matsui?

2. NY Liberty: Oh, the glory days with Rebecca Lobo (who kept getting injured so never really played), Sue Wicks (openly gay! and from Long Island!) and the Witherspoon/Weatherspoon duo.

3. Washington Nationals: Unlike #1, nobody hates you for being a Nationals fan. They just get this confused, pitying expression. But I think Nationals Stadium is one of the best places to see a baseball game: the Racing Presidents, a Capitol view (if you crane your neck), easy Metro access, movies and fireworks after the game, bobbleheads, veggie chili-cheese fries from Ben's chili bowl, a musical selection that inexplicably favors Hava Nagila, and soft-serv in those plastic baseball caps. With all this, who cares that they've lost approximately 80% of the games I've attended?

4. Michigan Wolverines: I don't even really know the rules of football (people have tried to explain it to me. I can keep it in my head for about 45 minutes before I forget). But when people hear that's where I go to school, they like to talk about how the team is doing. And I do like the excitement of game day, and hearing the marching band practice during the week.

5. Davidson Wildcats: My patented NCAA bracket-picking strategy of choosing winners based on whether I know people who attended a given school finally came through for me last year. And the Davidson team just seems so darn nice. I want to bake them all cookies. Davidson's success also compelled some east coast friends to venture to Michigan (it's not easy getting people to visit here--especially when it's still snowing in the midwest and the cherry blossoms are in bloom in DC). I have high hopes that they'll make it to the Final Four this year so everyone has to come back to Detroit.