Cheering for your team in glory is fleeting and tangential at best nothing more than mere sporting pixie dust but hating other teams is the marble slab of being a fan – it’s solid and ever present

Hating sports teams hardly makes one miserable rather its the best way to play the numbers – out of 318 college basketball teams only one will win the championship – that’s 1 out of 318 odds – hating makes those numbers inverse you have 317 teams on your side against 1 wretched bunch – in sports most years no joy is found without bitter bitter hate

Fandom is defined by the teams you love, not by the ones you hate. To live it any other way is to make yourself miserable for no reason.

And as for the perception of Yankee fans as upper-crusty corporate types. God, nothing could be further from the truth. Growing up in NYC, mos of the people I knew who were Yankee fans were school bus drivers and deli counter guys. The Mews were the “suburban” team, with their stadium surrounded by a parking lot in the middle of nowhere. Not that every Met fan is s suburbanite. But my history had the Yankees as the “salt of the city kind of team and the Mets as the more removed, suburban kind of team.

Dodgers blue runs deep in my family. A few of my cousins dated Dodgers players while they played for the Dodgers minor league team in Vero. Pedro Martinez’s wife and daughter were at my grandmother’s funeral (Pedro sent his condolences) last year.

If you’re a true blue Dodgers fan, even one from Brooklyn like my girlfriend, you know oil and water doesn’t mix… neither do Dodgers and Yankees fans. That’s like being a member of the Red Sox Nation and a Yankees fan. It doesn’t work. It doesn’t mix.

The history of animosity between the Dodgers and Yankees goes back decades to the Golden Age of Baseball. Sure, the Yankees have appeared in the most Fall Classics, but the Brooklyn/LA Dodgers, Dem Bums, have appeared in the 2nd most. They have won the third most behind the Cardinals.

Sure, you can respect (or really loathe) the Evil Empire. You can be enthralled with A-Rod’s abilities (when he’s not in another slump), but to actually root for the Yankees is pathetic. You should give up your Dodgers bandwagon membership and just jump ship now.

The hard and fast rule of the World Series is pretty easy to understand. Keep in mind, I HATE the Phillies, but you always root for the team representing your teams league. For you and me, that’s the Dodgers. But, since you’re really a Yankees fan than please do root for them and stop the charade about being a Dodgers fan. The game is over. Your cover has been blown. I wouldn’t be surprised of you were a Mets fan, too.

No Mr. Bond! I expect you to die!!

Although I don’t personally subscribe to points #2, #3, and #5 they are very valid reasons to support the Yankees this series, from your vantage point.

Point #4 confuses me, a lot. The problem with A-Rod is he is just a phony individual. New Yorkers were well aware what transpired in his previous stops and what sort of a person he was. Also, when he first arrived in New York he knew what he was getting himself into and STILL tried to fight the horde when he probably should’ve just kept his mouth completely shut. I don’t want to dive into A-Rod much deeper right now. I’m confused by your leap from fascination with A-Rod to openly rooting for the guy. The animosity shown towards him in New York has always been completely justified. I present exhibit A: http://tiny.cc/rp6Fx

The prosecution rests.

Even though the Phillies are one of the Mets most hated foes, I didn’t have to think twice about which team I’d be supporting one the World Series lineup was set. Also, Raul Ibanez has had to suffer through baseball hell the past 8 years and has finally made it to the series. Here’s to him hitting at least one game-winning HR off of Rivera. Rauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuul!

I’ve mentioned it before, but there’s a new face of fandom as we continue to move around the country with the ability to follow closely any team that we want to. Geography has given way to omniscience.

The open-minded fan–ie. the modern gentleman of the new sports media reality–must face all of the allegiance-builders that you’ve mentioned, Eric. Some are involuntary, others more transparent. Realize the building momentum of numerous life-realities, for example, versus Move to Seattle, become a Mariners fan. It’s a spectrum.

The Free Darko guys have a good point on it, that guilt is less interesting than exploration.

That said, I found myself slightly pulling for the Yankees against the Angels. Not for any of the above reasons, but it’s good to remind myself that just because they’ve won x pennants and y World Series titles doesn’t mean they shouldn’t still have that fire in their bellies. But this point will be somewhat mooted when they play the defending champions. So yeah, I’d like to be drawn to either of the camps, but I don’t expect to.