My allegiances and a bit more

this post has a few inspirations. One is obviously Jeff's post about what teams he follows at what level of interest/investment, but another is the NBA playoffs, since that league is the only one in which I don't really have a regular "favorite" team -- at least not since MJ left. Therefore, I recently found myself evaluating where my sports interests lay, and I figured since I talk about them so much, y'all should formally know as well.

Out-of-this-world/life-sustaining:
College Basketball: Carolina.....and a perverse, distorted, and psychotic hatred of dook

Very, Very Important:
NHL: Avalanche......and a perverse antagonism for Detroit
NFL: San Francisco......a perverse antagonism for Dallas and Green Bay; (really respect the Pats while the Niners are sucking)

Important:
College Football: Carolina, Colorado (sex party U)........and a perverse antagonism for Texas (fuck 'em horns!)
all college sports: Carolina

Cursory, why do I follow them (but I do) interest:
MLB: Rockies......and a perverse antagonism for the Yankees
MLS: Rapids

which brings me to the point of this post. The NBA. My favorite team here changes, well, regularly. And that's not a bad, bandwagon thing. I just hate the league, can't watch the games, but still come to respect certain players/teams from afar. And then I "root" for them in the playoffs. But I don't REALLY care who wins. Since the Bulls run ended, I have liked, at different times:

Toronto (with Vince and T-Mac)
Philly (when AI carried them)
Washington (with MJ)
Dallas (with Antawn)
Chicago off-and-on (just 'cause I couldn't turn my back)
and, of course,
Detroit (they are like the Pats of the NBA, everything the right way)

.......and a perverse antagonism fo the Lakers the entire time

This year in particular, I am "rooting" for:

Phoenix: I love the way they play. They are really fun to watch, which is better than I can say for most of the NBA. I think it might because they don't really have a 1-on-1, go-to guy, so there's none of that 20 seconds of dribbling, crossover, pull-up jumper that every other team does.

Denver: hometown kids, and yes, this is bandwagon jumping. They've never been good as long as I've been alive, so give me a break. Plus, I waited until George Karl became the savior, so I had a real reason to like them. And who can neglect the best (and in some senses that means the worst) throwbacks ever?

Chicago: How the hell does this team win? What is there to even like about them? Scott Skiles has done a hell of a job getting a true cast of characters to come together. I hate Duhon (and Deng), but my love for Ben Gordon has always been sky-high (if he had been anywhere as close to as selfish as he should have been at UConn, OMG). Gotta respect Hinrich at the 1/2, and any dude that looks and plays like Nocioni, well I like him just for proving all that is wrong with the NBA. It sounds weird to say, but in a sense, Chicago is a true "throwback to WAY back" team.

Detroit: Rasheed, Larry Brown, sort of Billups (CU), def Prince (how'd he get good?), of course Big Ben, and gotta love Rip. And they play defense, and they play together.

so we'll see how they do. And it'll be fun to pick new favorite teams next year, which goes against all the sanity in my bones (unlike Fischer, I have some). It is certainly a nice change of pace to follow teams in the NBA without my mental health state on the line...