ESPN

When we asked SportsNation to explain the origins of their affections for their favorite NFL team, hundreds of people responded.

The biggest point of contention came from people who believe that choosing a franchise, rather than knowing who you should follow from birth, is somehow a lesser form of fandom.

The Gun Young provided the most basic reconciliation of both sides.

"Most people become fans because of family tradition, because of where they are from or because of certain players they are enthralled with," he wrote. "So if you consider that fans move a lot in our mobile society, and players switch teams a lot, I think it is OK to switch allegiance given certain circumstances. However every serious fan hates bandwagon fans who switch teams repeatedly."

Larenmr, went a step further, outlining these rules:

• 1. Where you grew up.
• 2. Where you lived when you became a fan.
• 3. Family history.
• 4. An expansion team is added to your town. Be careful, though. What do you do when they play your original favorite?
• 5. If none of the above apply, you can pick whatever team for whatever reason (cool uniform, winning team, etc.). However, when the situation changes, you may not change allegiances.
• 6. Unless you grew up or live in their home city, you may not, under any circumstances, root for the Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs, Celtics, Lakers or Cowboys.
• 7. College is much simpler: undergrad Alma Mater > grad school > local school growing up > current local school.

Today, Page 2 features the best stories.

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My dad has always had sporting events showing on the TV. This included Bucs games every Sunday during football season. Dad taught me that the team we wanted to win was the one wearing orange (yeah I'm showing my age here).

” -- the_sports_gossip

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One of my first memories as a kid was watching Bernie Kosar play. He was just so unique and smart. He had the long mullet cut, the crazy side-arm delivery. He was noticeably unathletic (even to a 6 year old). How could you not like him? Much to the chagrin of my dad (Bengals fan) and mom (Bears) fan, I spurned both their teams and became a lifelong Browns fan.

” -- atliens81

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As the baby sister to four older brothers there was no getting around following sports. My all-time favorite thing to do was irritate the crap out of my brother who was one year older than me. He loved the Cowboys and hated the Steelers. Therefore I had to love the Steelers. Irritating Little Sister Law pretty much demanded it.

” -- tikanique