Though I have lived in the Twin Cities now for almost 40 years, I did live in a number of places before that: Northern California, Eastern Washington, Western Montana, Western Minnesota, Chicago, Houston, and Saginaw, Michigan.

Beginning when I was 21 and first moved to Chicago, I picked up the habit of rooting for local teams. So when I lived in Chicago I went to Cubs, White Sox, and Bears games and rooted for them. When I lived in Houston, I went to Astros games and rooted for them. Likewise when I was in Saginaw, Michigan, I followed the Detroit Tigers, the Detroit Lions as well as the University of Michigan Wolverines and went to their games.

When I moved then to Minnesota in 1986, I naturally started following the Twins, Vikings, and the University of Minnesota Gophers. I went to games, watched games on television, and listened to games on the radio.

Adult fandom is different than childhood fandom. As a 10-12 year-old I would sometimes actually cry when my team the Oakland Raiders lost. As an adult I just shrug-off such defeats by the Twins or Vikings. My fandom is one of convenience more than anything else.

It is for that reason that I do not consider myself truly a fan of any team anymore (except maybe the Gopher Women’s Basketball Team and Fulham FC). When you get right down to it, I am probably more a fan of the game of baseball in general and of Sunday afternoon football games than I am of the Twins and Vikings.

I am also, as my wife Sue would point out, hardwired to root for losers. I almost always root for whatever team or athlete is considered the underdog in a particular game. That is why this year besides following the Twins, I am watching a lot of White Sox games, along with my boyhood teams, the Oakland Athletics and the Mets.

What rooting for the Twins, Sox, A’s, and Mets has meant this year so far is that I have a lot of days when I will say to Sue, “all my teams lost today.” Lately though, since the Mets have been playing better, I have had more days when I have been able to say, “half my teams won today,” or on those rarest of day, “all my teams won today.”

Those are best days because they are unexpected. My step is lighter, my faith in the future of humanity is greater, and the day just seems brighter.

Being a fan of underdogs has rewards well worth the pain. They are the kind of rewards bandwagon fans will never understand. Any weak-willed wimp can be a fan of the Yankees. But it takes a real tough person to be a Mets fan.