I have lived in New England all my life, and one would think that I would like the New England teams. Well, that would actually be wrong. As far as my team preferences go, I am all over the map. I wanted to be different in certain respects.

Now, I said I grew in New England, so that would mean I like the Boston teams (Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics, and Bruins), right? The only issue is that I grew up in Connecticut, the redheaded stepchild of the region. I live roughly two hours from New York, so that opens the New York market to me as well.

But liking those teams would have been going with the crowd as well. I needed to find teams people in this area wouldn't think about. So here are my teams with the reasons liking them.

Major League Baseball: San Francisco Giants

I grew up at a minor league baseball park, and at the time I was really getting into baseball, the team that played there was affiliated with San Francisco. I watched the farm hands for them develop. If they had remained affiliated with the Yankees, I may have been rooting for the Bombers.

Oh, and Barry Bonds's 73 homers certainly got me to like them, steroids be damned.

National Football League: Miami Dolphins

It's tough being in college in Pats Nation, especially as a fan of a divisional opponent. That is the case with liking the Dolphins. But how did it come to that? Both my parents are Dolphins fans, and I grew up with stories of Dan Marino. So you better believe my kids will be hearing stories of Zach Thomas, Jason Taylor, and Ricky Williams.

National Basketball Association: Boston Celtics

Okay, I know must people around here that follow basketball like the Celtics, so this seems like a "going with the flow" pick here. But would you believe that I was a fan of the Timberwolves before that? Yep, and I can give you two letters to explain this: KG.

National Hockey League: New Jersey Devils

Much like my liking of the Celtics because of the fact that they had Kevin Garnett, the main reason for me getting into the Devils was goaltender Martin Brodeur. Most of my experience of watching came from NESN, so the Devils were not on all the time, but when they were, my eye's were fixed on Brodeur and his graceful play between the pipes.

It's okay to like teams that are outside of your area. In this day and age, with how many technological advances we have made, between radio, television, and online streaming, it is now easy to follow those teams. Just don't be surprised to have to explain why you like them, as I have countless times over the years