Choose your blue

With the pending State/ECU football game this weekend, I'm reminded of a conversation I had once with a friend of mine. He made the observation that there seems to be an unusually high amount of Pirates fans in the Raleigh area. After that I found myself noticing the little Pirates on people's vehicles more often and it does seem that, for a school that is not actually IN Raleigh, there is a pretty decent amount of ECU fans here. Some may claim that ECU fans are an entirely different breed anyway but that's beside the point.

My question is, are there "rules" to dictate your sports loyalties? I dated a guy once that would constantly get into an argument with me about being a UNC fan (which in itself isn't that odd since I do live in NC and collegiate loyalties run very deep and very serious). He went to NC State and ligitimately thought that I was not a true UNC fan because 1- I didn't go there or possess any other real claim to the school and 2- my allegiance should first and foremost lie with State, my hometown college. Clearly he never won this fight since I am still a UNC fan and continue to be neutral towards State. He also felt that it was a tremendous slam against me whenever he brought up the fact that my college (BYU-Idaho) didn't even have an intercollegiate sports program.

This particular past fella of mine had numerous teams that he claimed allegiance, not just the school(s) he attended, but also the universities of his parents (undergrad and graduate), teams from their hometowns, and the teams he'd started following as a kid just for the heck of it.

As one that has been following sports pretty regularly the majority of my life, I recognize the importance of choosing YOUR team. I have heard various opinions and arguments on this topic, not just from this guy. I have also seen criticisms when one who claims to be a "true" fan of a team meets someone that shares a love for that same team but, according to them, for the wrong reasons. (Ican understand this somewhat since I claim to be able to call out those that aren't "true" DMB or Harry Potter fans).

With the varying opinions on criteria for "true" team allegiance in mind, these are some of the teams that I should be "allowed" to be a fan of:

1. Temple (my dad went there - though only briefly)
2. All Philly teams (my mama's hometown)
3. Various Arizona teams (I was born there)
4. Carolina Panthers (obviously)
5. Carolina Hurricanes (we have a hockey team?)
6. NC State Wolfpack (as before mentioned)
7. BYU Cougars (because I'm Mormon and that's what we do)
8. BYU-Idaho (my alma mater)
9. Meredith College (my other alma mater, kind of... *bonus points for anyone that can name their mascot*)
10. Bruce Springstein (I know this isn't a team but there really isn't anything else of note to come out of New Jersey, except maybe Bon Jovi)

From this list, I only really claim to care about a few of them. So what do you think? I know there really isn't a set rule for determining what teams you should be allowed to follow, but as a fan of many sports, I have often encountered this topic. Also, since I am a woman and when it comes to sports I am already by default swimming against the current of knowledge, I am aware that I am more subject to sports-related criticism. I would hate to add to that genetic handicap by misstepping and choosing the "wrong" team...