First of all, I'm 39 years old and live on a small island in the middle of the Pacific called Oahu. And in a fairly busy city called Honolulu. It's a unique situation being a sports fan from Hawaii, since we don't have any professional teams of our own. Most locals follow the University of Hawaii's various teams and I do too. Especially since I live about an 8 minute walk away from the campus. But more times than not, UH teams do not get much respect due to the conference affiliations or sometimes lack of success of the teams. Whether this is fair or not, it is what it is. Most critics fail to realize that UH wouldn't be accepted into any other conference due to the geographical challenges of being all the way out here. But that's another story...

As I mentioned earlier Hawaii doesn't have a Pro team of it's own so many here will choose teams on the west coast. This never made much sense to me as I don't see the difference in being 2,500 miles away from your team versus 3,500 miles. There's still a whole ocean to cross to see a game.

I took a different route. When I was 7 years old(1976) all I heard about was this great football team with a tough-as-nails defense called the steel curtain. Needless to say I was hooked from the first game I watched. Looking back I never regretted that choice I made when I was little. There's something really appealing to me about the way the Steelers do business. It just exudes "old school" and everything that that implies. They may not be the flashiest team or the sexiest team, but they'll knock you down and punch you in the mouth if you don't have your head on a swivel!

The Braves are a different story. I never got into watching baseball although I played a little as a kid. But in 1995 I decided to watch the World Series between the Indians and the Braves and I fell in love with the Braves. They too weren't the flashiest of teams. They didn't hit a ton of home runs or wow you with high scoring games. They won with great pitching, good defense and timely hitting. I also noticed this young switch hitting shortstop that had a ton of potential. He ended up tearing his knee but I kept on following his career and he soon became my favorite player. The team later moved him to 3rd base and I think most of you could guess I'm referring to one Larry Wayne Jones or as he likes to be called "Chipper". But besides all of that they were also the only team I could watch consistantly here because of TBS.

I have followed both of my teams since and both have rewarded my loyalty with unforgettable moments.

Before I die or get too old to care, my one dream is to fly over the ocean and watch a game live of either or both of my favorite teams. I have family in Cali so maybe an away game. Hey, maybe that's why locals here choose west coast teams! Ahh, now it makes sense...