[EvilSmurf]

I'll be honest, I have no geographic connection to any team I love in what you Americans call major sports, I'm Australian.

But I root for the Cowboys in the NFL, I was a huge Emmitt Smith fan, and I still root for the team. I loved them when they were winning superbowls, and I loved them when they were going 5-11. You have no idea how much i would have payed to put a contract on the heads of Jose Cortez and Billy Cundiff this season for example.

I root for the Avalanche in the NHL, because I was a Quebec fan when they were the nords, because I owned NHL 94 and thought Nordiques was a really cool name. I still support the franchise when they moved to Colorado, and I still watch them at every oppurtunity.

I root for Kentucky in college basketball (blame my wife, she's a huge Kentucky fan).

I root for Manchester City in European Soccer (well, the EPL, they've only been in Europe once in a fair while) because when I first got into soccer Manchester City were selling out a 35,000 seat stadium while in English football's 3rd highest division (imagine a class AA baseball team doing that), and I have had a lot of ups and downs (trust me, when you're a City fan you have to get used to ups and downs). Again, if I could turn back time, Robbie Fowler's penalty would have gone in.

Thing is, I love and support these teams as much as any fan who was born in the area (except Kentucky, really, that's the wife's thing).

As to the second part of the question, you can definatley support the club while not supporting the current ownership, think of it as standing up when the president enters the room, even though you don't like Bush43 or whoever the next President is going to be. For example, I think Colorado made a huge mistake in trading for Jose Theodore, but I will still support Jose for as long as he wears the shirt. Just like I supported Steve McManaman while he was playing for Manchester City, even if John Wardle and Kevin Keegan really screwed the pooch making that deal.