Boston???

I keep talking with Red Sox fans about their team and I find myself becoming - gasp - sympathetic.

As a group, Boston fans are very knowledgeable about the sport in general - maybe a hair tick under Yankee fans, but way up there. And you have to admire their passion. If teams made the playoffs based on their fan base, Boston would be in every year.

I do hope the Sox make the playoffs - but as a Yankee fan I must immediately add that's because I want to see  the Yankees beat them in championships. (Seven games, of course, with a few in extra innings.)

I don't think that meets the criteria of rooting for the Sox, which as a Yankee fan is genetically impossible.

(While I'm on the subject of knowledgeable Bostonians, some props to Kein at Pundit Review Radio, and not just because he liked my book: http://www.punditreview.com/2011/09/jd-091811/ )