A younger RandBall would never have conceived of rooting for either the Chicago Blackhawks (former rival of the old North Stars) or the Boston Celtics (doesn't that city always steal Minnesota's best players?). But perhaps it's a sign of maturity, personal growth or some other such nonsense that we can now cast aside those petty things and -- when no clear-cut choice like a Minnesota team is in the mix, which is often -- watch a championship series and adopt a team based solely on a style of play preference.

As such, this year's NHL and NBA finals have led us to the clear conclusion that we prefer Chicago (woo hoo! Cup champs! Weak goal!) and Boston. And it doesn't even seem to matter now that the uniforms worn by the participants have symbolized, at various times, an intense disliking.

Is there something wrong with us? Granted, we could never envision taking it to the ultra-extreme and rooting for the Packers in the Super Bowl (even though we like Aaron Rodgers the more we see/hear of him, which is really [redacted] annoying). Do you find yourself in the same position as us as your fan experience matures (read: as you get OLD and lose your EDGE)? Or are you just as passionate about holding onto petty laundry-based grudges as always?

(Photo note: We originally did an image search for "root," which produced this photo. We did not use that photo).