Josh, I would just like to take this moment to deny these vicious rumors that I'm one of the 2 perfect brackets left. Let me assure you, my brackets are toast. Blackened burnt toast that stinks up the whole house.

I think fans can absolutely be passionate about teams for a school they didn't attend. After all, at the heart of every successful program is the ability to create a community around a common purpose and interest. I think it's terrific that people are so enthralled with college sports that they find a value in the enterprise that exceeds college affiliations and geographic boundaries. I was a Buckeye fan long before I was old enough to attend college. Even though I went to Miami (Ohio, which was a college before Florida was a state), I'll root for the Buckeyes for the rest of my life—a fact that drives my Wolverine husband crazy (incidentally, he didn’t go to Michigan either).

I've spent a lot of time pondering this question. When I was just a kid, I wondered whether anything could possibly dampen my love of Syracuse athletics. A dozen years later, the answer is no. I grew up rooting for the Orange because my Dad and sister went there and therefore, everyone in our family rooted for Syracuse. I played Division III baseball and always root for Brandeis, but since we never play Syracuse, there's no conflict of interest. I'm not sure if my allegiances would have changed if I went to a big-time Division I school - I worked at Boston College and while I root for the Eagles, my passion for BC doesn't compare to my first love.

Michigan fans span the world, moreso than the enclave of embedded diehards in the state of Ohio. Luckily, Michigan has two decent DI programs which tends to divide the state into Spartans and Wolverines. OSU only has one rivalry to look forward to - UM superiority vs. Perpetual AP #2. And the UM rivalry extends into hockey, basketball, track, lacrosse, underwater basket weaving etc... many other sports that OSU doesn't really have a presence in. An example - the top team in NCAA DI hockey is Michigan. I guess I can give Fencing to OSU, as I realize they won it last year. But what else besides men's football to Loyalists to the Nut hang their hat on? Do budding rivalries in the SEC (LSU, Florida) hold a candle to years of hostility and history?

I didn't attend UM, but I grew up watching it, along with the MSU games. Traveling all over the US, going to college elsewhere, it didn't matter, and I could never replicate the loyalty I have for the school I never attended but continually rooted for. Being far older and less wiser, I can appreciate other schools, like my alma mater, and will root for them if they're playing, but appreciating them is far different than being devoted to it. So like a true rival, order of fandom goes -

1. UM
2. Anyone playing OSU
3. Alma Mater
4. Big Ten schools not OSU
5. Underdogs/Cinderellas

Most of the time,if someone is a diehard fan of a school they didn't attend, it's because they also didn't attend another major university. People who are alums of one of the BCS schools pretty much bleed for that school.

I would tend to agree, JM, but I throw this back at you. If someone grows up as a diehard for a major program, then attends a different major program as an undergrad, who does he/she root for when the two teams meet? Can the alma mater boot the long love?

Josh I would say yes the alma mater can change things. It's almost as a brain washing goes on. A relative of mine grew up in a diehard N. Carolina family. Then low and behold he ended up at Duke Law school. We couldn't hold it against him for getting into one of the top law schools but after the first bball season he was brainwashed after going to the games and getting in the atmosphere where everyone hates the Tarheels. I in fact applied to two rival colleges which I liked both equally well but within a couple of months I wanted nothing to do with the other.