In the middle '70s, on a radio just like this one, I tuned around the AM dial and also to Armed Forces Radio on shortwave to listen to broadcasts of baseball games. The New York teams were on local radio and television, but at night I could also pick up the Red Sox from their Hartford affiliate, WTIC, the Orioles from Baltimore on WBAL, the Indians on WWWE, and — but only occasionally because WABC's signal was so strong and conditions normally didn't allow it — the Tigers from Detroit on WJR. And those signals, fading in and fading out, allowed me to follow my favorite team, the KC Royals, through most of their eastern swings.

I settled in Northern California in the late '80s, and although I still follow the Royals on satellite radio and the Internet I became a Giants fan as well. And as it happens that the tendency to choose a non-local team to root for is even stronger in the next generation of my family — my sons' primary rooting interests are for teams in the English Premiere League.