I am always interested in what goes on that makes people fans of some athlete or team or another. Obviously, a lot of people will support the team representing the place where they live or where they grew up. With individual sports its different. Who should you root for in Formula 1? You could pick the guy from your country, if Scott Speed were still driving, but rooting for Americans in F1 is pretty boring (there's like one guy every decade, and they haven't done well since the 70's).

I end up rooting for guys for several reasons. I like people who are decent sportsmen - a guy is rude or does things he shouldn't, I'm likely to root against him. I like guys who have personalities, in interviews and so on. I'll also often find myself rooting for a guy who has had bad luck in the past (mechanical breakdowns, etc.) - hence my joy at Kimi Raikonnen winning this year's world championship.

What about MMA fighters? I like certain styles. I prefer standup, so I root for strikers. I like guys with aggressive styles. I remember really liking the way, for example, George St. Pierre went after people in his fights - very active, always attacking. I like unorthordox styles because it's fun to try to figure out why they work or how I'd counter them, which is why I really like Chuck Lidell. And I'll root for a guy with cool tattoos, if I've got nothing else to go on, because I like tattoos. If I wasn't deathly afraid of needles I'd be covered in them.

I wanted to dislike Quinton "Rampage" Jackson from the first interview I saw with him. He made some off the cuff joke about needing a win so he could pay for all of his kids - with no mention of a wife, so presumably these kids are from different women and not from a nuclear family. I'm an inner city high school teacher and I'm very much against the children out of wedlock, multiple partner thing, I mean REALLY against it, so I didn't want to like him. Then he beat my hero Chuck and took the title away, and I was sad.

But...

In the leadup to his fight with Dan Henderson Rampage said something very cool. When these guys are interviewed about upcoming opponents they always say the same stupid crap - I'm going to knock him out, I hate the guy, it's going to be a war, etc. Not Rampage. He said, "I don't like the guy - I love the guy." (Actually, he might have said "I love him," so don't sue me if the quote is slightly off). Apparently they're friends. Rampage said nothing but respectful things about Dan, but also said that in the ring he'd be all business - which he was. I mean, I get that he was trying to hurt Dan in the ring, that's the job, but he didn't act like an a$$hole before the fight.

I've listened to quite a few Rampage interviews and quotes and I can't help but liking the guy. When he's being serious he's all class, all respect, and you can't deny his fighting ability. And his jokes are usually at his own expense, not the other guy's, which shows someone who's pretty comfortable with himself. He really comes across as a decent guy, to the extent that I doubt he could be faking it.

I sometimes wonder what I'd say in those interviews (not that I'd ever make it in MMA). I'd love to see a guy get interviewed and have it go something like this:

Interviewer: "How do you think your next fight will go?"

Fighter: "Against (fill in name)? Oh, I just hope I don't get knocked out in the first minute or so. Have you seen that guy fight? He's awesome."

Or this:

Interviewer: "Who do you want to fight next?"

Fighter: "I want the easiest fight they'll pay me for. None of these top guys - they hit hard and hurt people. I want the title, but I really hope that the current titleholder fails a drug test or something so I can get it without fighting him."

It won't happen, but I'd enjoy listening to something like that.

Think about what you're a fan of and what it says about you. It's kind of interesting.

Happy Halloween. Don't wear your gi as a costume. Don't let your kids wear gis as a costume. If you see the neighbor's kids wearing a gi as a costume, beat the crap out of them (no, not really).

Osu.