Growing up I wasn't exposed to that much hockey, except for the network game every week. I loved it even then though, and jumped on the Bruins' bandwagon watching Orr, Esposito, and Derek Sanderson (I had a huge poster of him on my wall and none of my friends knew who the hell he was). After the Bruins began to fizzle out, I kind of floundered until I was in Pittsburgh for a Pirates series and scored tickets to see the Pens play the Bruins (my old team!). That was in either '84 or '85 and was my first hockey game to attend. I thought it was the best live sport I'd ever seen - still do. At that moment I was completely hooked on hockey, Lemieux converted me to a Pens fan, and I've been that way ever since. And having never played, I'm still learning things about the game, which keeps it fun.
As far as pro teams go, I followed my Dad as a Pirates fan, and adopted the Steelers and Pens through exposure. When it comes to college sports though, we've always had that in Louisiana, and I'm a born and bred Tiger fan.