Sport Your College Colors

How do you choose which bar to frequent (for those of you who do frequent bars). Do you choose the bar that plays your college football team on Saturday afternoons? We've become such a mobile society that more and more bars seem to be choosing some out-of-town team to champion, and I guess it pays off or not so many bars would adopt the strategy.

If you've ever looked up at the top corner, you've noticed that I live in Chicago. Tonight I was at a bar that, if the sun is just right, is very likely in the shadow of Wrigley field. Yet on the walls were Terrible Towels in support of the Pittsburgh Steelers. They also had memorabilia for Penn State, and the condiment caddies at each table were Iron City Beer six-packs. Across the street is another bar that features the Dallas Cowboys and the University of Alabama (I'm not sure quite what Cowboys silver and blue has in common with the Crimson Tide, but there you go). There are a number of bars nearby that spotlight the University of Wisconsin, but at least the Wisconsin border's only forty or fifty miles distant. But Penn State and Alabama? The Steelers and the Cowboys? What's the deal? What out-of-town teams are championed by bars near you? (And by the way, does anybody in Chicago know where the local Habs bar is so I can go and watch hockey?)