It’s a big decision: choosing a sports team to root for with your child. Jay Caspian Kang writes about his choice in this week’s On Sports column. Kang, a new father and an immigrant who had lost his own baseball ties, wants his daughter to “feel the sense of belonging to a place that fandom can bring.”

But where does a father without a team start? Should he embrace the Mets’ straightforward geographic proximity to his family, or resurrect his younger allegiance to the Red Sox (jettisoned after he found Boston fandom parochial)? Can he protect his daughter by supporting the apparent Korean-friendliness of the Dodgers, or is that too contrived?

We asked readers to share the origin stories of their sports fandoms. For some, devotion was handed down through family; others discovered their favorite teams at various stages in life. A selection of responses, edited for length and clarity, follows.

Forever Rooting for the Underdog

I fell in love with the Oakland Athletics at the age of 5. Everything about this team appealed to me, and still does. The A’s represent every reason to be romantic about baseball. They are roughly the 28th- or 29th-most majestic franchise in the league, and they play in a stadium known as more of a septic tank than a jewel box. Yet their status as the redheaded stepchild of not just the Bay Area but also the American League only motivates the spirit and beauty of the A’s brand of baseball. An A’s win is more than a victory against another team. It validates the promise that baseball was founded on: in the end, that it’s a child’s game, and that every man is equally armed with a bat, glove and ball.