It's come time to choose a temporary rooting interest for this year's playoffs. As Royals fans, we've had longer to think about this than most. The following are my personal slants, but in some cases I believe they are common among most Royals fans.

The AL Central winner is generally unappealing, not because of any serious rivalry or hatred, but because they're just not that damn interesting. Except for the White Sox. I will never root for the White Sox, even against the Yankees. Cleveland is more of an annoyance than anything, and the Twins are distasteful (though I do envy them). The Tigers are neutral to me, perhaps because the KC got the better of them many times in the days when the Royals weren't a joke. They were also quite awful themselves just a few years ago, which always wins sympathy with me.

The Twins play the Yankees, that's an easy choice. Yes, I'm what you'd call a Yankee Hater, but aren't we all? I guess one thing is I have the T-shirt. I will mildly root for Joba when he starts because I am a Husker at heart. But the news that Brian Duensing, another former Husker, will start for the Twins today solidifies my support.

I liked the Red Sox in '04 because a good friend was from Boston and I followed them alongside him. It was fun, but I have distanced myself from those times. The Angels are the most non-threatening professional team ever (think about it), and I give them points for sustaining success with a somewhat original style of play. That's rare these days. Go Angels.

Twins or Angels? Angels won most recently. Twins won more often. Angels have less history. Twins are in the Central.

It's close. But the Twinsare in the Central. And the Angels did take a ring off Barry Bonds' finger. Go Angels!

How do you decide who to root for? Who are you taking this year?