I know what you posted. I just don't understand why you didn't take the couple of seconds to find out where it is.
To me, hometown team means you can turn on the tv and watch the team, pick up the paper and read about the team, turn on the radio and hear talk about the team, etc. If you have to go out of your way to follow a team, then it's not you local team.
It is interesting how we have to redefine what is local, as technology has redefined what is in proximity. You might even say that the way in which we can communicate with society the more of a real boundary than any geography. There's technology, and there's also social psychology definitions of which in-group we're apart of. Distance might be less important than identifying oneself as being part of a larger group (statehood, and state pride).
There is a psychological difference between teams that are broadcast into your area and a hometown team. When a municipality invests a significant amount of energy in making sure they are distinct from another larger, close municipality, that changes the hometown equation. Akron use to be that way. As industry has moved out of the area, they have aligned themselves more with Cleveland
