Root, root, root for the home team — or else! Kate Upton used to be a self-proclaimed "really big Yankees fan," but now that she's dating Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander, her loyalties are split. Appearing as a guest host on Live! With Kelly and Michael recently, the 22-year-old Sports Illustrated model admitted she's having a difficult time breaking up with her former team.
"I'm sleeping with the enemy," she told co-host Michael Strahan of why she changed allegiances. "My boyfriend plays for the Tigers. I had to pick a side."
The Bronx Bombers, understandably, aren't too happy about one of their most high-profile cheerleaders throwing her support behind a rival team. "I felt it, too, when I walked in [to Yankee Stadium]," Upton said. "They specifically told me, the Yankees told me, 'You're not allowed to wear a Tigers hat. You're not allowed to wear any Tigers gear.' It's like a bad breakup."
(Seinfeld fans may remember a similar scenario in season three, when Julia Louis-Dreyfus, as Elaine, refused to remove her Baltimore Orioles cap at a Yankees game, resulting in her being removed from her seats.)
Upton, unlike Elaine, adhered to the Yankees' dress code when she attended Verlander's game in New York City on Aug. 4. Wearing head-to-toe white, not a team logo in sight, the curvy blonde sat behind Detroit's dugout and shared a sweet moment with her man between innings.
Verlander, 31, appeared to be in a friendly enough mood on the night of the game — he even rolled her a souvenir baseball — but Upton told Strahan he likes to be "angry" before he pitches. "He didn't tell me before, so he'd seem like he was in a bad mood before he pitched, so I'd be like, 'Joke, joke, joke, joke, joke,' trying to cheer him up," she explained. "And then he got mad at me. He was like, 'Stop making me laugh! I'm trying to be angry.'"
