Welcome from me too!
This Washington, DC vicinity native became a Patriots fan because:
1) All my childhood bullies seemed to be Redskins fans, so that team became a natural target for my suppressed anger (since bullies are everywhere, you could say it was an accident of geography - I suppose if I'd grown up in Boston I'd have become a Redskins fan
)...
2) My most cherished respite from school, and its bullies, were summer vacations spent with my cousin/best pal in NH.
Eventually I found myself wishing that a team from NH would come down and crush the Skins*, but never bothered to follow the sport, under the mistaken impression there was no regional team.
Then came the fateful night in December 1985 when I idly flipped through the TV Guide and saw a highlight for a game between the Dolphins and... "WHAT? NE HAS A TEAM?!?!?" Though that game was a losing effort, I enjoyed it thoroughly, and I've been hooked ever since
*I haven't watched it since then, but I still have the recording of the '07 beatdown. As much as the story's end hurt, I can't bring myself to trash it. It was the fulfillment of a childhood dream, after all...
[Edit: I found a recap! Woot!
]Dolphins Kick Away Patriots - Chicago Tribune