In case you didn't get it from the song titled "Michael Jordan" or the name of his group - Five for Fighting - John Ondrasik is something of a sports fan. And in case you're wondering, he supports the Lakers, the L.A. Kings, and the UCLA Bruins.

We guess this San Fernando Valley songwriter/guitarist/keyboardist/singer can't slam dunk. So instead of wowing Jack Nicholson with his hoop skills, Ondrasik makes records like the new America Town. And people listen: Five for Fighting's bittersweet anthem "Superman" is all over VH1. Like the best hoop stars, though, his talent was evident early on. His mother taught him to play piano at age 2, and when he was 13 he stole his sister's guitar to master the licks on Frampton Comes Alive. Dabbling in opera singing, he ultimately settled for rock.

At UCLA, Ondrasik wavered between studying applied mathematics and writing "bad song after bad song." "I started out majoring in computer science," he explained, "but I found I spent 10 hours a day in front of a computer and two hours a day in front of a piano. So I changed my major to math, which allowed me to spend two hours a day in front of a book and 10 hours a day in front of a tape machine, a piano, and a guitar."

Newton and Fermat certainly don't rock quite as hard as Madman Across the Water-era Elton John or the Who, and Ondrasik applied what he learned from his LPs to his songs. In a twist out of Bull Durham, he met a girl who worked at EMI Publishing who liked his stuff, and forwarded the prodigal's demo to an EMI A&R guy. After playing "Love Song" at an audition, Ondrasik found himself signed.

Unfortunately, Ondrasik also found that the big time was more like a farm club. Since singer/songwriters weren't popular, he was encouraged to adopt the name Five for Fighting, a hockey penalty, as a stage alias. (Ondrasik momentarily suggested calling himself "Marketing Ploy.") Just as he was about to release his two-years-in-the-making debut, Message for Albert, his label folded. But the girl who was his first fan? Reader, he married her.

"I threw in the towel for a bit," he said. "I had a wife and I had to make a paycheck. Put the guitar in the closet. Cut the hair off. Started doing the 9 to 5 and kept getting emails from kids who got the first record. I had these demos of a couple of these songs and I was just going to burn them. Along came Aware Records saying, 'Hey, we don't have a lot of cash, but do you want to make a record?' I'm like, 'Sure man, I'll make something that hopefully I can listen to. These few little people who care, I'll give them these last songs and walk into the sunset.'"

But the sun hasn't gone down on him yet. Ondrasik populated America Town with acerbic and passionate songs. While "Superman" came from his frustration at giving up his rock 'n' roll dreams, Ondrasik wrote the upbeat "Something About You" to celebrate getting back in the business. The mathematics degree is going back into the top drawer for a little while.

Now he's on a winning streak. Five for Fighting is becoming a real group of musicians, and Ondrasik has toured with Dave Matthews, David Gray, Evan and Jaron, and Train. "Easy Tonight" became an airplay hit. ESPN even played America Town's title track when Troy Aikman announced his retirement. Now, with the birth of his first daughter and his family around him, Ondrasik is a happy man.

"I still wake up and I'm like, 'It can't be my name on the chart. Who cut and pasted our name on that record chart?'" Ondrasik said. "When 'Superman' debuted on VH1, we had the whole family over. I never thought I'd see the video again. It's very surreal and I enjoy every minute of it. I feel blessed to get this chance, because all you can ask is for a chance to be heard and we're getting heard."

Rock - it's a funny old game.