my query should be something like:
Get the stories
(select * from stories)
Also the team name of the person who submitted them
	(inner join teams ON stories.user_id = teams.team_id) 
And count for me how many times a comment has been made for each story.
	(count how many comments.story_id =stories.story_id)

SELECT * FROM stories 
	INNER JOIN teams ON stories.user_id = teams.team_id

$r=mysql_query("select count(*) as cnt form stories inner join teams ON stories.user_id = teams.team_id");
$t=mysql_fetch_array($r);
echo $t['cnt'];//prints count of stories..

How many comments.story_id = stories.story_id
 
so my result would be:
story_id | story title | # of comments (from comment table)

$r=mysql_query("select count(*) as cnt form commenttable comments.story_id = stories.story_id
");
$t=mysql_fetch_array($r);
echo $t['cnt'];//prints count of stories..

SELECT s.story_id, s.user_id, s.storytitle, t.team_name
  (SELECT COUNT(c.story_id) FROM comments c 
    WHERE c.story_id = s.story_id) AS comment_cnt 
FROM stories s
INNER JOIN teams t ON s.user_id = t.team_id

(Select users.user_id,users.username,posts.id  
  (select COUNT(posts.id) AS post_count from posts where users.user_id=posts.user_id)

SELECT 
  count(*), 
   p.post_id, 
   p.user_id, 
   u.username 
FROM 
   Posts p 
INNER JOIN 
   Users u 
on 
   p.user_id = u.user_id
WHERE
  p.user_id = ?