"Fans of team," as one comedian noted, is really rooting for laundry. "Go, yellow pants and white shirts!" But at least in football, there are venue-related reasons to cheer that don't involve players (e.g. "frozen tundra," "Lambeau Leap", friggin' snow in GB, PIT, CIN, BUF, etc.) 👇🏻
I'll always cheer Packers because 1) publicly owned, 2) play outdoors, 3) cheeseheads, I'll root Blazers because I lived in Portland 15 years. But lately, I find myself, like kids, "fans of player." Following Raiders for Ashton Jeanty, Bills for Khalil Shakir, Spurs for Wemby, etc. Huh. 🤔✊🏻