Exactly my problem with it. I can't understand truly serious fandom for a pro team, or even for college teams since they're recruited specifically for the sport

Exactly my problem with it. I can't understand truly serious fandom for a pro team, or even for college teams since they're recruited specifically for the sport much the same way pro teams are. I could understand it if it were tongue-in-cheek, as you write, just for fun's sake, but it's usually not, as best I can tell. Many of these fans are quite serious. They'll get no-joking pissed off at people over this stuff. They'll really initially dislike anyone they meet from $rivalCity. It's crazy. Being a fan of a truly local team makes sense to me. A pro team? Not in a "ha-ha we're all in on the joke isn't this fun" sort of way? Mind boggling.