I find this take fascinating because, although I also like watching athletes and sports, I see the fandom and names as a huge soap opera cast. I just can’t keep up with any of it, the names, the injuries, the rivalries, the trades. It’s all just a bunch of banal meaningless drama to me that I will never have the enthusiasm to track. It’s all the same old shit from season to season with a rotating cast of hot young fools, just like General Hospital. As such I can’t talk sports with people. I can watch, but the events wash over me without the same meaning or substance. For that reason, flamboyant and over-the-top drama (like hot tempers, trash talking, and general mischief) that happens during play is actually interesting as long as it isn’t too unsportsman-like and doesn’t interfere with the game too much. The soap opera drama is boring, the sports is interesting, but the performance and affectations are spicy.

To be clear, your take is totally valid and I’m not really critical of it at all. I just have a different perspective.