I can relate. I don't enjoy watching most sports but still root for the Red Sox & New England Patriots cuz i'm a Maine'ah. It's easy to get hooked into the local collective energy thoughtform.
Every notice sports fans when they say WE'RE number one? It is like you said a way of identifying with that team and it's accomplishments as if it is the fans own when they have as little to do with the actual accomplishment as Hadrian building Hadrian's wall while sitting in is toga back on Rome ;)
Identifying with a culture is not just about survival instincts blending in, making yourself acceptable so when famine hits the local group doesn't decide you are expendable or something like that. You said
Sometimes cheering for our teams is cheering for ourselves and who we are, or hope we are. it is also about feeling bigger than we are, not feeling alone in the big wide world. These days the only sense of togetherness and human contact some get is via sports fandom. Everyone needs human contact including touch but in our culture that is mostly taboo for men :( In sports they can touch without breaking the taboo - slap one another on the back, bump chests and even kinda hug at times. And energy - I haven't been to a sports even like that but the vibes must be wild. Before I learned to shield just going to a movie theater made me manic laughing uncontrollably and shaking from the excitement in the building.
Touching: The Human Significance of the Skin by Ashley Montigue 2nd edition free download:
http://www.archive.org/details/touchingthehuman000913mbp