I'm not a good sports fan when I don't care about the team or player, but I'm a great fangirl - that is, I don't get that much out of watching games or matches that I'm not invested in, but you can definitely get me to care about a player who isn't on my team - or in some cases, on a rival team. (Less so in football, though. Maybe in MLS.) I'm finding that my player interests are even more diverse in hockey than usual, which is probably a reflection on the more laid-back approach of fandom as a whole? It could just be the different ways I've approached the fandoms, but I feel like in football, fans of each time are a little more insular - in hockey I've found more quality blogs that just post a lot of cute player pics from a variety of teams, instead of having to follow team-specific blogs (although I do that too). It could also be, actually, just that the scope is less intimidating. Hockey fandom is almost entirely NHL players whereas football fandom for me includes about 4-5 leagues, publishing PR materials in several languages I don't speak!

Awwwwwwwwwwwwww I'm sorry you'll be losing Griff soon but I'm so excited/optimistic about him playing for us within a couple years! Yay for bbs with leadership ability! Reading your description is making me all bouncy and excited. :DD (Totally with you about not wanting to interact with the players btw. It's just awkward at best!)

Yeah, somehow Katie and I end up on the same page about most of the players/teams, and share inside jokes about everything, without actually spending any of our time doing the same thing in our online pursuit of fandom material.