Attachment is a funny thing. It doesn’t have to be logical, it doesn’t have to make sense to anyone but yourself. There are so many ways to end up attached to something, so many reasons, and the variety of things or people one can attach himself to.
It’s even more complicated in the industry of professional sports, a world where roster turnover is constant. The names in the back of the jersey change over the years, but short of something drastic, like relocation, or a name change, the team itself remains the same entity. However, at the end of the day, the players are the ones you watch most of the time.