There is a certain insecurity that comes from living in flyover country.
It's OK. We can admit it.
Like small talk about the weather and casual passive-aggressiveness, wanting to be liked comes with the territorial border of Minnesota. This plays out in a variety of ways, including claiming as "one or us" anyone who might have lived in Minnesota for more than five minutes.
In sports, this insecurity often plays out as an excitement/fear cycle. As soon as something good happens, like a winning streak or the emergence of a star player or coach, we start to worry about what will go wrong.