The level of rationalization of bad behavior on both sides of the aisle is discouraging. It's devolved into the enabling rationalizations of "the other side is worse", now called "Whataboutism". (Example: "Oh yeah? Well what about Benghazi?!??")

The "fan-ishness" is a symptom of that.

Think about it, when you are rooting for your Gators against the Noles and there's five seconds left and they are down by 5 and they're on the one yard line on 4th down... you're going crazy rooting them on. Why? Well, you really want them to win, and you have absolutely no control over the outcome. The people playing the game do not experience it as the fan does because they control what happens directly.

Same with politics. We want to have control. We have the illusion of some control via the vote. But I think we really know we don't have much say in what happens. So we channel all that energy somewhere else, usually somewhere not so productive.