I would guess the ubiquity of the internet helps a lot, too, as it is so much easier to follow your team if you don't live where they are. I have been a Brewers fan since I can remember (I was 6 when the Brewers went to the World Series) and Brewers players were my childhood idols. I have always loved the Brewers. But all those lean years (which are most of them) were tough. Even tougher was going away to college and not being able to follow the day-to-day all that well. I was in college right when the internet became a thing, but even then, it wasn't that widely used yet. It didn't really hit big until just after I graduated. Hell, without internet, there's a chance my kids would be Atlanta fans.