Well, I'm one of them, so laugh it up, fuzzball. If baseball were run like the NFL is run, and the sport had so many incredibly negative externalities, I might've found something else to do once Pedro and Manny left the team. If they were even still permitted to express their personalities in a manner as entertaining as they were, that is.
The NFL takes emotional
work to follow. And that burden has accelerated in recent years, with everything from domestic violence to CTE to squashing political protests to ever-more-inane talking heads and manufactured drama. If I didn't luck into getting to cheer for two people so breathtakingly good at their jobs that it's literally inspirational, I don't know why I'd bother. I seriously get more enjoyment out of watching a top-flight game of ultimate frisbee than I do watching a regular-season NFL game that doesn't involve the Patriots. Life's too short to put time into something that brings you no joy, right? Or is eternally futile and frustrating? Every time I watch a game that doesn't involve the Patriots, even the minor coaching mistakes that give WP% away for free drive me up a wall. We are spoiled absolutely rotten, perfection in preparation and execution flashing before our screens ~18 times a year... and it's still barely enough.
Guys like you who follow a team through thick and thin are truer fans, there's no doubt. Hats off to you for getting something out of the camraderie, tribalism and hope-springing-eternal, enough to sustain your interest. But likewise, maybe those VFW drunks of yours had some veritas with their vino, too.
I just hope you're appreciating the sacrifice the rest of us Pats fans are making