Do sports fans even like sports?

Some of my friends in the group chats are sports fans and whenever they talk about sports, they don't talk about the sort of stuff I imagine a sports fan would actually care about. It's not "I hope my team wins the big game " and stuff like that, it's always the meta stuff.

"Hey dude, did you hear the Minnesota Penguins are going to sell their quarterback to Washington Eagles?"

"Yeah I heard coach LeMarius hates Chad Thunderpeepee because he called him the n word back in 2017 so they're getting rid of him. I thought they'd get rid of the coach first, there were rumors he's going to transfer off to either JanuarySixers or Arizona Thunder Warriors"

"That would have been such a shame, he's been with the team for four consecutive Galactic Cup victories, if they win this year too he'll finally get his Stormwind Signet Ring and a statue in the Hall of Fame"

It's always nonsense like this, discussing trades, injuries, transfers etc. I started noticing this a few years ago when I finally googled "fantasy football" after hearing them talk about it every fricking year. Whatever happened to just liking the game? You'd think the average sports fan would be like a FIFA 2023 fan not a Football Manager 2023 fan.