All of that makes quite a bit of sense.
I thought of a couple of things that differentiates the sports face-painter from the sci-fi face-painter. The sports guy intends to get blind drunk (if he isn't already). Somehow this makes it slightly better in my head. Like . . . he's not really serious about the whole thing.
Also . . . sports guy is painting himself as a gesture of support. Sci-fi guy is playing make-believe. Again . . . the former is just a little bit more respectable than the latter. Not that it is respectable, lol. Just a little bit more.
Eh... you've swayed me the other way with your argument.
Getting blind drunk isn't something you should be doing intentionally or not. If that isn't bad enough getting drunk with the intention of making a fool out of yourself (serious intentions or not) is probably the worst thing you could possibly do. Nerds might be nerds, but as you've just described them, the average sprots fanatic is a loser in every sense of the word.
Also the whole "for support" thing... I've never really gotten that. I think this is why I'm pretty indifferent in regards to sports. Ok so a corporation hires an athlete from out of state, possibly from out of the country to come and work for your team, at which point he could leave at any time if he's offered more money or better options. How exactly is he "your" player again? How is it "your team". Even if it's a local team you don't know the guy, your aren't helping him win so why do you care how well he does? I just don't get it. I understand the reason an athlete plays but I never have understood the reason fans like to watch them play (with the exception of family and friends of course).
On the other hand the sci-fi fan is dressing up as a character they identify with. Unlike athletes, the fan of the fictional character has all kinds of info about the characters personality and their history. In short they have an actual reason to enjoy the character. Well except for the people that make up their own character. Creative definately, but it's a bit out there.
I guess what I'm saying is it seems more rational to me for a person to obsess over someone because of their ideals or heroics rather than to obsess over a man or group of men because they are hired by the same company or because of the men can throw a ball farther than the average man. The fact that one of the two might be fictional doesn't really matter.