This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

It's funny how much money people spend connecting themselves to sports teams, buying all kinds of merchandise, especially apparel, by which they wear a club's gear and fly its colors.

Think about it: Do you own a Utah Utes hat or a BYU jersey or Utah State shorts or a Jazz T-shirt? Or some other bit of clothing with some other team's logo on it?

You're not alone.

Millions and millions of fans spend stacks of cash on everything from caps to socks to pullovers to … well, underwear. That's right, you can buy Chicago Bear boxers ($18.99) or Georgia Bulldog thongs ($16.99) or Pittsburgh Steeler bras ($34.99).

A report compiled a couple of years ago indicated that fans in one year spent some $5 billion on licensed items from college teams. And the NFL, NBA and MLB generated billions more.

Why?

Through the years, I've asked sports psychologists and cultural anthropologists that question, and their responses have centered on people's desire to identify with and be represented by something bigger — and maybe better — than themselves. Sports teams are like feudal armies of centuries gone by, they said, doing battle for those watching on TV, eating pizza and nachos and cheering them on, decked out in logoed beanies and sweatshirts and tank-tops.

Essentially, they — you — want to connect themselves — yourself — to a winner. That communal association and representation somehow boosts their own worth, even though they had little to do with the winning, attaching themselves to the success of whatever team they're wearing on their heads, backs and chests.

It makes folks feel better.

A psychologist explained that attachment "opens the door of possibility to do hard things in our own lives. It shows us the power of dreaming big, believing in ourselves, being resilient."

During a recent visit to that grand melting pot of societal trends and meaning, Disneyland, I couldn't help but be struck by the number of team shirts/jerseys/hats worn by patrons there. It got to the point where I kept a running tally of that gear, divided by the individual teams represented. It should be noted, this count was taken a couple of days before the Cavs defeated the Warriors in the NBA Finals.

In my path that day, the team, of all the leagues, college and pro, with the greatest representation was … Golden State.

It wasn't close.

There were 242 Warriors logos spotted, mostly on shirts, and many of them had either Steph Curry's name on them or his number. He may not have played all that well during the Finals, but he's worth a boatload of cash to that organization and the NBA.

By contrast, there were only 18 Cavs hats and shirts.

After the Warriors, the next most prominent team represented was the Dodgers, which could be attributed to geography. The Angels had a strong showing as well, but not as strong as the San Francisco Giants. In fact, the Northern California rep was impressive, between the Warriors, Giants, Niners, A's, Cal, Stanford, Sharks, San Jose State and Sacramento State.

The college with the greatest number of gear was UCLA, with 54. USC lagged behind. Overall, the Pac-12 showing was strong, including every school.

Utah had decent representation, with 22 sightings.

BYU edged the Utes, by seven, including a mass of blue that looked like some kind of family reunion.

Utah State was seen four times, as was Southern Utah, once.

All the P5 leagues were well represented. Ohio State led the Big Ten, Auburn, the SEC, North Carolina, the ACC, and Texas, the Big 12.

Almost every NFL and MLB team was seen, with the Dodgers, Giants, Angels, Yankees and Red Sox taking baseball's top honors. As expected, pro football teams' logos were everywhere.

Nobody could touch, though, the NBA, thanks to the Warriors. It was remarkable, despite the park being located in Southern California. You couldn't go more than a minute without seeing a Steph shirt. Lakers representation was quite low, which given that team's play of late, isn't shocking. And the Rockets get special mention here, because three Houston shirts were spotted, one of them worn by Dwight Howard, the actual Dwight Howard, who sniffed and huffed when my daughter, as she walked by the big man, said, "Hey Dwight." He'll be swapping that Rockets shirt, soon enough.

As prominent as the sports-gear showing was that day at the happiest place on earth (as long as you don't mind standing in long lines in sweltering heat and paying 17 bucks for a couple of Mickey Mouse-shaped treats), even the Warriors were blown away by Goofy hats and Star Wars shirts.

Still, if you are what you wear, sports has its hold on American society. Most of it wants to be connected to a team, or two, or three, especially if they win.

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Big Show" with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM and 1280 AM The Zone. Twitter: @GordonMonson.