A clever concept but the one thing your thesis fails to account is that Classic Nerd is less outgoing about their fandom in public then a sports nerd. You don't see people randomly walking around just in a 'costume' like a sports team jersey. Cosplay in general is a very elite form of fandom among the nerd world; that though I do not have hard numbers I would spitball it in the less then 15% range of total Classical Nerd Fans doing it even at the nerd Super Bowl. (Comic Con)
I also wouldn't try and chop it up to fear of public ridicule, because I would say that nearly every nerd has no problem talking about their nerdom, or even sporting a t-shirt that supports their favorite genera of nerd. Think 12 million people play wow, that is more people then there are Washington Redskins, and Detroit Lions fans put together and multiplied by a factor of 10.... okay maybe not a factor of ten but you get the point.
That's a lot of fucking nerds. Yet you don't see a more verbal usage of WOW Cannon, or for that matter any Nerd related activity.
"He through a curve ball at me." You don't have to like baseball to understand it. Or, "he hit that answer out of the park." Or, calling someone the "Babe Ruth of accounting." People will know he is one fucking bad ass accountant. If you would say, "He is Captain Kirk when it comes to the ladies." I would bet less then half would understand what your trying to say.
You can't chop this up to one being around longer then the other, for Science and Math has been around since the dawn of time, and Science fiction books were around long before Babe Ruth was an itch in his dad's crotch.
Which leads me to think it is the nature of Stardom which is associated with Sports over Nerds. Granted someone can "Cosplay" as Tom Brady, but Tom Brady is a real person, and you can imitate someone of such skill paying homage to a hero. A real person. As a Nerd, I would say 99.99% of your "Hero's" are fictional. You don't have to be a Psych Major to know that Idolizing and obsessing over something that isn't real to what is real isn't the same.
I think that is the one thing that prevents peaceful coexistence between Classical Nerd and Sports Nerd. One is 99.9% based on real events, people, and stories, the other 99.9% based on fiction, people that only live in ones mind, and a story created and destroyed by a simple thought.
Now where is my Pittsburgh Penguins Jersey.