All posts tagged: Rivalry

The Yankees-Red Sox Rivalry Just Isn’t What It Used to Be

The Yankees-Red Sox Rivalry Just Isn’t What It Used to Be

Published by Jenni Sidey

Cody Bellinger came up to bat with a chance to put the game away, but I was too busy trying to counter the chants from the surprisingly loud Red Sox faction at Yankee Stadium: battle cries of “Let’s Go Red Sox,” interpolated with the more aggressive “Fuck the Red Sox.” Welcome to game two of the AL Wild Card Series between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. It’s an exercise in nostalgia, and hate simmers at an unusually low flame. With the score at 5-1 and a chance to blow the game open, sending the Yankees to Tampa Bay for a date with the Rays, Bellinger cracked a home run to right. As screaming fans draped all over my back, a rivalry that’s been rhapsodized throughout history felt, well, average? The Yankees were advancing to the ALDS more than they were beating the Red Sox, but something still twinkled inside of me knowing we sent Boston home. The chants were loud but the rapport was friendlier, so much so that legions of …

Heated Rivalry and Queer Hockey Culture

Heated Rivalry and Queer Hockey Culture

Published by Jenni Sidey

Daniel Gawthrop is the author of Cutting Edge: Hockey as Queer Culture, out this week from Arsenal Pulp Press. Below, he describes responses to the Heated Rivalry TV series in the LGBTQ+ community. (Spoilers ahead!) After season 1 of Heated Rivalry began streaming late last year, queer community response to the series ranged from unqualified raves to critiques about sex scene authenticity and obsession with the sexual identity of its two principal actors. For many of us, Heated Rivalry was a breath of fresh air from a mainstream TV world hardly abundant with stories of queer happiness—never mind gay male athletes in hypermasculine sports who are unafraid of being vulnerable with each other. Season 1’s episode 5, where Scott Hunter calls his lover Kip down from the stands to the ice after he’s won “the Cup” to kiss him on live television, was huge. Outsports reported that viewing parties for that episode led to groups of gay men buying tickets to their first NHL games and others watching TV hockey despite knowing little about the …

Heated Rivalry Cottage Owner Did ‘Soul Searching’ Before Agreeing to Season 2

Heated Rivalry Cottage Owner Did ‘Soul Searching’ Before Agreeing to Season 2

Published by Daniella Wilson

The owner of the cottage made famous in Heated Rivalry season one says he needed to do some “soul searching” before allowing production to return for season two. During a recent interview with HGTV, Michael Kutryk revealed that he was contacted about filming for the highly anticipated second season, which got underway earlier this month. However, he said it wasn’t an immediate yes. “I did a little bit of soul searching about allowing them to come back,” he shared. “I know they need it, and I realize I [could] be difficult and try to squeeze them, but I [couldn’t] bring myself to do that. When they called, they said, ‘How much do you want?’ First, I told them they scratched my table, then I named a very reasonable price. They were shocked and appreciative. I actually didn’t even get them to replace my table.” In season one of HBO Max and Crave’s breakout queer hockey romance, the cottage served as the emotional backdrop for a major turning point. When Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) invited his …

Kerr and Ingebrigtsen to renew 1,500 rivalry next month

Kerr and Ingebrigtsen to renew 1,500 rivalry next month

Published by Sam Flores

Aug 25 : Tokyo Olympics champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen will renew his fierce 1,500m rivalry with Briton Josh Kerr at World Athletics’ inaugural Ultimate Championship next month after both athletes received exceptional invitations for the meet. The pair have met multiple times over 1,500m, with Norway’s Ingebrigtsen holding a significant head-to-head advantage over Kerr, though they have not faced each other over the distance since the Zurich Diamond League meeting in 2024. Kerr took bronze behind his rival in Tokyo but beat the Norwegian to win gold at the 2023 world championships. The Scot also took silver behind Cole Hocker at the Paris Olympics two years ago, while Ingebrigtsen finished fourth. The pair have traded barbs over the years, with Ingebrigtsen once referring to Kerr as “just the next guy” and boasting he could beat him blindfolded, while Kerr has said the Norwegian has major weaknesses. Ingebrigtsen stoked the rivalry earlier this month when he said he was disappointed not to see Kerr at the European Championships and that the sport was being ruined by athletes …

Sibling Rivalry or Sensory Rivalry?

Sibling Rivalry or Sensory Rivalry?

Published by Jenni Sidey

Early on in my therapy career, I was providing individual therapy to a pair of young siblings. Their mother asked if we could do some sibling sessions, explaining that their constant fighting at home was causing distress for the whole family. I asked a few questions, starting with, “Does this seem like typical sibling rivalry, or something more?” Their mother stated that it seemed like more than just the usual sibling squabbles, so I agreed to do a few co-sessions to observe what was going on. Since the siblings already both knew me, they were pretty comfortable and began to fight early on in the first session. I focused on observing and taking notes, and had them come in a couple of times to ensure that my qualitative data was consistent. I brought mom and dad in for a parent session to follow up and told them, “I think I’ve identified the problem: Your kids have opposite sensory profiles.” I then explained to the parent what I had observed. One sibling was auditory seeking and …

Heated Rivalry star makes cameo in new For All Mankind episode

Heated Rivalry star makes cameo in new For All Mankind episode

Published by Daniella Wilson

Warning: Spoilers ahead for For All Mankind season 5 episode 8. For All Mankind season 5 has taken an explosive turn in episode 8 – but some fans were a little distracted from the dramatic events by a certain actor’s appearance. As the dispute between Mars and Earth continued in the Apple TV alt-history, the new episode, titled Brave New World, saw Earth send a team to the Goldilocks Asteroid take back control of the Red Planet. However, the mission ended in tragedy with Avery Jarett (played by Ines Asserson) and her teammates accidentally caught in a bomb blast orchestrated by Celia (Mireille Enos) and Lenya (Costa Ronin). During the episode, however, some fans were a little distracted from the action when they noticed an unexpectedly familiar face. As Jarrett, played by Ines Asserson, prepares for the mission, we see an appearance from a Russian special forces soldier, played by Heated Rivalry star Connor Storrie. Taking no nonsense, he tells Jarrett’s Mars-born teammate to “remember which side you’re on”. Connor Storrie in For All Mankind …

Love HEATED RIVALRY? Here Are the Top 20 Queer Sports Romances on Libby

Love HEATED RIVALRY? Here Are the Top 20 Queer Sports Romances on Libby

Published by Jenni Sidey

Heated Rivalry—a M/M queer and steamy hockey romance adapted from a book of the same name by Rachel Reid—has taken hold of the collective consciousness and not let go. Its season finale garnered 10.6 million US viewers, and its production has even brought talks of republishing a secretly published predecessor written in the ’80s by Don DeLillo. It has also, unsurprisingly, increased interest in other queer sports romances. We asked our partners at Libby to share with us the most popular queer sports romances that have been checked on the app, which we’ve included below. Looking at the list, it makes sense that Heated Rivalry is the most popular, followed by other books from the same Game Changers series by Rachel Reid. In fact, Reid accounts for half of the list. If you’re wanting a little more diversity, though, make sure to check out Love and Sportsball by Meka James, Futbolista by Jonny Garza Villa, Check, Please! by Ngozi Ukazu, Out of Step, Into You by Ciera Burch, Team Players by Deanna Grey, The 7-10 …

Reheated rivalry: why I’m the champion of leftovers

Reheated rivalry: why I’m the champion of leftovers

Published by Sam Flores

There is nothing lovelier than seeing a cook do their thing. By “doing their thing”, I do not mean just going about kitchen work – that is often excruciating to watch (why are they cutting onions like that?) I mean doing their thing: their culinary equivalent of a Mastermind subject, that one dish or process that they do so well, and with such evident pride, that the most crotchety backseat cook is forced to shut up. Take my partner’s method for making fish-finger sandwiches, which involves frying the fish fingers in butter, then creating an in-pan sweatbox to melt artisanal cheese on to them and custom blending condiments. It creates, on average, as much washing up as a full cooked dinner. Others have a special pancake hack or carrot cake recipe, and people tend not to let these things go unnoticed – it’s always my salad dressing, possessive, but we forgive their hubris, because each of us has “A Thing” of our own. My thing, if you can call it that, is reheating stuff. This …

Watching “Bridgerton” in a “Heated Rivalry” world

Watching “Bridgerton” in a “Heated Rivalry” world

Published by Sam Flores

Not too long ago, “Bridgerton” was held in the highest esteem in the meeting place between TV fantasy and drab reality. Cafes hosted themed teas. String quartets strummed their way through classical covers of pop hits. Party promoters pitched balls inviting club regulars to trade their short skirts for shoe-grazing gowns. And today? Barely a week after the Regency-style drama’s fourth season resumed, you’re much more likely to stumble into a “Heated Rivalry” night at your local drinking hole than any recreations of the ‘ton’s gracious luxury. Three months after the hockey romance premiered on HBO Max, the world remains obsessed with Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander, as well as the actors who play them, Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams. More accurately, as Storrie joked in his recent “Saturday Night Live” monologue, it’s women doing the pining. Compared to Netflix’s established period hit, the prospect of two pro hockey stars falling for each other holds more heat than the forbidden affair blossoming between Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson), a nobleman, and Sophie Gun (Yerin Ha), a …

You can now rent the Heated Rivalry cottage on AirBnb

You can now rent the Heated Rivalry cottage on AirBnb

Published by Daniella Wilson

The remote cottage featured in the steamy season finale of Heated Rivalry is officially accepting visitors, with the help of Airbnb. In the season finale of the hit HBO series, rival players Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), two of the biggest stars in Major League Hockey, take a romantic escape to a secluded cottage, amid public scrutiny about their relationship. Now, fans can plan their own intimate visit, or group trip with friends, to that cottage — known as Barlochan Cottage — in Torrance, Ontario, Canada. Located on Walkers Point on the west shore of Lake Muskoka, the home will be available for rent on Airbnb starting March 3. Described as “luxurious” and “modern,” the cottage features “almost 400 feet of private waterfront to enjoy those spectacular Muskoka sunsets,” according to the listing’s description. The main level of the home includes an open concept kitchen with high ceilings, large windows and a walkout to the patio. Meanwhile, the dining room has a table perfect for eight people and a sitting area …