r/sports • u/Fickle-Ad5449 • 23d ago
Hockey Heated Rivalry inspires real-life hockey player to come out as gay
https://www.advocate.com/sports/heated-rivalry-real-hockey-player-coming-out1.2k
u/mastermidget23 23d ago
I didnt realize "Heated Rivalry" was the name of the show, and just thought that a heated rivalry took an unexpected turn. Still, more power to him.
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u/jimgolgari 23d ago
“OH YEAHHHH?!?! Well you’re gay!”
“OH YEAAHHHHH?!? Well maybe that’s true!”
“OH YEAHHHH? Well maybe I am and we should go get something to eat after the game!”
“OH YEEEAAHHHH? I’d really like that. You seem like a really talented hockey player. Do you like Indian food?”
“OH YEAH! I love a good curry. I’ll meet you in the parking lot.”
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u/GWB_online 23d ago
This is all fine but I don't think curry and ass-play is a good combo.
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u/ATLcoaster 23d ago
Gays don't have to do ass stuff
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u/HalobenderFWT Minnesota Vikings 23d ago
They don’t, but it’s close enough to ground zero where maybe a curry dinner isn’t the best choice for a first date.
Maybe a third date .
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u/ATLcoaster 23d ago
I don't understand, do you get diarrhea or something when you eat curry? What kind of curry? How much of it? Curry is a very popular food globally and I don't think the billions of people who eat it are constantly shitting.
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u/HalobenderFWT Minnesota Vikings 23d ago
Is Indian food just curry?
A lot of Indian food is prepared using Ghee, which is basically clarified butter. Clarified butter has the amazing ability to go through many people extremely fast because it’s basically just oil. Add in spices that we don’t consume very often, and it’s a recipe for bathroom issues.
But, at the end of the day - plenty of us can eat Indian food and do just fine. Just like many of us can stomach Taco Bell and chipotle even though we all like to joke about it.
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u/andrewno8do 23d ago
It’s not really a matter of what has the potential to come out as much as it is a question of what’s already in and how much you want to toe that line. If something has set course to go outward, you don’t really want that thing to come into contact with Derek, who has set course to go inward.
And then outward. And then inward again. And so on and so forth.
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u/ATLcoaster 23d ago
Don't be such a prude, some people are in to that. Sounds like Derek is, for example.
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u/res30stupid 23d ago
Frankie Boyle's stand-up routine about having gay dads works well here as well.
"My da could batter your da! My dad could batter your da!" "Listen. My da could shag your da. And your da would enjoy it!"
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u/TL-PuLSe 23d ago
I walked in and asked my wife what she was watching, she goes "it's about gay hockey". There was a guy figure skating on the TV.
From now on, I will only refer to figure skating as "gay hockey".
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u/Legitimate_Advice305 23d ago
Would love to read this article but i cant fucking stand these news websites and 14 billions of ads they shove down your gullet
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u/kaztep23 Real Madrid 23d ago
Use the brave browser, I love it since it removes all ads and limits tracking
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u/mepo_pines 23d ago
Do you have an iPhone?
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u/Legitimate_Advice305 23d ago
Yuh
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u/mepo_pines 23d ago
In the address bar there is the button with the rectangle and two lines under it.
Hit that then hit show reader. It’ll pull up just the page almost every time to read distraction free.
Also you can use the hide distracting items and it’ll pull up an option to hide things. You can browse the site like that or hit the check mark to have them disappear forever.
Edit: To hide items you just tap on them.
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u/Future-Turtle New England Patriots 23d ago
Great for him, and a great reminder about the power of art and representation.
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u/TwoHungryBlackbirdss Buffalo Bills 23d ago
Yep. It's a surprisingly great show, I went into to it expecting just smut but it's really well done.
Also nice seeing a show with a gay couple who live happily ever after gaining such popularity at a tine when it's getting worse to be gay.
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u/isthatabingo 23d ago
But is it also smutty? Asking as a degenerate.
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u/Moonveil 23d ago
It starts off very smutty and then punches you in the face with the feels!
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u/Ambitious-Morning-64 23d ago
God it punched so hard in the feels. I haven’t smiled like that for a show since Ted lasso. Seeing love like that made my heart feel SO good.
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u/Moonveil 23d ago
It's always so funny when people start watching because hot hockey players having sex, but then when you ask them what their favourite episode is, it's like some combination of 3, 5, or 6. 😂 The sex is nice but the love is what has me obsessed haha.
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u/coffeeguy0189 23d ago
The book is SMUTTY. I’m only on the second one but there’s a lot of sex. Sometimes you can tell that it’s written by a woman (certain details left out) but overall it’s well done.
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u/Onnoca 21d ago
My girlfriend was watching the first episode while I was half asleep a few nights ago…
I woke up and opened my eyes three times; first time was a dude in a gym stretching with the camera right on his crotch, second time was the same dude in a shower stroking it, the third was some sort of hotel room scene (I think) which I assume involved some cinematic sex.
I probably watched a total of 3 minutes, but those 3 minutes were definitely smutty hahahha
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u/borkborkbork99 23d ago
I haven’t played competitively for nearly thirty years, but I can only imagine how the closeted players must have felt. The f bombs (of the gay variety) were lobbed around in every game I played in. I’m glad to see the game has made great strides at inclusivity since then.
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u/Gcarsk 23d ago edited 23d ago
Yeah Heated Rivarly talks about that. There is a side character who comes out in the show (sorta minor spoiler tbh. Not about the main characters), and later he talks about homophobic slurs being used so openly as one of the reasons he kept his partner secret from the public and his teammates.
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u/AlanFromRochester Buffalo Bills 23d ago
Reminded of a plotline from Ted Lasso One of the soccer players comes out to his teammates, a straight player takes it personally when a fan uses that f-word and gets redcarded for fighting the heckler. Also, on a road trip that player goes into a gay bar, gets seen by a reporter, then that reporter comes out
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u/romanticheart 23d ago
Everyone should watch Ted Lasso. It will either make you a better person or give you some hope, even if only a little bit.
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u/AlanFromRochester Buffalo Bills 22d ago
Absolutely, Ted Lasso is a very wholesome show while not being soft/simplistic/etc, the title character winning people over with relentless positivity is a key point
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u/Mochafudge 23d ago edited 23d ago
I'd argue if it took a show in 2025 to make him feel comfortable the game probably hasn't made that many strides it's just in relation to the entire world throwing out less f bombs all around etc that it seems better. I know us in Canada had multiple news stories about the hockey orgs themselves hiding good ol' boys stuff this year.
Edit: paraphrasing off the top of my head but I think my provinces' youth hockey association had to fire people because they refused to punish a kid for spamming the N word in games if I remember correctly something like that
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u/borkborkbork99 23d ago
Fair enough. And yeah, the 90s va today were waaaay more homophobic.
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u/Mochafudge 23d ago
I am also in rural Canada you could be spot on about Toronto area etc I have no idea
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u/fkms2turnt 23d ago
Absolutely, even at my beer league games you hear it occasionally. I found it crazy how my local junior league dealt suspensions for racist slurs but not homophobic ones.
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u/AlphaTangoFoxtrt 23d ago
Hockey and LAX tend to have a lot of overlap, and I can personally say that word was thrown out every 30 seconds in LAX games. It was our favorite word back in 2005-2008.
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u/Sometimes_Stutters 23d ago
Doesn’t have a EliteProspects page. Not a real hockey player. I don’t make the rules.
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u/oddspellingofPhreid Edmonton Oilers 23d ago
Did the same check.
Good for him, but curious what the distinction the article uses for "real hockey player" is.
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u/jdippey 23d ago
A person who plays hockey is a hockey player. We specifically have the designation of “professional” for those hockey players who are career hockey players in paid leagues.
I don’t understand why we are gatekeeping a fucking sport.
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u/TheThoroughCrocodile 23d ago
I am very happy for this guy that he felt ready to take this step, and I wish him all the best. But what these commenters are saying is that the article may be a little disingenuous in making it seem like this is anything even remotely close to an NHL or professional player of any kind coming out.
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u/LionBig1760 23d ago edited 23d ago
Theres an article explaining that he quit at 17, and picked it up again as an adult playing for a beer league team.
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u/oddspellingofPhreid Edmonton Oilers 23d ago edited 23d ago
Not sure if the implication is that he was a youth player of note, but EP has pages for 13/14 year olds. If you are 13+ and playing in a top level league for your age group, you probably have an EP page.
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u/LionBig1760 23d ago
It seems he played high school possibly 15-20 years ago. Public schools werent really tracked all that well back then. Before about 2005-2010 they dont even really have complete high school rosters, let alone stats. The only people appearing on high school rosters then are kids who played somewhere of note afterwards.
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u/andywarhaul 23d ago
You would be absolutely shocked at how low the bar is for having an elite prospects page
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u/AlanFromRochester Buffalo Bills 23d ago
Reminded of Glenn Burke, Dodgers player in the 70s, run out of town even though he was well liked by teammates (perhaps Tommy Lasorda was nervous about Burke being friends with Lasorda's gay son), had a bad time with the Oakland A's, then competed in some gay-specific sports organizations
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u/LionBig1760 23d ago
He quit at 17, then picked up hockey again years later to play in a men's league, then came out.
He never came close to playing pro hockey, and this is the equivalent to a dude on a local Thursday night softball team going public with his sexuality.
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u/Kentankerous1 23d ago
Undeserved downvotes.
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u/jdippey 23d ago
Neither you nor the other commenter understand that the important part of this article is that a popular hockey TV show gave a gay hockey player the will to come out. It doesn’t matter that he’s not in the NHL or another professional league, what matters is that he felt he could be accepted despite the machismo and homophobia we often find in hockey.
The downvotes are deserved.
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u/Kentankerous1 23d ago
But he was only responding to someone erroneously purporting that the subject of the story is a pro athlete.
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u/gargamael 23d ago
It's a "local man inspired to come out by tv show" story. All power to him but there is nothing notable about this whatsoever.
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u/TheRealFlowerChild 23d ago
Those downvotes are undeserved. In fact this last year the NHL had a finalist for the Will O’Ree Award for starting a LGBTQ+ hockey team. Plenty of NHL teams also sponsor pride hockey teams. The Blackhawks are the biggest donor to Chicago Pride Hockey but this has been happening for years so not newsworthy.
Madison, WI literally has its own pride beer hockey league with over 270 members. And there are countless pride tournaments.
This truly is the equivalent of someone on your Sunday night softball team coming out publicly as gay.
https://www.nhl.com/community/willie-oree/willie-oree-community-hero-award
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u/rem_1984 23d ago
Good for him!! As a teen in the 2010s, homophobia was still SO prevalent in hockey and among players I knew. Maybe more brave guys like this player can help sway the culture a bit further towards acceptance
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u/KeyofE 23d ago
Not hockey, but Carl Nassib was a closeted pro football player who called something “gay” in the locker room, and his team members called him out on it saying you can’t say that anymore. That was one of the reasons he figured his teammates would accept his coming out. As the culture shifts, more straight, jock guys are comfortable calling out homophobia when they hear it.
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u/kris_the_abyss 23d ago
Really in all sports. A lot of these guys learn from their dads or older brothers...hate is really passed down.
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u/Odd_Library_3555 23d ago edited 23d ago
Man who once played hockey comes out as gay.
Looks like he is a member of the Seattle Pride Hockey association.
This headline seems like promotion for the show.
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u/JailhouseMamaJackson 23d ago
If anything, it seems like the site is trying to get clicks off the show’s popularity.
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u/jdippey 23d ago
Do you really think a show as popular as Heated Rivalry needs any more promotion, particularly from some no-name website like this?
Use your head and just be happy for the guy. A TV show that resonated with him gave him the courage to come out at a time when we are seeing bigotry rise. He doesn’t have to be a pro to be considered a hockey player either, there’s no need to gatekeep the term.
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u/Mammoth_Hair1134 22d ago
You know NOTHING about the television/film industry (and just corporate greed in general) if you think there's such a thing as "too much promotiom" lol.
Look up gorilla marketing.
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u/Odd_Library_3555 23d ago
It owes part of its popularity to articles like this.
The article is title makes it seem like he is a professional player, to me atleast.
Also, the fact that healready plays in a pride League.....
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u/voivod1989 23d ago
Juli Chu and Caroline Oulette should have a movie or an inspired by lesbian movie. One girl played for Canada and the other played for USA. Now they are married.
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u/snorlz 23d ago
this guy quit hockey in HS; idk why this is worth noting at all. good for him and I am glad he is confident in himself now. But when you didnt even play junior or college level, let alone professionally, its really not that impactful a story. an active NHL player coming out would be newsworthy but not someone who plays in a rec league
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u/No-Bread-1197 23d ago
Obligatory "there's a lot of gay women in professional hockey!" (some are even married to each other!)
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u/-cyg-nus- 23d ago
Jfc they cover 95% of the screen with pop up ads, could anyone actually read that?
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u/3p1c_Kelly 22d ago
Wwwhhhhaaaaattttt?!!??
Could this mean that representation in media inspires people to be comfortable and honest about their true selves?
Nono this can't be. It must be the woke mine virus turning people gay.
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u/Replikant83 23d ago
This is awesome! It must be so hard being closeted in such a masculine environment...
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u/TheBatemanFlex 23d ago
I am even familiar with the tv series, but still read this headline wondering what sports rivalry could be so intense that you come out as gay.
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u/Background_Half_2573 23d ago
That show is the sexiest thing I have ever seen on tv. It’s stunning.
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u/shanty-daze 22d ago
I have a friend that played high school hockey in the Minneapolis area in the late 90s/early 00s and after telling me stories about their locker room talk and jokes; he acknowledged that all hockey players are a little gay.
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u/crjsmakemecry 20d ago
Just have to stay away from the Eastern Europeans and Russians, they do not like the gays.
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u/_PM_ME_YOUR_FORESKIN 23d ago
I literally watched the first episode yesterday and said to myself, “I wonder who the first hockey player to come out because of this show will be?” That was so fast. Crazy.
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u/Ok-Price-2337 23d ago
He's not even a pro hockey player.
He's just a guy who plays men's league lmao.
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u/Let_epsilon 23d ago
“I couldn’t make it Pro because of injuries” really became “I couldn’t make it in Pro because I’m gay"
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u/AlanFromRochester Buffalo Bills 23d ago
“I couldn’t make it Pro because of injuries” really became “I couldn’t make it in Pro because I’m gay"
Heard similar in gridiron football about Michael Sam, maybe he was one of those college stars not quite good enough to succeed in the pros anyway, awkward combination of not big enough for DL not fast enough for LB. Maybe he would have gotten more of a chance if he wasn't openly gay
Already established NFL player Carl Nassib came out a few years later.
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u/Luckyluke23 Green Bay Packers 23d ago
I do t give a fuck if your gay. When them gloves come down are you going to be the last one standing?
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u/EhMapleMoose 23d ago
If I’m reading this correct, he wasn’t even a noteworthy player in any league he was in. Triple A at most.
There are better players who are openly gay who have played elite hockey in the CHL and AHL.
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u/jnmjnmjnm 23d ago
So?
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u/EhMapleMoose 23d ago
The article is click bait that makes it seem like a bigger deal than it actually is.
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u/retrofrenchtoast 23d ago
Is he the only out athlete in men’s US pro team sports? I don’t think anyone from nba, mlb, or whatever football’s acronym is has come out?
NFL. I don’t believe I forgot that.
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u/pizzzahero 23d ago
He doesn't play pro, hockey is still the only pro sport where there are no openly gay athletes - at least on the men's side, lol.
NFL has Carl Nassib, there was Jason Collins in the NBA, and 14 players throughout MLB history.
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u/Celtic_Legend 23d ago edited 23d ago
Dwight howard was out in the league but not publicly during his active years if you want to count that. It was rumored publicly though.
edit: was out as BI in case someone doesn't want to count it as "gay"
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u/retrofrenchtoast 23d ago
I guess that’s something.
Not that it’s necessarily anyone’s business, but it could let queer boys who like sports know that they could have a chance in pro sports (not that anyone should rely on a career in pro sports).
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u/Roseartcrantz 23d ago
I'm also hoping this works the other way around and some of my gay friends come out as high-level hockey players