Heated Rivalry; perfect mix of smut and sport


 There is no way I will encapsulate everything there is to say about Heated Rivalry (2025). I mean, the show isn’t even completed yet!

But right now it absolutely dominates my waking thoughts, as I know it does for so many of you, dear readers.


The show, and the book series, are more than worthy of a deep-dive review into every facet, in large part because it is so very different from everything else on television.


Heated Rivalry’s writer and show runner Jacob Tierney has so perfectly stated over and over again that this is a story about sex, and two young men falling in love while having sex. He, along with the main stars Hudson Williams, Connor Storrie and the rest of the cast and crew, do not look down on the source material or The Game Changers series original fan base of mainly women readers.


The sex is hot, and always consensual. We see multiple check-ins that enhance, not detract from, how fucking sexy it is. And social and personal issues that were brought up in the books and sometimes explored deeply, sometimes not, are all handled with a deft hand.


So is the hockey aspect.


Others may disagree, but they’re wrong.


While Heated Rivalry is distinct from other shows in many, many ways, it joins the best sports television shows of the decade by not showing, but suggesting, instead of telling. And while we see very little hockey on screen, I could easily find other television shows with minimal on-screen sporting endeavors, like Ballers (2015) or, if we're really going back, Coach (1989), that are also still undeniably sports programs.


Let me compare Heated Rivalry another sports show that came out earlier this year, Stick (2025).


Now, I do like this show. But I wasn’t ravenous for every episode as it came out.


Stick is about a former pro golfer played by Owen Wilson who’s life is in shambles. He finds a prodigy teen golfer, and promises the kid and the kid’s mother to let him sponsor the kid on tour.


Like I said, I do like the show, and I’m glad we’re getting a second season. But some episodes seem to focus a little too much on the actual playing of golf. Yet, many of my favorite scenes happen on the golf course as well.


Athletic happenings of any kind in a sports program can’t just be there to show the prowess, or failure, of our main characters. There needs to be more going on. I need to be doing more than admiring a talented person doing a complicated thing.


Just like on-screen sex.


I want there to be actual development, either with the plot or with the characters. I don’t just want to watch a hot person rubbing up on another hot person. If I wanted that, I’d just watch porn.


And, if I wanted to see people do athletic feats, I’d just watch a game, or a match, or some highlights.


Otherwise,in both cases, it would be better to just fade to black.


Lucky for us, Jacob Tierney is an expert at this, and not just because he knows puck. He’s excellent at keeping things tight as a writer and getting to the heart of a scene quickly and efficiently as a director without sacrificing important moments of stillness, or tension. Even in Heated Rivalry’s many sex scenes, we never hold for too long. At multiple points mid-scene we fade to black and come back in with our characters still having sex in a new position.


I’ve heard and read a lot of cheeky comments about Tierney flipping the expectation of fade-to-black in relation to sex scenes, but I don’t think that’s his primary goal. He wants us to see specific moments of connection, and he isn’t wasting our time on the moments between.


Just like a good training montage or quick snapshots of a game, series or tournament to show how our main characters either won or lost.


I think we may be getting a little more on-ice action in the coming episodes, but I know Tierney will handle it well precisely because he's done such a great job with Heated Rivalry's sex scenes.


While it is not the main focus of this post, (and honestly I’ll have to come back to this later), Heated Rivalry also shares another obsession found in every single sports show, movie, book, anime, manga, musical, documentary, any kind of media ever created.


Time. They're all obsessive about time.


Heated Rivalry is a perfect sports show, and it sits comfortably among the most memorable shows of the vast genre. If you aren’t clutching your pearls at all the fantastic gay sex, I think you’ll come to the same conclusion.


In this post, I'm focusing on a such a specific aspect of this show, and a lot of other talented people have put out some awesome stuff about Heated Rivalry that goes beyond very basic episode reactions or overviews of the books. I've compiled links to some of my favorite interviews, reviews and write-ups others have produced about the show as of writing this post.

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'Heated Rivalry' book recommendations. Yes, this did take a very long time, sorry I am a thorough person!!

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Miracle (2004)

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