Heated Rivalry-Team Ilya or Team Shane?

[+ Gar1eth]

This is a toughie for me. Ilya is obviously more muscular. The actor is from my home state of Texas. And objectively I'd say he's handsomer than the actor playing Shane. 
 

But Shane has a certain "je ne sais quoi" that appeals to me. It's more of a wholesome boy next door kind of look. 
 

So today I'm giving my vote to Shane by a squeak. Ask me another day, and I might pick Ilya. 

[+ MikeThomas]

Team neither one.  Couldn't make it past episode one.  It needs more than sex scenes to hold my interest.

[dutchal]

I'm going to haunt smoothie shops until I find myself a Kip.

[+ SirBillybob]

The team Captain & Shanilya. 

[+ Gar1eth]

17 minutes ago, SirBillybob said:

& Shanilya

So you're going for a combination of the two?

[+ SirBillybob]

55 minutes ago, Gar1eth said:

So you're going for a combination of the two?

Why not have it all and frequently, but Gayngman Style?

Edited December 11 by SirBillybob

[+ Gar1eth]

I'm watching a (whisper it) pirated version of the show. In episode 2 there's a long sequence that occurs during the Sochi Olympics all in Russian without subtitles. I'm wondering if in the version on HBO + there might be English subtitles during this scene. 

[+ SirBillybob]

56 minutes ago, Gar1eth said:

I'm watching a (whisper it) pirated version of the show. In episode 2 there's a long sequence that occurs during the Sochi Olympics all in Russian without subtitles. I'm wondering if in the version on HBO + there might be English subtitles during this scene. 

Yes, Ilya with father, then father and Foreign Minister, then with younger female and male.  All subtitled.

Iz you git off by too chit? 

Edited December 12 by SirBillybob

[MRK]

8 hours ago, dutchal said:

I'm going to haunt smoothie shops until I find myself a Kip.

You can have Kip and I'll take Scott. I think that was the best episode so far and not just because of how hot François Arnaud is. If you haven't seen Midnight Texas check it out.

[+ Gar1eth]

3 hours ago, SirBillybob said:

Iz you git off by too chit

I have no idea what this means.  
 

As for Scott and Kip, I'm not usually into ménage a trois, but for them I might make an exception. 
 

On the other hand this is totally fantasy fare. Let me enumerate the ways. 
 
These are supposed to be famous hockey players in hockey cities. It should be almost  impossible for these three to get away consistently with illicit hook-ups  I mean...

1). Where are all the loyal fans who should be hounding them-and the more intense groupies following their every move?

2). Where are all the paparazzi?

3). Scott finds a 'barista' who's just as handsome as he is and looks to be in just as great a shape. Because obviously all barmen at Smoothie shops are incredibly handsome and muscular. It must be all the magical açaí they use in the smoothies. 

[MikeBiDude]

Team Shane for me 💯 

EP4 dropped tonight.

[+ Gar1eth]

51 minutes ago, MikeBiDude said:

Team Shane for me 💯 

EP4 dropped tonight.

I was surprised. I thought it didn't drop until 6 pm. I'm --except for this  brief interlude to check the MC-watching it now. 

[d.anders]

How long before the merger police appear?

[+ SirBillybob]

8 hours ago, d.anders said:

How long before the merger police appear?

Thankless role. Must be on smoothie break.

[dutchal]

On 12/11/2025 at 11:23 PM, Gar1eth said:

On the other hand this is totally fantasy fare. Let me enumerate the ways. 

3). Scott finds a 'barista' who's just as handsome as he is and looks to be in just as great a shape. Because obviously all barmen at Smoothie shops are incredibly handsome and muscular. It must be all the magical açaí they use in the smoothies. 

1.  They call it fiction for a reason.

2. Having said that but also having lived in NYC for a loooong time, the city is full of drop-dead gorgeous guys you run into at random places, including the subway and all sorts of retail and restaurant locations.  I can't say specifically smoothie shops because I don't frequent any.

[samhexum]

2 minutes ago, dutchal said:

the city is full of drop-dead gorgeous guys you run into at random places, including the subway and all sorts of retail and restaurant locations.  I can't say specifically smoothie shops because I don't frequent any.

Maybe this will encourage you to start frequenting some.

[dutchal]

13 minutes ago, samhexum said:

Maybe this will encourage you to start frequenting some.

Now there's an idea . . . .

P.S.  I did pick up a very cute guy once on the subway. 

Edited December 16 by dutchal

[dutchal]

1 hour ago, samhexum said:

Maybe this will encourage you to start frequenting some.

In a city of 8.5 million people, the odds are pretty good that there's at least one gorgeous gay youngish male smoothie barista.  Now, you also need the odds that he's single and that he works within steps of where a closeted hot-as-hell pro hockey player routinely ends his run . . . .

Like I said, they call it fiction for a reason.

[+ Gar1eth]

13 hours ago, dutchal said:

the city is full of drop-dead gorgeous guys you run into at random places

Well you are right.  But as I'm not that attractive -they might as well all be TV fantasies as far as I can prove.
 

On the other hand lightning may occasionally strike even for me. I may have related this before-almost 15 years ago I used to frequent a Starbucks in the Uptown area of Dallas. It was the spot I'd use for coffee dates from guys I was meeting from the apps. There was a very cute, young barista there. He was probably about 22 with me being about 47 at the time. 
 

I never flirted with him or anything. I might have had a wistful thought wishing he were gay. Well about a month or two after that, I was at the TBRU (Texas Bear Round Up). It's a yearly bear convention in Dallas. I had gotten there late one night, and had missed the underwear fashion show. But whom should I see outside the ballroom where the fashion show had taken place, but my favorite barista drunk as a skunk (only way he could force himself to compete) in a pair of tighty whities.
 

We talked for a bit, but then his boyfriend came to collect him. A few weeks later I was back at Starbucks. My cute barista didn't remember me because he had been drunk. I reintroduced myself, and we became -well it's hard to describe. We would go out to eat or to a club semi-frequently. I moved away after 9 months. But on my infrequent trips, we'd have an occasional fling. 
 

The flings ended because around the time I was moving back to Dallas, he met some online Daddy's.  They hit it off, and he moved to their state. They became  a throuple 

Edited December 17 by Gar1eth