but can we talk about how she and david were probably feeling about being two of the people in his life who contributed constantly to the ‘ilya is the worst / he’s an asshole / we hate him’ thing. like EVERYONE in shane’s life, since BEFORE they even got drafted, has been pitting them against each other. they were branded as rivals and the league latched onto that and pushed it hard as a selling point immediately. these kids hadn’t even played for the MLH teams yet and they already had a reputation to uphold when it came to how they publicly interacted.

and from that moment on, everyone in shane’s life - whether that’s the people who know him best (his parents) or the people he spends a lot of time with but knows very casually (his teammates, other hockey players) or people who are just fans - SO MANY PEOPLE hated ilya on his behalf. they fed into the rivalry and talked it up to shane and in front of shane because they thought that’s what he felt and what he wanted from them.

and yuna and david HAVE to be thinking about the fact that her son has been in love with this man since 2010 (even though he doesn’t seem to realize they loved each other from the start) and he hasn’t had anyone he could talk to about it, AND EVEN WORSE THAN THAT HE’S HAD TO LISTEN TO EVERYONE TALK ABOUT HOW MUCH THEY HATE HIM AND HOW TERRIBLE HE IS THAT ENTIRE TIME. and shane just had to nod his head and agree with it and take it.

and THAT has to be breaking their hearts.

because even though suspected he might be gay and they know now how terrified he was to come out to them about it, he HAD to be spiraling about the fact that even if they were cool with him being gay and supportive about it - how would they feel about ilya? how would they truly feel about someone they’d actively been telling their son they hate for like a decade? he didn’t even hesitate to tell them that he loved ilya. that he was the only person he’d ever been in love with. and he had to have been so scared that he found the love of his life - who he had been so scared to admit to loving, and so scared to let himself have and now so scared he was going to lose - and he genuinely wasn’t sure if his parents would be able to see past all of the rivalry bullshit that was only true on a surface level. he enjoyed the hell out of competing against ilya, obviously. and he was an asshole, obviously. but he didn’t hate him.

and after yuna and david spend like a few hours at most observing them at the dinner table they know that. it’s so obvious that they’re in love and have been for a long time. and they have to feel awful about missing it.

Fans of professional sports are insane in real life, and I’m sure they’re no better in the HR universe. It’s not unheard of for elite professional athletes to get death threats when they decide to accept a job offer elsewhere. In real life! Usually from fans they’ve never actually met.

In-universe, the league has been raking in money stoking the Hollander vs Rozanov rivalry ever since both of them were just barely old enough to vote. According to the fanwiki, Shane was born May 1991 and Ilya June 1991. Their draft was June 2009, so Ilya may literally have not been quite old enough to vote. Not that I think voting matters much in Russia, but I’m sure you get my point.

Shane said to Rose that when he was 8, it was a few years before the scouts showed up. So canonically he was 10, maybe 11 at the oldest, when he started getting scouted. I’m sure it was the same for Ilya. Probably worse, because I suspect youth sports in Russia are less regulated than in Canada. Adults swarming around pre-pubescent children like Shane and Ilya trying to make money off them.

Yes, elite athletes in popular team sports make a lot of money. At least until they get too old or have a career-ending injury. But there’s an awful lot of other money floating around in pro sports as well. That goes to the team shareholders, the league, the agents. Betting agencies in places where gambling is legal, organized crime where it’s illegal. Also to brands which sponsor athletes and dictate their public image.

And sports media is a huge part of the news media. And usually far more lucrative than traditional journalism. There’s a whole legacy media and new media ecosystem feeding off athletes, teams, and crazy fan antics. Mining everything for content that can be monetized.

Look at the broadcast when Ilya and Shane are only 17 and competing in junior hockey. They’re already famous and already have public personas the broadcasters are helping along. Even though they can’t vote yet and haven’t finished high school.

Fans go nuts over sports, and the league, the media and everyone else who’s profiting encourage them to do so. Hollander vs Rozanov is fun for fans and good for business. Sports is entertainment and the humans in it are just part of the show.

Getting back to the OP’s original point, though. I think one of the reasons Yuna and David come around so fast about Shane and Ilya’s relationship is because they are remembering all the times over the years that they shit talked Ilya. Thinking they were supporting their son, when in fact they were shit-talking the guy their son had been involved with since he was a literal teenager.

connor storrie and hudson williams 📸 for Vanity Fair | The Actors Night 🎭 | pt. 2/? [prev]