Leave parasocial relationships with athletes where they belong

Hockey may not be everyone’s favorite sport, but it’s the background of everyone’s favorite romance shows. 

Between “Heated Rivalry” and “Off Campus,” hockey viewership and fanfare has increased for the 2026-2027 season. In its most recent edition, GQ Sports tackled an interview with San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini, who’s rocketed into an unusual celebrity for a professional hockey player. 

In the article by GQ Reporter Nick Remsen, one would expect Celebrini to talk about his recent captaincy — he’s the youngest captain in Sharks history and the youngest current captain in the NHL, after all — or his voracious reading habits. 

Nope. 

Remsen decided to focus on how Macklin’s friendship with his teammate, center Will Smith, has become a hot topic among fans of the sport. And to put a cherry on top of the deranged line of questioning, Remsen kept focusing on the attention Celebrini has gotten from female fans. 

“As his profile has risen, he has become an unwitting target of intrigue, fascination, and parasocial projection among those series’ many (mostly female) viewers, who are eager to find examples of, or at least hopeful stand-ins for, their fictional fantasies in the real world,” Remsen wrote. 

Scroll a bit further down, and Remsen has linked Celebrini’s tag on Wattpad, a popular website to publish fanfiction. 

Only a few paragraphs later, Remsen talked about Celebrini and Smith’s interactions while playing in college, writing that “the duo’s rivalry on the ice was initially… heated.”

Remsen even goes so far as to ask Celebrini what he thinks about the narratives people have created about him and the fan fictions posted. In his answer, Celebrini is described as “seemingly ready to move on to another topic.”

As a sports journalist, and as a woman, I’m distressed reading this article for a multitude of reasons. 

Remsen’s idea that female fans of hockey are only there to fill “hopeful stand-ins” for their favorite fictional players is absurd. Not only does it diminish faithful fans, but it creates an uncomfortable air around the thought of women watching hockey. 

This sport is already hard enough to be a fan of as a woman — it doesn’t need to be multiplied. 

As for Remsen’s rampant attention on the sexualization of Celebrini in the media, under no journalistic ethics should one make their interviewee as uncomfortable as Remsen did in those moments. 

It’s clear in Celebrini’s reactions — which Remsen included in the article, to his own detriment — that he doesn’t particularly like the attention he’s garnering. It’s not his fault there are certain people pushing a narrative on him he doesn’t fit into. 

Harping on the fact that Celebrini and Smith can be seen by people as more than just friends also perpetuates the idea men can’t show emotions in friendships, or at all. 

Hockey is a hyper-masculine sport. Celebrini and Smith’s friendship cuts through that, showing young men that, even in a sport where you’re expected to be as tough as nails, it’s okay to relax and have fun with your friends. Celebrini himself brings this up in the GQ article. 

“We were the worst team in the league,” Celebrini told Remsen. “We have no business enjoying ourselves as much as we did.”

This is the kind of story a journalist wants out of an interview with a star player. It shows his personality and his humility. Remsen had the opportunity to give the world a glimpse into who Celebrini is as a person, but he chose to add to the media frenzy Celebrini has had to face as a young athlete in the spotlight. 

GQ had a chance to show both sides of what makes Celebrini popular — his incredible athleticism and hockey IQ, as well as his appeal with younger audiences. 

The remarkable photoshoot demonstrates that Celebrini is a young and attractive player. Combined with Remsen’s article, the entire feature pushes that narrative too hard. 

All Remsen had to do was humanize Celebrini. 

He could’ve asked about Celebrini’s approach to being a young captain of a team full of veterans. By asking about Celebrini’s book club with Smith, Remsen could have shone a light on the importance of literacy and reading. Even focusing strictly on Celebrini’s hockey career and statistics would’ve produced a better article than this. 

Celebrini is one of the youngest and highest-paid athletes in the league, but his success is often overshadowed by awkward parasocial relationships and uncomfortable questions. 

I love that more people, especially women, have become fans of a sport I’ve loved for a while. But when weird interactions and parasocial relationships get to the point where even journalists are perpetuating them, it’s time to reevaluate your view of the sport and its athletes.