Copyright The Boston Globe
This time of year is a little unsexy and unromantic to Love Letters columnist and podcast host, Meredith Goldstein. Why? All of the sports. There are so many games, seemingly every day. Football, hockey, and basketball take over — not to mention the World Series, which can extend into early November. (Congrats to the Dodgers.) On this new episode, Meredith tries to rally for sports — to find new, romantic entry points into fandom, so she can better enjoy a football Sunday. She gets help from two experts. One is The Boston Globe’s own sports columnist Christopher L. Gasper — Meredith’s former roommate — who explains why athletes are fascinating personalities, not unlike characters on television dramas. Chris has long been a fan of love stories, and says that’s one of the reasons he connects to his beat – because it’s all about relationships, passion, and drama. Meredith and Chris’s conversation includes talk about “Vanderpump Rules”; how difficult it can be to date a sports writer; the Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce influence on fans of romance, and the sport Chris believes should have its own romance novel series. (Chris has an idea for a great soccer story.) Advertisement Meredith also talks to best-selling romance novelist Tessa Bailey, who writes steamy tales about baseball, golf, and hockey. In 2024, Meredith moderated a book launch hosted by Brookline Booksmith for “Fangirl Down,” Bailey’s novel about a golf pro in a rut who winds up falling for his No. 1 fan and caddy. Tessa chats about why athletes are great characters, and why Boston is a particularly romantic sports town – because it feels like everyone could be watching the same game. Meredith also learns why women’s sports might be some people’s path to becoming a sports fan without having to try so hard.
