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first-ever official rough notes merch is here!!!!!!! 🥹🥹introducing the “women’s basketball changes everything” tank top!!

pre-order yours to get it in time for the final four & the summer of wnba transformation… consider this the best way to support scrappy independent journalism & make a bold statement about the radical possibilities of wbb, at the same time :)

so thrilled about how these shirts came together 🔥🔥 gorgeous hand-drawn design by @the_serious_goose + printed by @olivestagency for a dreamy bi-coastal oakland + chicago collaboration

🏀women’s basketball changes everything tank top
🏷️$36
🩷available in XS-9XL
📦 shipping starts march 16
❤️‍🔥made with love & shared belief

first-ever official rough notes merch is here!!!!!!! 🥹🥹introducing the “women’s basketball changes everything” tank top!!

pre-order yours to get it in time for the final four & the summer of wnba transformation… consider this the best way to support scrappy independent journalism & make a bold statement about the radical possibilities of wbb, at the same time :)

so thrilled about how these shirts came together 🔥🔥 gorgeous hand-drawn design by @the_serious_goose + printed by @olivestagency for a dreamy bi-coastal oakland + chicago collaboration

🏀women’s basketball changes everything tank top
🏷️$36
🩷available in XS-9XL
📦 shipping starts march 16
❤️‍🔥made with love & shared belief

first-ever official rough notes merch is here!!!!!!! 🥹🥹introducing the “women’s basketball changes everything” tank top!!

pre-order yours to get it in time for the final four & the summer of wnba transformation… consider this the best way to support scrappy independent journalism & make a bold statement about the radical possibilities of wbb, at the same time :)

so thrilled about how these shirts came together 🔥🔥 gorgeous hand-drawn design by @the_serious_goose + printed by @olivestagency for a dreamy bi-coastal oakland + chicago collaboration

🏀women’s basketball changes everything tank top
🏷️$36
🩷available in XS-9XL
📦 shipping starts march 16
❤️‍🔥made with love & shared belief

first-ever official rough notes merch is here!!!!!!! 🥹🥹introducing the “women’s basketball changes everything” tank top!!

pre-order yours to get it in time for the final four & the summer of wnba transformation… consider this the best way to support scrappy independent journalism & make a bold statement about the radical possibilities of wbb, at the same time :)

so thrilled about how these shirts came together 🔥🔥 gorgeous hand-drawn design by @the_serious_goose + printed by @olivestagency for a dreamy bi-coastal oakland + chicago collaboration

🏀women’s basketball changes everything tank top
🏷️$36
🩷available in XS-9XL
📦 shipping starts march 16
❤️‍🔥made with love & shared belief

hi! it’s me, maya goldberg-safir (or mgs). i write rough notes, a substack that follows women’s basketball and its power to transform all of us. my writing is a combo of first-person reporting, deep dives into history & culture, and spilling my guts.

THE BIG NEWS: rough notes is relaunching w/ paid subscriptions on substack. this includes: new design (!!), even more content & VERY CUTE rough notes merch. i’m terrified & excited to share my writing while i travel to arenas around the country, turn strangers into new basketball friends, forever celebrate “the 2005 lesbians” of wnba fandom, and continue to write from the gut. please subscribe to bring these stories to life & feel like you’re part of them, too.

find the link to subscribe in my bio.

🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀

the official rough notes guide to being a golden state @valkyries fan is out! if you’ve been dropped by a magical wnba stork to the steps of ballhalla & need some guidance on becoming, this is for you.

swipe to see an actual image of exhausted valkyries fans on their day off.

the official rough notes guide to being a golden state @valkyries fan is out! if you’ve been dropped by a magical wnba stork to the steps of ballhalla & need some guidance on becoming, this is for you.

swipe to see an actual image of exhausted valkyries fans on their day off.

the official rough notes guide to being a golden state @valkyries fan is out! if you’ve been dropped by a magical wnba stork to the steps of ballhalla & need some guidance on becoming, this is for you.

swipe to see an actual image of exhausted valkyries fans on their day off.

the official rough notes guide to being a golden state @valkyries fan is out! if you’ve been dropped by a magical wnba stork to the steps of ballhalla & need some guidance on becoming, this is for you.

swipe to see an actual image of exhausted valkyries fans on their day off.

tfw the wnba season just tipped off & with it this v v v v v v important & newest member of rough notes nation / the wubble / the anna’s (@ciaoannalg / @agonzal4) attends her first-ever game 🏀🩷 shout-out to the wubble - my primary group text thread since 2021 - for keeping me surrounded by love and community. and yay liberty fannnnnnsssssss 🗽

episode 1 of new news with benjy…. my dad

hi hi i'm on a panel for @kalwpublicmedia's bounce podcast with @roughnotes.mgs and @valkyriessayless TOMORROW, wed, may 6th @ 220 montgomery. we're gonna be talking pre-season predictions and stories we're interested in following this season. come thru! there will be pizza!

WNBA pre-season starts today which means... you need merch! here's my pitch to you for why this sweet shirt should be part of your summer wardrobe (swipe right for reviews from other customers, too) <3

first off, i'm maya (she/her), and i grew up playing basketball in oakland, ca. but it wasn't until i reclaimed my love for the game as an adult that i understood the true power of the sport: how it's always changing, and changing us. this realization led to me dedicate my whole career to writing about the evolutions of women's basketball - and pursuing new/experimental ways of doing it.

i'm an independent writer now, meaning that i both freelance and make my OWN thing: a platform called WNBA Rough Notes. i wanted a space for my own "rough notes" about basketball, writing that *often* breaks the "rules" of traditional journalism. sometimes, i still get in my head about it all. do i belong here? will my work speak to other people? am i allowed to be a creative weirdo... in sports?!

this is the journey + process i'm figuring out on through WNBA Rough Notes. it's the one place where i have editorial control. where i can share a more personal, nuanced, emotional experience of covering women's basketball. where i can focus on untold stories of queerness, marginalization & grassroots solidarity in the sport. where i push myself to take creative risks that matter. where this summer i'm covering the valkyries up close, unpacking the complex story of the wnba's 30th season, investigating historic inequalities & abuse in the sport, and - hopefully - making you feel more ~seen~ as part of this story, too.

if you believe in this vision, please consider ordering your own tank top or t-shirt. you're directly supporting Rough Notes, fueling a shared belief in this work, AND you get to make a bold statement of your own: that women's basketball really does have the power to change everything!

cropped tanks: S-2XL
cropped t-shirts: XS-3XL
$36 (!)
link in bio <3

s/o to the artists i worked with to make these beautiful shirts! collaboration is everything @the_serious_goose & @olivestagency

WNBA pre-season starts today which means... you need merch! here's my pitch to you for why this sweet shirt should be part of your summer wardrobe (swipe right for reviews from other customers, too) <3

first off, i'm maya (she/her), and i grew up playing basketball in oakland, ca. but it wasn't until i reclaimed my love for the game as an adult that i understood the true power of the sport: how it's always changing, and changing us. this realization led to me dedicate my whole career to writing about the evolutions of women's basketball - and pursuing new/experimental ways of doing it.

i'm an independent writer now, meaning that i both freelance and make my OWN thing: a platform called WNBA Rough Notes. i wanted a space for my own "rough notes" about basketball, writing that *often* breaks the "rules" of traditional journalism. sometimes, i still get in my head about it all. do i belong here? will my work speak to other people? am i allowed to be a creative weirdo... in sports?!

this is the journey + process i'm figuring out on through WNBA Rough Notes. it's the one place where i have editorial control. where i can share a more personal, nuanced, emotional experience of covering women's basketball. where i can focus on untold stories of queerness, marginalization & grassroots solidarity in the sport. where i push myself to take creative risks that matter. where this summer i'm covering the valkyries up close, unpacking the complex story of the wnba's 30th season, investigating historic inequalities & abuse in the sport, and - hopefully - making you feel more ~seen~ as part of this story, too.

if you believe in this vision, please consider ordering your own tank top or t-shirt. you're directly supporting Rough Notes, fueling a shared belief in this work, AND you get to make a bold statement of your own: that women's basketball really does have the power to change everything!

cropped tanks: S-2XL
cropped t-shirts: XS-3XL
$36 (!)
link in bio <3

s/o to the artists i worked with to make these beautiful shirts! collaboration is everything @the_serious_goose & @olivestagency

WNBA pre-season starts today which means... you need merch! here's my pitch to you for why this sweet shirt should be part of your summer wardrobe (swipe right for reviews from other customers, too) <3

first off, i'm maya (she/her), and i grew up playing basketball in oakland, ca. but it wasn't until i reclaimed my love for the game as an adult that i understood the true power of the sport: how it's always changing, and changing us. this realization led to me dedicate my whole career to writing about the evolutions of women's basketball - and pursuing new/experimental ways of doing it.

i'm an independent writer now, meaning that i both freelance and make my OWN thing: a platform called WNBA Rough Notes. i wanted a space for my own "rough notes" about basketball, writing that *often* breaks the "rules" of traditional journalism. sometimes, i still get in my head about it all. do i belong here? will my work speak to other people? am i allowed to be a creative weirdo... in sports?!

this is the journey + process i'm figuring out on through WNBA Rough Notes. it's the one place where i have editorial control. where i can share a more personal, nuanced, emotional experience of covering women's basketball. where i can focus on untold stories of queerness, marginalization & grassroots solidarity in the sport. where i push myself to take creative risks that matter. where this summer i'm covering the valkyries up close, unpacking the complex story of the wnba's 30th season, investigating historic inequalities & abuse in the sport, and - hopefully - making you feel more ~seen~ as part of this story, too.

if you believe in this vision, please consider ordering your own tank top or t-shirt. you're directly supporting Rough Notes, fueling a shared belief in this work, AND you get to make a bold statement of your own: that women's basketball really does have the power to change everything!

cropped tanks: S-2XL
cropped t-shirts: XS-3XL
$36 (!)
link in bio <3

s/o to the artists i worked with to make these beautiful shirts! collaboration is everything @the_serious_goose & @olivestagency

WNBA pre-season starts today which means... you need merch! here's my pitch to you for why this sweet shirt should be part of your summer wardrobe (swipe right for reviews from other customers, too) <3

first off, i'm maya (she/her), and i grew up playing basketball in oakland, ca. but it wasn't until i reclaimed my love for the game as an adult that i understood the true power of the sport: how it's always changing, and changing us. this realization led to me dedicate my whole career to writing about the evolutions of women's basketball - and pursuing new/experimental ways of doing it.

i'm an independent writer now, meaning that i both freelance and make my OWN thing: a platform called WNBA Rough Notes. i wanted a space for my own "rough notes" about basketball, writing that *often* breaks the "rules" of traditional journalism. sometimes, i still get in my head about it all. do i belong here? will my work speak to other people? am i allowed to be a creative weirdo... in sports?!

this is the journey + process i'm figuring out on through WNBA Rough Notes. it's the one place where i have editorial control. where i can share a more personal, nuanced, emotional experience of covering women's basketball. where i can focus on untold stories of queerness, marginalization & grassroots solidarity in the sport. where i push myself to take creative risks that matter. where this summer i'm covering the valkyries up close, unpacking the complex story of the wnba's 30th season, investigating historic inequalities & abuse in the sport, and - hopefully - making you feel more ~seen~ as part of this story, too.

if you believe in this vision, please consider ordering your own tank top or t-shirt. you're directly supporting Rough Notes, fueling a shared belief in this work, AND you get to make a bold statement of your own: that women's basketball really does have the power to change everything!

cropped tanks: S-2XL
cropped t-shirts: XS-3XL
$36 (!)
link in bio <3

s/o to the artists i worked with to make these beautiful shirts! collaboration is everything @the_serious_goose & @olivestagency

super excited to share a guest dispatch on full circle wnba fandom from local phoenix hero @yezyesyall of @phxqueerhoopers & an essay i wrote for @oaklandreviewofbooks, edited by the one-and-only @tcraggs22 - it’s an epic romp through the history of queer ‘guerrilla investigation’ into the wnba, a force of reclamation, community and unregulated inquiry. hella proud of this gay ass super-bay area piece (also kind of a re-incarnation of my 2012 undergrad thesis, lol) and hope you can use it as a gateway drug for wbb-curious queers ❤️‍🔥

super excited to share a guest dispatch on full circle wnba fandom from local phoenix hero @yezyesyall of @phxqueerhoopers & an essay i wrote for @oaklandreviewofbooks, edited by the one-and-only @tcraggs22 - it’s an epic romp through the history of queer ‘guerrilla investigation’ into the wnba, a force of reclamation, community and unregulated inquiry. hella proud of this gay ass super-bay area piece (also kind of a re-incarnation of my 2012 undergrad thesis, lol) and hope you can use it as a gateway drug for wbb-curious queers ❤️‍🔥

super excited to share a guest dispatch on full circle wnba fandom from local phoenix hero @yezyesyall of @phxqueerhoopers & an essay i wrote for @oaklandreviewofbooks, edited by the one-and-only @tcraggs22 - it’s an epic romp through the history of queer ‘guerrilla investigation’ into the wnba, a force of reclamation, community and unregulated inquiry. hella proud of this gay ass super-bay area piece (also kind of a re-incarnation of my 2012 undergrad thesis, lol) and hope you can use it as a gateway drug for wbb-curious queers ❤️‍🔥

turns out all we could do was imagine 💔💔💔 in oakland, this one hurt.

ooof, had to pause everything to get this off my chest & go down memory lane. i spent 13 years living in chicago, and in so many ways my heart is still in sky town. all love to @angel.reese forever, from chicagoans who cherished your time with us. read more & subscribe on substack - link in bio!

ooof, had to pause everything to get this off my chest & go down memory lane. i spent 13 years living in chicago, and in so many ways my heart is still in sky town. all love to @angel.reese forever, from chicagoans who cherished your time with us. read more & subscribe on substack - link in bio!

ooof, had to pause everything to get this off my chest & go down memory lane. i spent 13 years living in chicago, and in so many ways my heart is still in sky town. all love to @angel.reese forever, from chicagoans who cherished your time with us. read more & subscribe on substack - link in bio!

ooof, had to pause everything to get this off my chest & go down memory lane. i spent 13 years living in chicago, and in so many ways my heart is still in sky town. all love to @angel.reese forever, from chicagoans who cherished your time with us. read more & subscribe on substack - link in bio!

ooof, had to pause everything to get this off my chest & go down memory lane. i spent 13 years living in chicago, and in so many ways my heart is still in sky town. all love to @angel.reese forever, from chicagoans who cherished your time with us. read more & subscribe on substack - link in bio!

ooof, had to pause everything to get this off my chest & go down memory lane. i spent 13 years living in chicago, and in so many ways my heart is still in sky town. all love to @angel.reese forever, from chicagoans who cherished your time with us. read more & subscribe on substack - link in bio!

ooof, had to pause everything to get this off my chest & go down memory lane. i spent 13 years living in chicago, and in so many ways my heart is still in sky town. all love to @angel.reese forever, from chicagoans who cherished your time with us. read more & subscribe on substack - link in bio!

soooOOoOo much is happening… including: congrats to @uclawbb + the winners of the rough notes + wubble bracket challenge!!!! i’ve got prizes for the winner, “kingrah23’s Picks 2” — hit me up here or at m dot goldbergsafir at gmail dot com. 2nd - 4th place folks, pls also get in touch in case i don’t hear from the winner within the next week, and ill move to the next in line 🩷

most importantly: SWIPE FOR SOME OF MY FAVE BRACKET NAMES 🤷🏻‍♂️🐻🏳️‍🌈😝(pls also claim those lol)

soooOOoOo much is happening… including: congrats to @uclawbb + the winners of the rough notes + wubble bracket challenge!!!! i’ve got prizes for the winner, “kingrah23’s Picks 2” — hit me up here or at m dot goldbergsafir at gmail dot com. 2nd - 4th place folks, pls also get in touch in case i don’t hear from the winner within the next week, and ill move to the next in line 🩷

most importantly: SWIPE FOR SOME OF MY FAVE BRACKET NAMES 🤷🏻‍♂️🐻🏳️‍🌈😝(pls also claim those lol)

if i have one take away from last night it’s that elite players - & not always coaches (!!) - are increasingly setting the example, especially when bringing trust & relationship-building to the forefront. that’s something @staley05 has fostered at @gamecockwbb, with grace & honesty, and one other programs like @calwbball are intentionally building. im thrilled to see @cbgtaniya & @hollywood_raven’s self-made bond shining so bright right now! link to the full story on @fansided in bio.