Maddy has been combining her love of the WNBA with her skills in math and coding (she’s literally a Math PhD candidate). She’s the face of @wnbadata, a TikTok page where she presents her findings on WNBA stats, from investigating player’s performances to fact checking coach’s bold claims.

But we were first introduced to Maddy when her WNBA junk journal came across our fyp.

@wnbadatahope this helps you prepare for the wnba finals! #beckyhammon #wnbafinals #junkjournal #southdakota

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It’s a hobby passed down from her mom, she tells us. Maddy’s mom collects old children’s books and rebinds the spine with scrap paper and other found material. The journal begins as a blank canvas for Maddy, with hidden fold-out pages and a variety of different paper.

There are no real rules to a junk journal, Maddy explains to us. It’s the game of one woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure. Pieces from a board game found in the bottom of the Good Will bins, coffee-dyed pages of old homework, it’s all fair game.

When Cheryl Reeves was suspended, Maddy went straight to the drawing board.

She even embodied Cheryl with a handwritten list of all of her grievances.

Maddy also documented Sandy Brondello getting fired, casting her paper cut-outs as Spongebob characters, because why not! If you have a Squidward sticker laying around, use it!

Bonus addition: Maddy’s Bill Belichick page. Follow your heart, even if it takes you out of the WNBA fandom for a second. We know you’ll always find your way home.

Thank you so much Maddy for sharing your amazing junk journal with us. Our post-season depression is alleviated — we’re inspired.

There’s still plenty to process and unpack from this season. We’ve become attached to our favorite players and we can’t let them go. Luckily, some will be playing in Unrivaled. And others we’ll just have to Instagram stalk and make junk journal collages for them. Time to get crafty.

Xoxo,

Tunnel Wars

But the GOOD news is we have New York Liberty’s one and only, Isabelle Harrison with us.

Before we get to our very special guest, Minnie and Lily had to debrief on some rumors. Apparently the murmurs that Pazzi has broken up have been put to bed, but we need pics to prove it. What we can be pretty sure of is that Saniya and Marina are over. We’re going through the five stages of grief and right now it’s bargaining. We’ll move to Connecticut for you!

So, we heard the MNBA season just started. Yes, that’s what we’re calling it. Sorry boys, we’re too busy getting ready for Unrivaled.

In this week’s tunnel we’re looking at some of the best looks from last year’s Sephora black carpet. We’ve got Tiffany Hayes’ newspaper print pants, Angel Reese debuting her McDonald’s meal, Skylar Diggins as an undercover detective, Rickea Jackson’s sexy red fur look, and more.

Now for our girl, Isabelle.

Did you know Izzy was the team’s honorary DJ?? We got the inside scoop, from being distracted by Ellie during timeouts, to feeling the roaring energy of Barclays, how New York has influenced her style, and what it’s like being in a couple on the same team. Speaking of family, Izzy and Natasha Cloud have three precious dogs together, and they are most definitely their babies! Izzy told us about their favorite late night meal and her cheat code to traveling, which is always packing ranch, BBQ sauce, and Adobo seasoning when she’s going overseas. Genius.

Tune in to the episode to hear the rest of our conversation with pro-baller Isabelle Harrison. We have still yet to come down from the high of meeting one of our idols. What a way to wrap the first season of Tunnel Wars.

Thank you all for joining us this season, we had a blast. This isn’t goodbye, just see you later :)

Xoxo,

Lily, Minnie, Ian, & Aya

The director of the pod, Minnie Bennett came out from behind the camera to discuss the Aces championship sweep. Lily had to get a day pass from Sling TV just to tune in. Now that’s a real fan. Our friend, Quentin Belt, the photographer of New York’s downtown scene joined us to debrief the championship game, from A’ja’s on the court sneaker debut to Becky Hammon’s iconic facial expressions.

Now that the season is over, we have some critiques. The Aces drank Michelob out of champagne-sized bottles? Interesting choice. Commissioner Cathy needs to find out whatever Coach Becky is doing to maintain her blonde. And if the League is reading this, we’d like to toss Minnie’s name in the ring for the next Commissioner. After all that booing on ESPN, you need some fresh blood.

But when it comes to A’ja and Bam, we have no notes. Love and Basketball wins.

We had the pleasure of sitting down with Esther Wallace, the designer and founder of Playa Society. You don’t have to be the world’s biggest WNBA fan to have seen Esther’s iconic T-shirts. We talked about the early days of the company, when her warehouse was her mom’s living room and her Kia was stuffed with boxes of sweatshirts. Even with 70 player T-shirts this season, Esther’s DMs are flooded with fans requesting sketches of their favorite players.

If you’re thinking about holiday shopping already, Esther hinted at some new items coming soon. If you’re interested in some exclusive Tunnel Wars merch? Comment below.

Xoxo,

Tunnel Wars

Tiana Randall, a style and beauty writer for Forbes Magazine gave us further insight into how players like Ty have broadened what the W can be.

xoxo,

Tunnel Wars

The tunnel was never supposed to be cool. Originally, it was just a passage, a strip of concrete meant for hauling goods, running utilities, or shuttling buses. But for athletes, it’s evolved into something closer to a pregame runway. In the NBA, the ritual really took off in the late ’90s, with one of the earliest moments being Michael Jordan in Paris, stepping off the bus in a beret and shuffling into a tunnel filled with reporters and paparazzi. Who’s to say that wasn’t the first tunnel fit?

What we do know is that it took another decade and a half before the tunnel became a real spectacle for women in the mid-to-late 2010s. Nobody was really documenting them in the tunnels or after games. For a long time, one of the only chances fans had to catch a glimpse of WNBA style was media day: the annual double-duty ritual where players not only faced the press but posed for those in-uniform team photos that would follow them all season, on posters, on TV, on trading cards, etc. It was either that or All-Star portraits or post-championship photos.

And while today’s media days double as a platform for players pinned photos on their Instagram grid, showing off their best fits and personalities, in the 2000s, they were anything but personal. Back then, the WNBA was still fresh, intent on projecting a marketable, “safe” image to win over future audiences. For many executives at the time, that allegedly meant one thing: being straight, or at least looking the part. In the 2022 documentary Dream On, which traced the making of the 1996 USA Women’s Basketball team and the birth of the WNBA, Rebecca Lobo recalled that, at the league’s genesis, players weren’t just “guinea pigs” for how the game would be played, they were experiments in how it would be sold. “We had to look and act a certain way,” she said. That way: being straight.

Sue Bird, former Seattle Storm guard, has been candid about this. Bird, who didn’t come out until she was 37, spent most of her career as the face of a league that didn’t fully embrace her whole self. “It was basically told to me that the only way I was going to have success from a marketing standpoint was to really sell this straight, girl-next-door image,” Bird says on the Pablo Torres Finds Out Podcast. “This is the way we’re going to sell the league, and, like, ‘Do you want to help the league grow?’” she was asked at just 21 years old. And at the time, it made sense. It was the early 2000s when being openly gay in sports, in general, carried a different weight.

Now, the WNBA is abundant with players across the queer spectrum, where most players are either a stud or bud. It’s gotten to the point where being straight is a rarity, even jokingly dubbed “power straight” if you’re the only one on the team. But back then, Bird played along. She followed orders, posing for risqué shoots, attending premieres on the arms of men, and embodying that straight-girl-next-door fantasy plenty of teenage boys could hang on their bedroom walls.

Looking back at 2002 to 2011, “selling the league” often meant baring a lot of skin. The early to mid-aughts were all about halter tops, crop tops, plunging V and swoop-necks, asymmetrical cuts paired with short skirts, or that iconic crossed-neck halter slip dress — the look of a carefully crafted fantasy. But for players who were more masculine and openly gay — like Teresa Weatherspoon or Nicky McCrimmon — the uniform softened into white button-ups, unstructured suit jackets, corduroy pants, or velour track suits. The straight and gay codes were there, written in plain sight for anyone who wanted to see or was paying attention. Yet behind those outfits, for so many women, they were never seen or captured in the tunnel, but in the glass closet.

That same sentiment was spoken about in the new Diana Taurasi docuseries, Taurasi, on Prime. Journalist Kate Fagan says, “In the early days of the WNBA, they felt they had to capture the cookie-cutter audience they thought would bring in the bigger dollars and keep advertisers happy. Everybody had to be presented as straight, hyper-feminized, mainstream, quiet women.” And this was about Diana — slicked-back hair, sharp one-liners, buttoned-up shirt — Taurasi. Yet even Taurasi, one of the most unapologetic players the league has ever seen, fell in line.

It wasn’t about betraying herself so much as navigating an unwritten handbook rooted in a very specific idea of femininity, one designed to reassure corporate sponsors and traditional audiences that women’s basketball wouldn’t disrupt gender norms. For Taurasi, that meant showing up in halter tops, lipstick, and low-cut jeans, a curated version of herself that fit neatly into the league’s early branding strategy. The photos and outfit choices, although funny looking back on, are a reminder that in the WNBA’s formative years, style wasn’t a means for individualism, it was a form of compliance, a uniform stitched together as much for optics as for sport.

There were countless moments in WNBA history when executives and marketers undermined players’ true identities, but the move was always packaged as strategy, a way to build a league that could appeal to men, even if it meant eroding the very foundation they were laying. It was a contradiction baked into the league’s early DNA: sell authenticity, but only the kind that fit a predetermined mold. So when we revisit those old media day photos and see masculine-presenting lesbians dressed in sparkly tank tops and Y2K jeweled belts — it’s more than nostalgia. It’s proof that image-making in the WNBA often meant smoothing out the edges that made these players who they really were.

But the league, through the help of the players and fans, is making slow but big steps: implementing WNBA Pride nights and even poking light at the lesbian and queer domination of the league via multiple teams’ social media accounts. There are lesbian power couples from older generations like Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe, and Diana Taurasi and Penny Taylor, who have been front and center of the women’s sports world. And the league is now even emphasizing its more masc’ players like the Natiesha Hiedman and Courtney Williams of Studbudz. Proving you can sell the league, without having to lose a part of yourself, something as core as your identity or sexuality.

This week’s special guest is WNBA legend, reality TV star, gay icon, and total charmer, Ty Young. Ty imparted many words of wisdom, like the importance of routine when it comes to playing your best game. If Ty won a game in a certain sports bra, she’s going to wear the same bra the next game, and the next game, until she loses in it. Superstitious? Maybe. To us that’s the power of a sports bra.

We took a trip down memory lane along Ty’s style evolution, examining masc trends from skinny jeans and fedoras, to slouchy socks and bike shorts. Ty remembers when the status quo in the tunnel was business casual and no one was allowed to wear ripped jeans, let alone a puffer jacket filled with milk (looking at you Skylar Diggins).

Speaking of a new era, we need to talk about Ellie. Liberty may have fallen but as Ty said, “Ellie is that girl” and we think she may have gotten a BBL.

Watch the full episode for more. See you next time.

Xoxo,

Tunnel Wars

This week we’re joined by goth basketball player Caitlin Cunningham, but you may know them from the internet as Caitlin Dark. If you’ve ever wanted vampire fangs, Caitlin gave us the inside scoop on how it’s done. Plus a deep dive into goth varieties. Spoiler, Ian is going full Victorian era goth.

Stop measuring your height and start measuring your wing span! That’s right, here at Tunnel Wars we brought the world’s longest measuring tape to find out who has the longest arms: Ian, Lily, or Caitlin. Tune in to find out who… the answer might surprise you (hint: it’s not Lily).

Our next guest this week is Heather Bates, celebrity make-up artist to some of our favorite WNBA players and teams. We truly needed a professional like Heather to explain how some players still have a perfect full beat by the end of the game.

You might not recognize Lily after Heather gives them a mini-makeover. Lily couldn’t stop batting their beautiful eyelashes during the tunnel looks.

Speaking of the tunnel, this week we’re looking at MVPs and rookies. We’ve got A’ja Wilson rocking stolen Balenciaga from her boyfriend’s closet, Breanna Stewart’s mod look, Allisha Gray’s unbeatable on court style, Alyssa Thomas’ Lil Jon length shorts, Paige Bueckers doing mid-nineties Delia’s catalog, Sonia Citron in a full matrix ensemble, and more.

‘Til next time.

Xoxo,

Ian and Lily

– Lily “Pretty Fly for a White Guy” Marotta

2001 Nike Triax Watch

• Armored Chrono Stainless Steal

• Water resistant

• Never worn

• Y2K Swag

• Rare

WNBA Basketball Barbie Outfit

• WNBA #57

• Satin Jacket, Knee Pads, Socks & Shoes

• Genius

• My goal size

1996 USA Women's Basketball Olympic Champions Snapback Hat

• Starter snapback hat

• Blueprint for how all hats should look

• The team that launched the WNBA: Lisa Leslie, Rebecca Lobo, Teresa Edwards, Sheryl Swoopes and Dawn Staley

• Very rare and you will make everyone very jealous

2001 Nike Air Swoopes VI

• Sheryl Swoopes (icon)

• Seller says “Please don't low ball me”

• Sexy

• Install this in your home as a modern pop culture sculpture

Nike Sheryl Swoopes Air Zoom BABY

• Released 1997 (my favorite year)

• Make other babies jealous by rocking these

• Has no sole

Nike Lisa Leslie Air L9 Total Air 9

• Lisa Leslie (icon)

• Made in 1999 (another iconic year for fashion)

• The use of champagne on the sole is breathtaking

• According to the seller “Lisa Leslie had one shoe come out in 1998. This sample is from 1999 and is almost certainly a prototype for her second shoe that was never produced. It is extremely rare and most likely one of a kind.”

Nike Lisa Leslie Passion Has No Gender Tee

• I found this one by search Jock + Pansexual + Nike

• I wanna see this as a bumper sticker on a old Subaru

• A+ typesetting

• Front says “Hardwood Sisterhood”

WNBA Charlotte Sting Jersey

• RIP Charlotte Sting

• Why did the city of Charlotte have a stronghold on style in the 90’s

• 23 Vicki Bullett

• Gatorade “G”

• Craving Gatorade now

WNBA Houston Comets Warm-up Shooting Shirt

• RIP Houston Comets

• Zip Polo need I say more

• This has such sexy stern butch coach energy

Nike “Supreme Court” Mesh Basketball Shorts

• Perfect thin waistband

• Varsity colorway

• 90s

Sheryl Swoopes Discover Card Ad

• Move over AmEx it pays to DISCOVER

• Contempo Casuals Shoutout

• Hot clipping

• 1997

• Literally frame this for the Swoopes fan in your life

Join us in the fun of watching, waiting and lowballing or be like Ian and “Buy Now” at full price.

First things first, we’re going shopping. Lily’s been busy this week lowballing Ebay sellers and found some gems like a pair of vintage Lisa Leslie L9 sneakers in Aya’s size and a WNBA Barbie outfit for Ian. We’re gatekeeping until we lose our bids.

School is in session, and our resident WNBA stats expert, Professor Aya Brown is calling out the W’s referees for bad calls and no calls. Pop quiz: What are fouls? (And how do you pronounce it?) Raise your hand if you know what a defensive foul is… anyone? Bonus points if you can give us the definition of a flagrant foul.

This week in the tunnel we’re shifting our focus to non-players. We’re talking about courtsiders: the coaches, sports analysts, and fans. We’ve got a trio of ESPN commentators looking like The Powerpuff Girls, Sandy Brondello losing her cool in a powder blue tie, Patti Lupone’s pout, and collegiate coaches that put the best dressed players to shame.

Lastly, congratulations Paige Bueckers for making 44 points in one game and only missing 4 shots. Yes, 4 shots! That’s Paige BUCKETS to you. Major respect.

Stay tuned for our preloved shopping recs and see you next time.

Xoxo,

Ian and Lily

We’ve seen it happen at every Met Gala. We’re just waiting for it to happen in the tunnel. So let’s do some investigating and maybe debunk a few more myths.

In Episode 4, we talked with stylist Amadi Brooks about Sydney Colson’s cheeky poke at Commissioner Cathy’s Alice + Olivia dress. Sydney found it on the rack at Nordstrom’s shortly after Cathy wore it and they knew she couldn’t leave the store without it.

@justwomenssports

Cathy wore the dress at the 2024 WNBA championship and the Liberty won. Sydney left the dress in her closet until this season she brought it out for a game between the Indiana Fever and New York Liberty. And guess who won…Liberty again.

Which brings us to our next conspiracy theory. A Tunnel Wars original, conceived in Ep 2: The better you look in the tunnel, the more you’re gonna lose. Sydney Colson looked incredible in that New York skyline dress and that’s a fact. Maybe they didn’t win the game, but she won the Tunnel War. We’ll start our own points system.

Now that we’re starting to see the 2025 Championship on the horizon, we’re paying extra close attention to each tunnel fit. Looking for any clues that might add to our fashion conspiracies. Not to mention the infamous Commissioner’s Cup Curse from Ep 3. Win the cup, lose the championship. Fever won the cup but with 4 injured stars they’ll be lucky to make it past round 1 in the playoffs.

Fine, we’ll admit it. We’re not bothering to bet on Fan Duels, we’re putting down money on who's going to be the best dressed. It’s called Tunnel WARS for a reason. So here’s our final conclusions on the fashion myths.

1. Don’t be afraid to wear the same dress as someone else. Be Messy. And wear it better.

2. Adding onto #1, don’t be afraid to re-wear the same outfit. Stylist Amadi Brooks shows us how to re-style pieces in her Instagram segment, “WTWW: What To Wear Wednesdays”. Amadi is inspiring us to be creative and sustainable. Thank you, queen.

3. Always dress to impress. Even if you lose, you still look fly doing it.

4. Don’t play it safe. Wear something crazy so we can talk about it in the next podcast episode.

Stay tuned next week for an all new episode of Tunnel Wars.

xoxo,

Nikesha

Speaking of Studz, we’ve got a special guest this week to discuss the best of Stud fits. Joining us today is L, the Associate Creative Director of Highsnobiety. Also known for their work at Complex Sneakers, Flight Club, and Sneakers N Stuff.

L is our resident sneaker expert and just educated us on the term, P.E. shoe. Which in case you were wondering is NOT a sneaker you wear to gym class. Obviously, it stands for Player’s Edition shoe. Thank you L.

Even more wise words from L on this episode. We were given the holy words of the Stud Bible. Yes, you read that right. You’ll have to tune in to get the full scoop, but here’s a sneak peak.

The Holy Stud Bible

1. Always keep a photo of Gayle King in your wallet.

2. The only acceptable open-toed shoe is a slide.

We discussed the trials and tribulations of getting ready as a Stud. The fashion crisis of deciding between THESE huge shorts or THOSE huge shorts. And according to L, if you’ve never had a Bob the Builder phase, are you even gay?

We’ve got some power looks in the tunnel this week: Tina Charles looking like a secure credit card, Emily Engstler demonstrating the perfect white sock + loafer combo, Arike Ogunbowale is not afraid to match her Kobe x F.C. Barcelona jersey and kicks, Brittney Syke’s proving the “tie as a belt” is back, Temi Fagbenle’s Balenciaga cat suit, and Syd Colson’s three piece birthday suit.

Xoxo,

Ian and Lily

Tiana is a creative producer and editor, currently writing for Forbes Magazine, covering all things fashion and the W. Amadi is best known for styling WNBA legends like A’ja Wilson, Jackie Young, Sheryl Swoopes, and of course, her girlfriend Sydney Colson of the Indiana Fever.

Together, we unpack the lore behind Commissioner Cathy’s Alice + Olivia New York skyline dress and Sydney Colson’s subtle troll, wearing the exact same look. Who wore it better? (If you said Syd you’re correct, sorry Cath.)

Speaking of commissioners, ever heard of the Commissioner’s Cup Curse? Win the Cup, lose the championship. The Fever took the Cup… so does that mean the Lynx are going all the way? It’s mid season and we’re looking at standings and making predictions.

We’re going into this episode’s tunnel looks with a trained eye thanks to Amadi and Tiana.

We’ve got the LA Spark’s buzzer beater Rickea Jackson channeling Vivica A. Fox, Golden State Valkyries’ Tiffany Hayes in oversized everything, Connecticut Sun’s newest couple Saniya Rivers and Marina Mabrey in matching looks, Seattle Storm’s record setting rookie Dominique Malonga in school girl socks, and much more.

One last thing, Tiana asked us who’s Courtney and who’s Natisha in this relationship but we just want to know which one of us is a Stud and who is a Bud?

xoxo,

Ian & Lily

Aya Brown is here to give us the lowdown on the All Star draft. If you don’t know too much about the rules, Aya says it’s pretty much just like R&B Divas; fans, players and media vote for their favorite player but mostly the fans.

We have some good news and some bad news…One of our favorite WNBA couples is getting split up. Buuut another fave couple is reuniting. You win some, you lose some. Tune in to find out who.

Now to the tunnel fits. Line Up (by Fits)with Napheesa Collier’s rhinestone basketball purse, Gabby Williams top to bottom, Skyler Diggins’ sci-fi era, Jackie Young’s touch of femme, Rhyne Howard with the right length jorts, and wait a second…is that Sean Kingston on Kelsey Mitchell’s purse? Watch the episode for even more looks.

Yours truly,

Futch Budz

We’re trying out a rebrand…what do you think? Let us know in the comments.

Anyway, so much has happened both on and off the court, so let’s get into it… or out of it.

This episode we’re joined with two special guests: Aya Brown and Kirsten Chen.

First up is Aya Brown, Brooklyn-based artist, TELFAR TV personality, GUSH host, and WNBA fanatic. We already know you’re going to love Aya because she’s a Stud Budz fan too.

In breaking news, Pazzi is REAL. Paige and Azzi hard launched their relationship with a phone case merch statement. “Please keep being gay, WNBA.” – Aya

But it hasn’t all been rainbows and fireworks in the W. A heated moment between Caitlin, Jacy, Sophie, and Marina left us needing a professional lip reader to give us some answers.

Last week was shorts, this week we’re talking sleeves. From arm sleeves, to tights under shorts, and the single leg look, are these fashion statements or medical needs? Joining us to discuss is Kirsten Chen aka hotgothwriter. She’s styled some of our favorite players: Dijonai Carrington, Shakira Austin, and Isabelle Harrison and is the Fashion Editor for the WNBA making weekly content for her series “The W in Designer”.

Last but definitely not least, this week’s tunnel looks roundup. We’ve got Isabelle Harrison’s Louis Vuitton bustier, Ian’s crush of the year: Sug Sutton in camo, Nyara and Satou Sabally’s double denim look, DIY diva Olivia Nelson Ododa, and many more.

We’re convinced, the better you look in the tunnel, the more you’re gonna lose. Are we wrong?

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Lily’s Guide To Wearing Shorts

• The lower you wear your shorts, the more of a top you are.

• The bigger the shorts, the closer to God.

Ian is lowballing people on Grailed and Lily is kindoflikeshaking right now at Tiffany Mitchell in Ed Hardy.

We’ll never be the same after witnessing Chelsea Gray in what Lily likes to call a “funky towel with a blazer.” Chelsea just reinvented the Fashion Short and it’s terry cloth.

New business idea: Nike cropping station at Pride. Walk in with a T-shirt, walk out with a cropped shirt. Get on it, Nike, or Ian and Lily are taking it to Shark Tank.

Ian and Lily’s other favorite looks this week include Maddy Westbeld’s Sue Ellen Mischke moment, Kelsey Plum’s power suit, Natasha Cloud’s cropped mechanic shirt, Sabrina Ionescu’s hot leather denim combo, and Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham side-by-side tunnel fits.

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A bi-weekly podcast hosted by Ian Isiah & Lily Marotta about the tops, bottoms, fits, and flops of the WNBA. Get into it… or out of it?

We’ll send full episodes to your inbox every other week.

It’s basketball… but not.

Hosted by Ian Isiah and Lily Marotta, the Tunnel Wars podcast talks favorite WNBA players’ tops, bottoms, tunnel fits… and flops.

If you don’t know what a field goal is, but you want to know what she’s wearing and who she’s dating… this is the podcast for you.

Stay tuned…

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