Sports Journalist Creates Viral 'Hoops for Hotties' Series, Which Shaq Calls 'Funny as Hell'

Published: May 23, 2025

Women Tell Mariah Rose She Inspired Them to Get into Sports

Mariah Rose, a sports journalist, has gone viral with her "Hoops for Hotties," which breaks down various sports for women and others who struggle to understand how they're played. The series has gained a massive following, with Shaquille O'Neal messaging her directly, saying, "You funny as hell."

Rose, 25, grew up in Atlanta, where her mom encouraged her to play sports, saying "an idle mind is the devil's playground." She pursued volleyball and fell in love with other sports, especially Stephen Curry. She even has a saying: "I'd be in the backseat of our car, and my mom would say to my brother, 'Don't get in this car unless you got 20 points.'"

Rose studied sports broadcasting at the University of Georgia and naturally found herself breaking down sports for women around her. She started posting the "Hoops for Hotties" series, which went viral. She says, "I thought it was a fun little series name, and I just stuck with it. I have no idea why – it just popped into my head. It was just one video explaining basketball basics. And I was like, okay, the audience is there. Women do care. They are interested."

Rose's creative comparisons come naturally, often drawing on her love of pop culture, including The Real Housewives and Love Island, to create fun metaphors. For example, one video she posted compared Destiny's Child to different football positions.

Rose's biggest challenges are dealing with moments when she feels like there's nothing to talk about and learning to balance the fact that she could run into players in real life. She says, "At the end of the day, my duty is to my audience – not to the players or the media. I'm not trying to get them to like me."

Rose has turned social media into her full-time job, logging on at 9 a.m., making content, taking calls, doing interviews, and connecting with her followers. She's also created dedicated pages to her Hoops for Hotties content on TikTok and Instagram.

As a result, her following has grown to over 669,000 on TikTok and 37,000 on Instagram. She says, "I get messages all the time like, 'You made me want to work in sports,' or, 'I was always told not to do this.' That last one is a big one. I was always told not to major in journalism because I wouldn't make any money. But at the end of the day, it was never about the money for me – it was about the fact that I'd be miserable doing anything else."

Rose hopes to expand into longer-form content on YouTube and launch an audio version of her content as well. She says, "I just want to keep climbing. I want every woman who's interested in sports to have a place they can go to listen and feel represented – to have a sports outlet, because there are a lot of us. That's my main goal right now."

Rose also wishes more people – sports fans and non-fans – understood that it's perfectly okay to be a casual fan. In fact, she says, most people are. "Don't feel like you have to know everything, or every player, or feel stupid for asking a question," she says. "The guy making you feel dumb about sports? He doesn't know everything either. So it's okay to be casual, to dip your toe in when you want, and step back when you don't. It's supposed to be fun."

Women Tell Mariah Rose She Inspired Them to Get into Sports

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