HARTFORD, Conn. — Sue Bird tried to make like it just another day, another game and another fond farewell as her season of fond farewells winds down.
“She said to the coaches today, she was ‘peaceful,’ and I love that,” Seattle Storm coach Noelle Quinn said. “Knowing that you’re getting your flowers, you’re getting your recognition and you’re going out on your own, there’s something to say about that. But obviously, there’s a little extra juice when you’re back in Connecticut and have more of the fans cheering for her than probably the Sun at some points.”
Bird, 41, who announced her intention to retire on June 17, came to play the Sun for the last time on Thursday night, at least by the schedule. The Sun and Storm, two of the best teams in the WNBA, could meet in the playoffs, but there would be no time for gifts and ceremonies under those circumstances.
So this was Connecticut’s chance to say farewell to one of its own, and both Bird and the fans, 9,137, were up for the moment. The Mohegan Sun Arena was sold out, the first time for a WNBA game since the pre-pandemic days of 2019.
“It’s pretty special to know that people are looking at their calendars, seeing when I’m coming to town and making the effort,” Bird said. “I look at all of these things as celebrations.”
And Bird, though she scoffed at the notion, appeared to turn back the clock, playing like a kid again. She scored 14 points with seven assists, and the Storm, though they lost 88-83, outscored the Sun by 13 while Bird was in the game.
“If you only knew,” Bird said. “If I were 25 or 26, I would have had 30 tonight. What did I get, six shots off?”
Through her days at UConn, in the WNBA and with USA Basketball, Bird hasn’t lost many games in her life, and certainly not in this state. This one got away in the final minutes, but it was yet another moment to suggest that Bird just has this whole retirement thing figured out. Pitch perfect.
So maybe she’s not the player she was 15 years ago, but she’s going out in style, and with plenty of game left, the way most great athletes dream of going out. Few do.
“I feel very lucky that I’m able to go out on my own two feet,” Bird said. “Both figuratively and literally. I’ve seen other athletes who haven’t been able to do that and I’ve seen the heartache that it’s caused, so more than anything I feel lucky that I’m making the decision and not something else, specifically my body.”
Geno Auriemma watched from a sky box. Surrounded by former Huskies in the starting lineup, Breanna Stewart, Tina Charles and Gabby Williams, who had a sensational night, Bird scored eight points in the first quarter to help Seattle build a 10-point lead. The lead disappeared when she went to the bench, but the Storm surged back when she returned, and so it went.
“She plays the game with her mind,” Quinn said. “She’s the ultimate leader. She’s a coach on the floor. And there are times she can still shoot very efficiently and effectively. There are numerous aspects of her game that are still very potent.”
Bird is playing out this transitional period, with one eye on a glorious past in the game and the other on the future. Among the gifts the Sun’s Jen Rizzotti and Curt Miller presented were a bottle of wine, 2002 vintage to mark the year she started in Seattle, and books curated from her sister Jennifer’s store, Athena Books in Greenwich.
“She tried to surprise me, but she had to tell me,” Bird said. “But the books, that was a surprise. My sister opened up a bookstore and it’s a passion project, but it’s like a family business now and we’re all really proud of her.”
On the night she played in Connecticut for the last time, her own passion project was revealed. Bird joined Eli Manning in making a sizable investment, a $40 million valuation, in the Gotham Football Club in the National Women’s Soccer League.
“My next life, huh?” Bird said. “I believe in women’s sports, I believe in women’s soccer. I think there’s a tremendous amount of growth to be had in the investment aspect of women’s sports, I’ve been saying that a long time, and now it’s time to put my money where my mouth is. Soccer and basketball were my two first loves.”
Bird got her first standing ovation at 6:57 p.m., when she came out for warmups. When the gifts were presented, she held the wine bottle high and blew a kiss to the crowd before joining her teammates in the layup line.
The crowd responded to her every entrance and exit, because it’s this way here: UConn may be only a small stretch in the timeline of a long, consequential career, in Bird’s case from age 17 to 21, but once you’ve worn that uniform, the love affair never ends.
“I feel like they’ve watched me my whole career,” Bird said. “A lot of times, as a UConn player, you feel like the fans look at us as family and they stay with us our entire career. It’s something I treasure, that I’ve always really enjoyed when I came back here. So tonight is a perfect way to end that.”
