Sue Bird aims to please. That can mean hitting a teammate in a preferred spot with a pass, crisply delivered. That can mean satisfying as many colleagues as possible when playing the equivalent of point guard for the WNBA Players Association. That can mean accommodating all manner of requests for selfies, for autographs (yes, for interviews), as well as a Netflix entreaty to feature her in a forthcoming documentary. That can mean serving dutifully in her role as a daughter, sister, aunt and fiancé.
In Bird’s most recent WNBA appearance last fall, she was asked to take part in a postgame jersey swap with Diana Taurasi, a close friend since the 1990s at UConn. Bird’s team, the Storm, had just lost to Taurasi’s Mercury in the playoffs, thwarting Seattle's WNBA title defense. The last place Bird wanted to be immediately after a defeat? Standing center-court, wearing a forced smile, enduring some stage-crafted ceremony. But Sue Bird aims to please, and saying “no” would have felt worse.
As Bird was gamely congratulating Taurasi, a cheer began to swell inside the arena. Thousands of Storm fans, aware at some level that Bird, then 40, was contemplating a mike-drop retirement, offered vocal resistance. Spontaneously, they began chanting, “One more year. One More Year. ONE MORE YEAR.”
