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“You Can’t Guard Sue!!”

Sue Bird dropped by Manila to grace the FIBA World Cup, connect with the local hoops community, and reminisce with superfans her career’s biggest moments. All hail the GOAT of GOATs.

PHOTOS BY INO MUÑOZ, TRISTAN TAMAYO

SLAM PHILIPPINES: Ladies and gentlemen, we’re here in Manila with the legend, the icon…I could go through the résumé, but we’d spend half of our time allotted for this interview just reading out the résumé. The one and only Sue Bird is here! Sue, thanks a lot for making time, we appreciate it.

SUE BIRD: Thanks for having me!

SLAM PH: How’s Manila been treating you so far?

SUE: It’s been amazing. I knew it was a basketball-country culture, so to be on the ground to see it in real life, it’s been really fun. 

SLAM PH: The adjustment to being one of the world’s best basketball players to now a basketball ambassador, being whisked all around the world and kind of really playing up that new role, how’s that adjustment been for you? 

SUE: It’s been good. I think I’m at my one year retirement anniversary – it’s been a full year. I’m adjusting to being a former player. It doesn’t roll off the tongue yet. I’m not quite there, but so far, so good. 

SLAM PH: You said that one of the moments where you felt truly at peace with being retired was the first game that you weren’t playing: the season opener for the [Seattle] Storm. Has that feeling changed now, as you said, coming into a year since?

SUE: No, not at all. That’s how I know it wasn’t about it being the right decision [or] the wrong decision. It was always going to be the right decision when it was time, but it was about knowing when to do it and if it was the right moment to do it. And looking back, I couldn’t have picked a better time. I had a wonderful retirement year, and now that I’m not playing, there are things that I miss. I think there’s things that I’ll always miss, right? And then there’s things I don’t miss. I don’t miss defensive drills, I don’t miss slides, I don’t miss having to run all the time. So it’s a good balance. Like I said, I’m still adjusting in this first year, but I feel really good about it still. 

SLAM PH: But just between us friends, how many times are you yelling at the TV, though, in the privacy of your home in the fourth quarter, are you still kind of like getting up off your couch going [raises arms up]?

SUE: I still love sports. I am a FIBA ambassador, but you know, watching the USA team play the other day, sitting courtside, I had a great seat. I was still getting into it. You can’t help yourself. 

SLAM PH: It’s funny talking about your FIBA ambassadorship, because I think in a couple of years, there’s a big no-brainer in terms of another big ceremony for you personally, which is the Hall of Fame. When they play that little video montage before you get introduced and you walk up that stage and you put on that orange jacket, what clips are you expecting to see up there? 

SUE: Probably like all of my defensive highlights, that’s really where I thrived and where I created my legacy (laughs). No, I don’t know. Whatever they think represents me works for me.

SLAM PH: Can I use that opening as a way to talk about a specific moment that I’m absolutely crazy about? Game 5 of the semis, 2018, you said in the postgame interview of that game that Stewie [Breanna Stewart], who was once your protege, had told you to – I think one of the more basic advice pieces of basketball – to use your legs on a jumper. Then your jumper gets lethal in the fourth quarter. Players talk about the zone a lot…is the zone real? And if it is, is that what it looks like? 

SUE: Yeah, I do think the zone is real. I think we’re all trying to get in it as much as possible. But I do think it’s real. It’s a really unique moment because it’s calm for me. When I think back on that game, that’s definitely one of the highlights of my career, probably the biggest moment of my career, especially because it wasn’t just one shot. This was, you know, a 4-, 5-, 6-minute period of just shot after shot. So it’s nuts when I think back on it, but my lasting memory in terms of how I felt was just like calm. And I think that’s why, you know, even after I hit that last three, I didn’t even really celebrate. I was kind of like, ‘ahh.’ Because it was like, that’s how it felt. I felt super calm, but it was young Stewie who came through with the advice of the century to use my leg. 

SLAM PH: I remember watching that game and I think after the second jump, as soon as you got your hop in, you hop a little bit to your left,…I was on my feet with three fingers up on both hands. A scriptwriting teacher would be, like, ‘Terrible script.’ Like, ‘That’s so cliche, there’s no way she does that.’

SUE: It would be cliche for a movie, but in real life, you just never know when moments like that are gonna happen. Shout out to Briann January. She pissed me off. So once that three went in, I was like, ‘Oh, it’s go time.’ 

SLAM PH: That’s the next part that I wanted to say…you get into a little bit of a scuffle, right? And then the camera work is perfect because your mask comes off and then you look at the referee, and you say, ‘She grabbed my…’ and as you’re saying that your dear friend [Diana Taurasi]…

SUE: Yeah, is pleading for a technical. The worst part is, you know, I rewatched it, like the next day, or whatever in film, and I was like, yeah, maybe she didn’t hit me so hard. So that’s kind of the worst part. Might have been a little bit of an overreaction, but in the moment, especially when you’ve just broken your nose and you’re wearing a mask, any like, hit to it at all, feels like my nose was still broken, you know. It’s not like the nose heals overnight. So any little moment, so I was just like, (makes growling sound). It just came out.

SLAM PH: When you came out of UConn, I think that was one of those rare moments that you know a college athlete was going to enter the pros, and everybody was like, ‘Oh, that person’s gonna be fine.’ I’m sure a part of you felt that way as well. Your game was evidently pro ready. But was there a specific part of the game that you realized when you came into the W that you were like, ‘Oh, I gotta work on this thing, because this thing is far from where I want it to be’?

SUE: So interestingly, it’s kind of yes and no, right? What I’m about to say, it kind of has two sides to it. So in college, I had proven that I could step up in big moments, right? The Final Fours, you know, Big East championship games. I’d kind of shown that I could do that a little bit. But, you know, because college seasons, there’s also some games you win by 20 and 30…it’s a different mentality in college than it is when you go to the professional leagues and now you’re playing, you know, 2, 3, 4 times a week, and every single game could be a last-moment game, come down to the wire. And so I knew I had it in me to step up in those big moments, but now as a professional, it was about learning how to stay ready every single night. So it was more about taking the mentality that existed and making sure I stayed consistent with it through the course of a WNBA season, because the games come fast, we’re traveling – it’s a lot. So almost similar to when you go from high school to college, you have to deal with time management, figuring that part out. You were doing it just in a different way as a professional. So that was probably the hardest thing going in. But I couldn’t have picked a better city to get drafted to. I couldn’t have picked a better teammate to get paired up with in Lauren Jackson. We were young. The team was young. Expectations were, honestly, to do our best and figure it out and start to build – and we made Playoffs in the first year. So it was a really exciting time. 

SLAM PH: Staying on draft night because I think that, apart from your basketball and now your ambassadorship work, and now you’re a big ambassador of the game, I think what a lot of people know about you and look up to you for now is the fashion… 

SUE: I wasn’t sure where you’re going with that.

SLAM PH: I think that a lot of people now kind of look at you and go like, ‘That person’s dressing, dressing.’ And the backstory to that is because a few years ago you got hurt and tragedy that you got hurt, but you had to sit out a few games. And I don’t know what happened before that injury and during that injury, but you started showing up to the sidelines, and it was like, ‘Oh, Sue Bird, is aggressive.’

SUE: She’s trying at that point, yeah.

SLAM PH: When did that start? When did it become a priority for you?

SUE: Much later, you know, I think what I really enjoy about fashion now is that I get to express myself and how I feel. So some days, you know, it might be a lime green suit. Other days it might be more of like a tomboy chic vibe. You know, it depends how I feel. But I think early in my career, probably most of my 20s, to be honest, I was still figuring that out. I was figuring out who I was. I didn’t really have that confidence. And I think you can see it, and we can joke about it now, you can see it, and what I wore, it was a lot of uncertainty. A lot of like, ‘Oh, does that really fit?’ Not literally fitting, but like, style-wise, is that fitting me? So I look back at those pictures, and, you know, they’re both funny, but also really telling on what was happening for me as a person. And yeah, I started to have fun with the tunnel fits, and I was going to be sitting on the bench and like, ‘What can I wear today?’ And it started with shoes. It started with sneakers, and then building from there, and now it almost goes the other way. And now that I’m retired, you know, I strap into a pair of shoes every now and then, but it’s been really fun. It’s been an evolution for me, and I just hope other people can kind of see that and maybe learn from it, take from it, and discover their own style, their own fashion sense. 

SLAM PH: I think that you’re on the money in terms of fashion being a small microcosm of everything else that was happening with your whole confidence, just as a person, as a role model, as a community leader, right? Which brings me to, I think one of the things that – from what I’ve seen and how I’ve observed you and followed you – one of the things that you’re proudest of, which is TOGETHXR. It’s now more than just this cool idea. It’s now a multi-award winning, industry-challenging media platform, if you can even contain it in the words ‘media platform,’ because it’s so much more than that. Can you take us back to the genesis?

SUE: The easiest way to tell the story: it was a text from Alex Morgan. And it was just like, ‘Hey, have this idea, you got time for a call?’ I was like, ‘Sure!’ And actually, you know, one thing I haven’t said publicly is what was happening for me, simultaneous to this, was another production company opportunity that really just would have been my own. It would have been solo, my own, and something I’m really starting to discover about myself. I think I always knew it, and honestly, if you ever watched me play, you probably knew it, but now I’m actually starting to make business decisions with this in mind: I’m way better being a collaborator. I’m way better with a room full of people than just myself. So when Alex, you know, asked to have this call, and she got on the phone, and she kind of presented, you know, in her words, you know, if you wanted to compare it to something in that moment, because there was no other, you know, all female-led platform, it was Uninterrupted, right? So what LeBron is to Uninterrupted. Wow, what if we disrupted everything, brought together a group of women’s athletes and made our own platform that covered women’s athletes? And I was like, ‘Oh say less.’ It was music to my ears. And that’s kind of the genesis from there. Obviously, as we know, myself, Simone [Manuel], Chloe [Kim], Alex, we have now since founded TOGETHXR, and it is, like you said, it’s booming. It’s doing probably more than any of us could have imagined. You know, you start with an idea and you think it’s going to be one thing, but almost like a kid. I mean, I don’t have kids, but almost like a child, they just find their own way. And TOGETHXR really has found its own way, its own community, its own style. It’s been really, really fun to be a part of it. 

SLAM PH: Speaking about your confidence and your being outspoken, it’s a tough task for anybody to navigate the world that we live in. You’ve been part of this generation of WNBA players that stood when a lot of people maybe chose to sit down. I think it’s super interesting that when someone 10-15 years from now writes about this particular time in history, it was going to be a chapter about WNBA players. Can you speak a little bit about what’s kind of been so special about being a part of that and how that continues now, even though you’re not suiting up anymore?

SUE: There’s so much I could say on this topic. I think the one thing that stands out the most is it’s the makeup of our league. It’s the differences in our league and what each of us represents. You know, I don’t know the exact percentages, but obviously it’s a majority black, it’s a high percentage of LGBTQ members, and obviously it’s a women’s league. So these are just areas in our society that are oppressed. And I think when you put together a group of people that have all those different experiences in like, ‘one room,’ you’re gonna have a common ground of what it’s like to fight, and now you’re putting us all together. And, oh, by the way, we’re exceptional basketball players. And oh, by the way, what that gives us is a huge platform. And I think what we learned quickly probably around the 2016 year, right, when Minnesota first wore their shirts, you know, against police brutality, and we all realized, like, ‘Oh, when we do this together as a league.’ It goes further. It’s louder. You can’t turn your head. And that’s how we can create change.

SLAM PH: The W truly is changing the world. I certainly believe that. I think that we all want to empower the female athlete. We all want to kind of support women’s sports. But what have you found and when people speak to you and ask you that question, what have you found to be the most effective way to support women’s sports in a tangible way? 

SUE: When I think about a country like the Philippines, when I think about, you know, places that might not have the infrastructure just yet or might not have the resources just yet – it actually just starts so small. You know, talking about this a lot, actually, even in my ambassador role, it starts so small, which is girls playing sports is important, not just for them to have the dream of being a WNBA player one day. It’s what you learn in those environments that’s so important. Sometimes, you know, we can get kind of all over the place, but when it comes to younger people, especially little girls, I think the thing you can do the most is start at that age and just continue to encourage them to stay with it, to stay with it, Because again, what they’re learning, they’re gonna take with them forever, and then hopefully the participation stays up and, you know, people get interested, it creates more opportunities, and then you can build from there. But I think grassroots is really the answer.

SLAM PH: And I think that, you know, someone like you coming here and them seeing it, right? 

SUE: Oh, yeah, that matters too. 

SLAM PH: I think that it’s also so important to see you and be like, ‘Oh, okay, that’s someone whose game I can model.’ Last two things before I get you out of here. The GOAT conversation, personally to me, is uninteresting. There’s no winners in that talk, but there is something to say, though, about this generation of players that you played with, right? With some of the originators, to people who are your contemporaries, to the young players that you introduced, right? I mean, it’s a murderer’s row of players. It’s crazy to reflect on. 

SUE: That’s a really difficult question for me to answer, if I’m being honest. 

SLAM PH: But maybe just, like, not who the GOAT is, but just like this generation, it must have been – now that you’re looking back on and you don’t have to play them and stop them every night – super special to think about, ‘Oh man, I played with that person.’ 

SUE: Oh, yeah. I mean, that’s the story of my career. All the talent I played with, all the talent I played against. You know, when you play with people, iron sharpens iron in a way, everyday in practice, but you’re obviously on the same team. So when you get to the competition part of it and you’re planning it, that’s a different kind of iron sharpening iron. So I’m really lucky. And I wasn’t joking, you know, people, of course, ask me all the time like, ‘Oh, who’s your GOAT?’ or ‘Who’s your Mt. Rushmore,’ or, ‘Oh, if you could do a starting five all-time, would it be?’ I bet if you went and looked at all my interviews,there’s some names that stay. Diana’s name will always be there. You know, Stewie, she’s on it. And then some days she’s not. I’m like, Mt. Rushmore? Do you have to be retired to be on that? Sometimes I’m like, alright, maybe she’s like a young GOAT. And the one thing about these conversations that are funny is like, there’s definitely a bias, like a generational bias. I’m biased to the people I played with and against. It’s no offense to anybody else, but, of course, I’m a little biased. But when I think of my generation, like even when I zoom out, you know, I look at my 20-year career, but then, the people who are, like, maybe 5-10 years older, I feel like this generation that I played in, there’s some killers in there. There’s some killers, some killers we haven’t seen yet, so I feel really lucky. 

SLAM PH: Oh, don’t worry, 20 years from now, when I’m older and sitting on my porch at my rocking chair, I’m gonna be yelling at children, ‘You weren’t there when Sue was playing!’

SUE:  Don’t be that guy.

SLAM PH: Oh, I know it right now. To wrap up, there’s a Filipino term that describes crafty basketball players. It’s a term called ‘gulang.’ Sometimes used in a bad way. But gulang means you’re crafty. You kind of like, you know the rules and, you know, take advantage of them. And I think that it’s a big common ground between how Filipinos love to play basketball, like we’re just trying to get away with every single little thing. And they say, don’t meet your heroes. But I’m very glad to have met you today, and I’ve spent time with you today, and it’s much better talking to you here than yelling at the TV at whoever your defender is saying, ‘You can’t guard Sue!’ It’s been a fun 20 years of doing that. It’s great to meet you. I appreciate you making time for us.

SUE: Yeah, of course. I’m so thankful. Thank you for having me!