SEATTLE — Sue Bird has been bestowed just about every honor she could have dreamed of in her 19 seasons with the WNBA, but Sunday's regular season finale provided a first for Bird.
The Seattle Storm star said goodbye to hometown fans in the loss to the Aces and will ease in to her retirement from basketball after the season. It was an emotional send-off for the four-time WNBA champion who is also a 12 time all-star and has five Olympic Gold Medals at home.
On-court fan emcee Shellie Hart has been with the team since the very beginning and said Bird made her nest here in Seattle and found comfort in the fans that adored her.
“She was just 21 when she got here. She didn’t know anything about Seattle - she admits this," Hart said. " And immediately it was this love affair and we kinda took care of each other.”
With about 4 minutes to go in the first quarter of Sunday's game, Bird was inbounding a ball when a young fan sitting court-side handed Bird some flowers. Bird admired and handed them back to the fan as she was quite literally in the middle of playing a nationally televised basketball game.
Bird said postgame it was certainly a first.
“I was like, oh, you want me to take this?” Bird said.
Bird asked the young girl to hold her flower for her until she was done playing.
The girl seems to represent the growing buzz around Sue Bird becoming the first athlete to be immortalized outside of Climate Pledge Arena.
Former Seahawks Jermaine Kearse and Bobby Wagner were among the athletes to declare on social media that Bird should have her own statue. Shellie Hart said no other athlete has the decorations to justify the honor.
“She didn’t just break records, she laid down the records and then broke her own records right here at our Seattle Center and now Climate Pledge Arena. She deserves a statue!”
