Sue Bird: “You Have to Pay the Superstars.” (Replay)

People I (Mostly) Admire

Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher

Society & Culture

4.6 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 29 June 2024

⏱️ 43 minutes

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Summary

She is one of the best basketball players ever. She’s won multiple championships, including five Olympic gold medals and four W.N.B.A. titles. She also helped negotiate a landmark contract for the league’s players. Sue Bird tells Steve Levitt the untold truth about clutch players, her thoughts about the pay gap between male and female athletes, and what it means to be part of the first gay couple in ESPN The Magazine’s Body Issue.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Today's bonus episode is an encore presentation of a conversation I had with
0:09.0	Basketball Star Sue Bird back in January 2021 as we cycle through 10 of my all-time favorite
0:14.9	episodes. This particular episode was done really early in the show's life. It was only our 12th episode. My producer at that
0:22.9	time, not Morgan, she came on board a little later, thought it was important that we expand the set
0:27.7	of guests I was talking to. Most of the guests up to that point hit either in people I already
0:32.7	knew or people who studied things I knew a lot about. So I grudgingly said okay to having Sue Bird on the show,
0:40.1	despite the fact that every single conversation I'd ever tried to have
0:44.8	with a professional athlete had been disastrous.
0:47.4	I was dreading this conversation,
0:49.7	but Sue won me over within seconds.
0:52.7	Her answers were so thoughtful and honest.
0:55.9	Her voice so friendly and enthusiastic.
0:58.5	We ended up having a remarkably wide-ranging conversation.
1:02.3	It was really fun for me now, two and a half years later, to go back and have the chance to listen to that conversation.
1:14.2	Something to listen to that conversation. Some people collect comic books or sports paraphernalia or old vinyl records.
1:19.3	Well, my guest today, Sue Bird, she collects championships.
1:22.9	She has four WNBA championships, five Euroleague basketball championships,
1:27.2	two NCAA championships, four international basketballBA championships, five EuroLeague basketball championships, two NCAA championships,
1:29.7	four international basketball federation World Cups, and four Olympic gold medals. And at the age of 40,
1:35.7	she's still going strong, leading the Seattle Storm to the WNBA title this fall, and looking
1:41.3	to collect her fifth Olympic gold, if and when the Tokyo Olympics
1:45.1	take place.
	...

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