Four-time WNBA champion and gold medal-winning basketball legend Sue Bird spent part of International Women’s Day talking with Jimmy Fallon on “The Tonight Show.” The pair chatted about “John590 from Twitter with no profile pic” who claims no one watches women’s sports, along with women’s basketball in 2024 and her media company Togethxr. Bird brought Fallon and his daughters the brand’s T-shirt, which reads, “Everyone watches women’s sports.”
“It’s a play on people saying, ‘Oh, nobody watches women’s sports,’” Bird said, delivering the line in her best bro voice. “Like John590 from Twitter with no profile pic. So we’re like, actually — and now the numbers show, which is amazing — now we actually have data to it. Actually, everybody, everyone, watches women’s sports.”
The two spoke about Iowa NCAA star Caitlin Clark, who is poised to be the No. 1 pick in the 2024 WNBA draft. Bird told Fallon that Clark is part of an important moment in the history of women’s sports.
“She’s obviously doing amazing,” Bird said. “Her game speaks for itself. I think my favorite part is just women’s basketball — women’s sports, really, but women’s basketball — has been on the rise. And it’s kind of like what Magic and Bird was to men’s basketball, like this moment. We kind of needed something. And Caitlin’s that moment.”
“And I think a lot of it has to do with her logo threes,” Bird added of Clark’s deep 3-point shots from the position of the WNBA logo on the court. “Speaking of John529 from Twitter, ‘oh, women don’t dunk,’” she added with the return of her bro voice, before she laughed, “That’s what he sounds like. But you can’t really talk trash on a logo three.”
On Friday, Clark broke the NCAA Division 1 record for 3-pointers in one season by a man or woman. The previous holder of the record was Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry.
Fallon commented on just how far away the shot is, then told Bird that she “kind of set the stage for all of these athletes to come up and get the attention. You were one of the first big names to come out and do it,” before he introduced her documentary, “Sue Bird in the Clutch.”
The film, which covers Bird’s entire career from high school to the Olympics to the WNBA, will be available to stream on March 29.
Bird told Fallon that she wanted to make the documentary in part because of the topics that they had already discussed. “Women’s sports is on the rise now. But you know, we’ve had to kind of grind a little bit to get there, and what’s been lacking is some of the storytelling.”
“So when I got approached to do this, I was like, ‘All right, I don’t know if I’m going to love having cameras in my face all the time,’ but I felt like I had to do it. Right, like, get my story out there — hopefully, it opens doors for other people’s stories — and I really did have an amazing time doing it,” she added.
Sue Bird retired from the WNBA at the end of the 2022 season after a 19-year career with the Seattle Storm. She was the No. 1 pick in the 2002 WNBA Draft and led her team to four titles, played in 13 All-Star games and was on eight All-WNBA teams. She was also the league’s all-time leader in assists and games played.
Watch the interview with Sue Bird in the video at the top of this story.
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