Former UConn Greats Managed To Keep Woke/Politics Out Of Final Four Show; I’m Compelled To Watch Again Today
See how easy that was?
Keeping woke and politics out of sports is "making sports great again."
Credit where credit is due, Birdy and DT. Well done. President Trump would be so proud. (See, he's clapping below!)
L-R: Sue Bird (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images), President Donald Trump (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) and Diana Taurasi (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images).
Sue Bird And Diana Taurasi Keep Their Focus On Sports
OK, to be honest, I don’t know if former Connecticut and WNBA legends Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi minded each and every one of their p’s and q’s and actually batted a thousand on Friday night.
I think they did, but four-plus hours of TV commentary is a lot of talking to keep track of.
And I couldn’t diligently listen to every single word of ESPN’s alternate broadcast of both national semifinals of the Women’s Final Four – called "The Bird and Taurasi Show" and housed on ESPN2 – because, well, I was happily doing my editing duties here at OutKick. You know, that work thing…
But I had the show on in the background and I think I listened to enough of the ladies to be able to say with a relative amount of confidence that Bird and Taurasi, sitting in a living room-like setting and on camera the entire time, played it straight up. They "pretty much" kept wokeness and politics out of the broadcast, and, what do you know? It was fun, entertaining, informative and worth the watch.
Imagine that.
TAMPA - Lauren Betts #51 of the UCLA Bruins and Sarah Strong #21 of the UConn Huskies attempt to grab the jump ball during the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament Final Four semifinal game at Amalie Arena on April 4, 2025. (Photo by Justin Tafoya/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
In fact, Bird and Taurasi made me ready to tune in again today to watch their broadcast of the NCAA women's national championship game between perennial power Connecticut and defending national champion South Carolina (3 p.m. ET).
Yep, when you don’t go woke in sports, you don’t go broke. When you don’t politicize your commentary on sports, you don’t lose half the country.
If only the rest of ESPN were on board.
I'll Admit It: I Was Worried About Cringe Woke/Political Moments
I know. This isn’t the first rodeo for Bird and Taurasi and their alternate broadcasts. But, now that President Donald Trump is back in the White House, I was skeptical, treading lightly, watching with a kind of uncomfortable grimace, gritting my teeth, waiting for that proverbial "other shoe to drop."
After all, Sue Bird is married to the insufferable Megan Rapinoe, the former Olympic soccer star and leftist lunatic.
LAS VEGAS - Sue Bird (L) of the Seattle Storm and her wife, soccer player Megan Rapinoe, attend the WNBA All-Star Game 2019 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on July 27, 2019. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Rapinoe is perfectly fine with biological men competing in women’s sports, has kneeled during the national anthem and is an outspoken Trump critic. Enough said. With that association alone, Bird might as well be a left-wing talking points ticking time bomb.
Taurasi seems rather apolitical, or at least does a pretty good job of keeping her politics to herself in most public settings. But this was an ESPN broadcast in the new Trump Era, after all, so all bets were off.
And yet, the woke/leftist meter barely registered.
Except for that one time when Bird randomly ventured into this strange commentary about how AI is some kind of threat to the environment. I’m not sure what she meant. But it didn’t last long and she kind of trailed off, so we won’t hold that against her.
SAITAMA, JAPAN - Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird of Team United States bite their gold medals during the Women's Basketball medal ceremony on day sixteen of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic games at Saitama Super Arena on August 08, 2021. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Bird And Taurasi Bring Out The Best In Each Other
Otherwise, Bird and Taurasi together were great. Their chemistry as longtime friends and teammates is undeniable. And they kept the broadcast light and airy, and about basketball and sports and fun.
They used humor and humility to tell a wide range of stories. Really good ones about their old coach Geno Auriemma, the WNBA, their childhoods, recruiting, Taurasi’s recent retirement from the WNBA and Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin, of all people. He tied Wayne Gretzky’s record for most goals in an NHL career during the Bird and Taurasi broadcast. But there’s more of a connection than that. Trust me. And it's interesting. Bird and Taurasi knew Ovi waaaaaaaay back, in Russia. Watch the video in the X post below.
Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi pose at the Red Square on March 18, 2007 in Moscow, Russia. Both played professional basketball in Russia during the WNBA off-seasons. (Photo by Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images)
Bird and Taurasi not only made good conversation together, they also had some excellent dialogue with notable guests such as WNBA great and fellow UConn alum Breanna Stewart and NBA player Jaime Jaquez Jr. of the Miami Heat. He's the brother of UCLA player Gabriela Jaquez, who was playing in the second semifinal against Connecticut.
Jaime Jaquez told great stories about Gabriela and how basketball was a central part of their childhood. The producers put up old pictures of the siblings when they were young kids, bouncing basketballs and wearing Kobe Bryant jerseys. Those are the kinds of things that keep me interested in a broadcast.
At one point, Bird and Taurasi quizzed each other about who they would rank as the top five best women’s basketball players of all-time.
Taurasi quickly started with Sheryl Swoopes, then Chamique Holdsclaw, Breanna Stewart and Cheryl Miller…then a pause.
Hmmm….she was searching for a fifth.
HOUSTON - Sheryl Swoopes (R) of the Houston Comets, named by Diana Taurasi as one of the best women's basketball players of all time, drives to the basket during the 1999 WNBA Finals on September 5, 1999 at the Compaq Center. Copyright 1999 NBAE (Photo by Bill Baptist/NBAE via Getty Images)
To which Bird interjected with perfect comedic timing, something like: "Just pick yourself, don’t make it weird."
And so Taurasi did. She picked herself. Perfection. Made me laugh out loud.
That’s the way I imagine these two talking to each other off camera. Funny. Authentic. Unfiltered.
That’s good TV.
Sue Bird #10 of the Seattle Storm and Diana Taurasi #3 of the Phoenix Mercury during the 2017 WNBA Playoffs on September 6, 2017 at Arizona State University Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe, Arizona. (Photo by Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images)
Did the dynamic duo go off track sometimes, and even fall a bit flat? Sure. That can happen when you’re winging it on a live broadcast for the better part of four hours.
But despite the tall task of filling a lot of time, not to mention two somewhat lackluster national semifinal blowouts, Bird and DT kept me interested. Probably more so than the commentary on the lead broadcast on ESPN would have.
I expect more of the same today.
Today Was Made For Two UConn Greats
With Connecticut breezing by UCLA to advance to today’s national championship game, Bird and Taurasi will be in their element, in all of their UConn glory. They bleed Husky blue through and through. But I think they’ll be fair to South Carolina. They were extremely complementary of the Gamecocks and head coach Dawn Staley as they blew out Texas in the first semifinal on Friday.
Caitlin Clark could stop by "The Bird And Taurasi Show" today at the NCAA women's basketball national championship game in Tampa. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
And rumor has it, WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark might be one of the special guests to stop by the set today. And that would be interesting, considering what Taurasi said about Clark during last year’s alternate broadcast, when Clark was playing in the Final Four for Iowa and about to be the No. 1 pick in the WNBA Draft.
DT said that "reality is coming" for Clark and the other rookies who might look superhuman against 18-year-olds but are about to be playing against grown women (in the WNBA). Watch the full video below.
True words, but they drew heat all over social media as most people assumed Taurasi was picking on Clark, and that created "a thing" between Taurasi and Clark early in the WNBA season last summer.
But all seems well on that front now, so any segment with Clark, Taurasi and Bird should be as fun as those on Friday night.
It All Comes Back To Coach Geno Auriemma
Speaking of, one of my favorite segments on Friday was when Bird and Taurasi and Stewart waxed about whether longtime Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma, who coached them all, would join Taurasi in retirement this year, especially if UConn won another national championship, which would be its 12th, all under Auriemma.
Gold medalists from Team USA: guard Diana Taurasi (L), head coach Geno Auriemma and guard Sue Bird pose in Rio de Janeiro on August 20, 2016 during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. (Photo: ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP via Getty Images)
Auriemma is now 71-years-old and in his 40th year as head coach of the Huskies.
Taurasi said no, Auriemma would not retire, that winning another championship, his first since 2016, would only spark his interest again.
Bird wasn’t sold.
"Does he retire? I think he thinks about it," Bird replied.
"I think he truly still loves it," Taurasi answered.
"Should he retire?" Bird clapped back with a wry smile.
"That is a loaded question," Taurasi responded.
"That’s what this show is for," Bird fired back.
"I do not think he should retire," Taurasi said, before adding this caveat: "If they win it this year, he should not retire. If they lose, he should retire."
Everyone on set started laughing.
"That’s the tricky part, right?" Bird asked. "If they win, what it’s going to feel like (for Auriemma) is, ‘I can do this again.’"
To which Taurasi, who recently announced her own retirement after 20 seasons in the WNBA, was showered with retirement gifts throughout the broadcast and has two kids of her own, replied: "Well, retirement is like having kids. There’s never a good time to have kids.
"There’s never a good time to retire. Like, you don’t get to write the ending, it just ends."
Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi during a postgame press conference after the Verizon WNBA All-Star Game 2017 at KeyArena on July 22, 2017 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Joshua Huston/Getty Images)
Ditto for every good show, and every good story, and every good season. They just end.
So enjoy the end of the women’s college basketball season today. After Friday, I have a lot of faith that Bird and Taurasi will do it justice in their own unique way.