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Sports

Globetrotting Sue Bird Makes Time for Home

Syosset's gold medalist is shooting for fourth straight title overseas.

The life of a WNBA player is by nature nomadic. From May to September they play a grueling schedule, and when that's done they pack another set of suitcases and head overseas. If they're marquee players, there sometimes are opportunities to carve out a little bit of downtime between the end of the WNBA's season and when they head to Europe. That is what Syosset's Sue Bird did—making time to rest physically and mentally, but more importantly reconnecting. 

"I can go to an island and sit on the beach almost anytime," said Bird before heading back to Moscow for her sixth pro season in Russia. "The one thing that I feel like I miss out on in life is really being around people—my friends, my family."

So she spent October through December just being around home—dividing her time mostly between her mother's Syosset home and New York City, where her older sister lives.

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"Something as small as my sister and the New York City Marathon, which she ran for the first time," Bird said. "I got to see it. She got engaged, as did my best friend. I was able to celebrate with them. It's the little things you miss when you're away so much. Other than letting my body rest, that's really what I wanted to do. I just wanted to be around."

Bird, 29, has sustained a pretty hectic pace since winning her second NCAA Championship at the University of Connecticut in 2002. She was the top pick in the 2002 WNBA draft, selected by the Seattle Storm.

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By 2004, she'd become a World Champion, Olympic gold medalist and WNBA Champion. Knowing she needed more exposure to the international game heading into the 2008 Olympics, Bird decided to start playing overseas.

"When I came out of college playing overseas didn't interest me," she said. "Not until an offer is placed in front of you do you really have to seriously consider it. As a basketball player, it's my career."

Even after her first season in Moscow, Bird didn't really want to go back. Then former UConn Huskies teammate Diana Taurasi decided to play there and Bird agreed to join her. In 2007, they joined Spartak Moscow, which they've helped to win an unprecedented three consecutive EuroLeague Championships, and this year they're on track for a fourth.

"In Spartak, I created a lot of friendships that will last forever," she noted. "I felt tied to the organization. I wanted to go back. We were winning and you want to defend those titles. It took on a larger meaning. That's kind of where I am now with it."

This season is being played under a cloak of sadness, as team owner and former KGB agent Shabtai von Kalmanovic was murdered last November. Bird said the players knew von Kalmanovic as someone who made Russia feel like home for them.

"He brought us there to play basketball and he knew how to create winning teams," she said. "It was a pleasure to be part of that."

Winning seems to follow Bird wherever she goes. She and her teammates on UConn's 2000 NCAA Championship team were recently honored at Storrs. She said it was the first time she'd seen some of her fellow Huskies in years.

"Just like every championship year, you never really remember the game, you only remember the people and what you did. What we did the best was hang out and have a good time together and we did it again," she said.

The five national championships that UConn won in the first decade of the 21st century were due to the incredibly hard work each and every player put in.

"It starts the minute you step on campus as a freshman," Bird said. It's not just about lifting weights or running drills. "You're talking about a mentality and a work ethic that you have to maintain in order to survive in that atmosphere. That's what makes a lot of these UConn teams so great. Coach [Geno] Auriemma sets a standard. He sets the bar very high and he expects you to get to it every single game, every single practice.

"It becomes a habit, the more you do something the more it becomes you," she added. "Going into the rest of my life in every aspect I definitely see that coming out."

Bird, Taurasi and Auriemma will be reunited on the road to the 2012 Olympics, as he has been named the national team coach. The two former Huskies won their second gold medals in Beijing, and in the wake of Lisa Leslie's retirement are now the leaders. They do not expect to fill her shoes, but they will utilize the lessons they learned playing alongside Leslie in two Olympics.

"The beauty of Diana and I is that we're guards, and by nature or just by experience it's kind of been in our repertoire since the beginning of time that we are leaders. That's what we do," Bird said. "This team is going to be so talented whoever is on it that it's not going to take much. It's going to be about putting it together in a short time."

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