Sue Bird’s farewell to the WNBA had been highly-anticipated by everyone in the women’s basketball community ever since she announced, on June 16, that she would be retiring at the end of this season. When the moment finally came to say goodbye Tuesday night after the Seattle Storm were eliminated from the playoffs at the semifinal stage, Bird said it "just feels kinda weird. "I think initially you feel sad about the season and the game, or I felt sad about the season and the game. And I then think as the emotions started to come to the surface, that's also what I know deep down in that that was my last game. So it was a combination of those two things. "I didn't really want to leave the court. It felt like that’s where everybody was going, so I followed at first. But I also wanted to kind of have one last moment to say thank you, to soak it all in. Cuz in some ways it is a happy thing. You know, I'm proud of everything we’ve accomplished here and of course I'm sad, but there’s happiness too — to be able to have a moment like that with the fans, to have them chant the way they did. I know the tears don’t look like happy tears, but there’s a lot of happiness." "I stayed on the floor and just watched her get the love from our fans," said Storm head coach Noelle Quinn. "I wasn’t here to witness her last (regular-)season game and feel that energy, so I wanted to stay and feel that today. It’s amazing what she’s done for the city of Seattle, for this organization, for this team. It’s tough not finishing the season having her ride off on a white horse with a championship, but she’s won enough for the both of us, so just proud to be a part of her journey.