Bird is a flamboyant, proud lesbian, but she acknowledged that, for some, “I pass as a straight woman.” She continued, noting that she’s also white, “small and therefore not intimidating, compared to Syl, who is black, has dark skin and has a certain build, yes, that plays 100 percent here.”
Fowles acknowledged that, but didn’t seem in the mood to dissect it.
“You think you have to do everything right, and then if you do everything right, you get noticed,” she said. “But that’s not the case for several reasons.”
Fowles’ voice died away.
“Why do I have to work twice as hard to get noticed?”
She wished for a better future: that the next generations of greats like her would be much more famous, that the WNBA would find a way to promote all its players. “Eighty percent of us are black women, and you have to figure out how to market those black women,” she said. “I don’t think we do that very well.”
Fowles did what she could to pave the way for those changes. She has performed in a way that will stand the test of time. “I’m proud of myself for being the same person from 2008 to 2022,” she said. “I am not a go-getter. I am a leader and not a follower. I stand up and speak of things I believe.”
In her final season, playing the on-field coach of a young and struggling Lynx team, she averaged nearly 15 points and nearly 10 rebounds per game in Minnesota’s 81-71 win on Sunday on Sunday. Atlanta.
The battle for respect will now fall to other players as Fowles moves towards a profession perfectly suited to a personality Bird is described as motherly.