Sheryl Swoopes
Sheryl Swoopes
Sheryl Denise Swoopes is a retired American professional basketball player. She was the first player to be signed in the WNBA, is a three-time WNBA MVP, and was named one of the league's Top 15 Players of All Time at the 2011 WNBA All-Star Game. Swoopes has won three Olympic gold medals. She was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBasketball Player
Date of Birth25 March 1971
CityBrownfield, TX
CountryUnited States of America
We used that as a motivating factor. Every player came in here hungry and still frustrated from not making the playoffs last year. Not having Tina when we started the season, that also made other people take their games to another level.
And I just think right now, we're clicking (on) all cylinders offensively, defensively; we're moving the ball, we're making other teams have to work on defense. And when you're playing basketball like that, you're going to be pretty tough to beat.
This is not something that we wanted, ... We dug ourselves into a pretty big hole, but we came back. But we really couldn't ever get into any kind of flow. I think we were more concerned tonight with what they were going to do and that really hurt us tonight.
Somebody said to me, 'Well, you went in at halftime and you had nine assists, and you only finished with 10,'
decades-long policy of harassing players whom (she) believed to be lesbians.
I was at a point in my life where I am just tired of having to pretend to be somebody I am not. I was basically living a lie. For the last seven, eight years, I was basically waiting to exhale.
I think there's always been great talent in the WNBA, ... I think there are so many players this year that had incredible seasons and fortunately, or unfortunately, there's only one MVP.
Jordan told me, 'Mom, I love watching you play. You're going to be MVP.' This is for him.
I want to thank everybody out there who voted for me and who did believe in me. Because I felt all along that I still could compete with the best of them out there.
Hopefully, this will not have a negative effect on the W.N.B.A., ... Me coming out does not change what the W.N.B.A. stands for as a basketball league. I don't think there's any secret that the huge support we get comes from the gay and lesbian community. It's unfortunate that people, and those not only in W.N.B.A., are not able to feel like they can be who they are. They lose endorsements; they lose friends and family.
For whatever reason, we can't put two halves together, ... We dug ourselves a hole in the first half and came back in the second half a completely different team.
If we play completely different in the first half, it doesn't come down to that shot and it's a different outcome,
We've got to try to take advantage of what their weaknesses are, and one of those is not having the experience we have.
We've got to take the one (tonight) and, hopefully, another one on Saturday.