The beginning of my appreciation for Diana Taurasi began in the summer of 2014. I was still a working actor. I found myself between shows and one night, looking for something to do and was aware of the WNBA. However, given my work, I never really had an opportunity to go to a game. However, this time, I noticed that the Minnesota Lynx were playing the Phoenix Mercury at Target Center in Game Two of the semi-finals. I found myself in a fifth-row center-court seat and went to the game.
As the teams were warming up, I began to feel very comfortable being there, as well as finding these athletes exciting to watch. About five minutes after the game started, I thought, “I belong here.” The Lynx won that game but lost the series. A week later I had a season ticket for 2015. There were three deciding factors; first, I fell in love with the game, and factors two and three were Maya Moore – and Diana Taurasi.
How Taurasi Played the Game of Basketball
As a novice fan, I couldn’t understand why the fans rode and booed Taurasi. Eventually, I did understand. Watching her play was something I had never seen. Brash, hard playing, intense, and raw passion. That didn’t always jive with the Minnesota crowd.
But being a New Yorker myself, I thought yes, this is how you play the game. In contrast to Moore, who brought the same toughness but with a different approach, Taurasi always struck me as a gladiator, a warrior who would do anything that it took to win. Plus Taurasi was relentless, in a way unlike any other player.
After 20 years of playing in the WNBA, Diana Taurasi is officially retiring 🧡
— WNBA (@WNBA) February 25, 2025
Thank you Diana for changing the game forever, all of the accolades could never amount to the type of person and edge you embodied when you stepped out there on the court
One-of-One 💐 pic.twitter.com/dEtE4NDrGH
In the decade since that first game, I always looked forward to Phoenix coming to town, because I knew I would get to watch Dee play. There was a different energy when the Lynx and the Mercury played, and different toughness, a different urgency. I can’t specifically say what it was, other than for me, it was what is Taurasi going to do tonight.
Closing Thoughts on Diana Taurasi
The year that Dee sat out at the request of her Russian team was disappointing in that I couldn’t watch her play. More than any other non-Lynx player, Dee gave me a sense of reassurance that being a season ticket holder was the best decision I could have made. It also turned me from a fan to a student of the game. As a novice, I would often say to myself, “how do they do that?”
Watching Taurasi play, I could not help but be in awe of the combination of skill, passion, and dedication that she possessed. Not that I didn’t get those same feelings watching other players and other teams, but Taurasi was different. Maybe it is just fine that I can’t put it into words. It makes it a little more special.
Reading today that Taurasi retired I thought, “good for you. Time to devote yourself to family, and to Diana.” At least I’d like to think that. As a fan, Taurasi’s absence will leave a gaping hole in a game she loved and played with extraordinary skill and dedication. I have always liked the quote from her UConn coach Geno Auriemma, who said before winning their third NCAAW title, “The best way to explain it is that we have Diana and you don’t.”
No, they didn’t, and no one ever will again. As far as I’m concerned, I found this game because of Diana Taurasi. There will never be another one.
And that, my friends, as they say, is that.’ — Martin Ruben.
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