Aaron Hope 
In today’s world of advanced metrics and MIT-educated general managers, sports statistics are both more precise than ever and subtly misleading. We seek to objectify the sports we love with numbers as an attempt to further the decisiveness inherent in the outcomes of these games. Put another way, it’s impossible to see someone like Michael Jordan winning six championships while seemingly breaking the laws of physics and hold that simultaneously in mind alongside stereotyping and prejudice.
Nike wants you to consider this when you visit the BHM tribute at Bowery Stadium in New York, a visual history of how black athletes have transcended basketball to unite and inspire folks of all colors and creeds. Don’t be ashamed if you get chills just from looking at these images of guys like Dr. J, His Airness and the Black Mamba — their contribution to the game of basketball and our society is immeasurably large, to the point where writing about how basketball has helped to promote equality is all at once completely obvious and somehow unavoidably pretentious. So just click through, look at the photos and ponder what it means that we as the people are flying ‘Ever Higher’ on the same wings Air Jordan himself once soared, and if you’re in the NYC area be sure to head over to Bowery Stadium and check it out for yourself.
