Another Reason To Love Sports Mon, Feb 27, 2017

In an increasingly divided time in our country, there's still one thing that can always be a unifier: sports. The equality that sports offers is an equality that is rarely found elsewhere. If you're good enough, you belong on the court. If your fandom matches mine, we already have more in common than our misconceived differences.

Sitting in Rupp Arena watching a Kentucky game or at Golden 1 Center for a Kings game, it doesn't matter your race, your political affiliation or your religion, just that you bleed blue (or purple) as fiercely as I do. You're not a Democrat or Muslim or African American - the only label necessary for those two hours is 'Kentucky Fan'.

Playing basketball with the boys at recess or after-school pickup games, I always earned my spot as the only girl because I was good enough to be the only girl on the court. I was given equal shots and equal playing time because I was just as good (or better ;)) than the 9 other players on the court. I wasn't passed over for being a girl, I was given the same opportunities because of my abilities regardless of my gender. It was one of the few places where I knew I was equal to my male counterparts.

For those reasons (and many others I won't bore you with here), Nike's new equality ad hits home on many levels. I've watched the ad dozens of times and still get goosebumps. Maybe it's the Alicia Keys soundtrack or the cameos from numerous Nike athletes from varied backgrounds, or maybe it's the idea that there's still one sacred place where we can always meet back in the middle.