ESPN 3D is a cable television network that features 3D versions of sports events. Launched on June 11, 2010, it is a member of the ESPN family of sports-related networks. The channel simulcasts live games from other ESPN networks on a semi-regular basis.^{[clarification needed]} It began nonstop broadcasting on February 14, 2011. Most programs are reruns of games enhanced to feature 3D.

ESPN 3D launched on June 11, 2010 with a 3D broadcast of the opening match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Other programs broadcasted include the 2011 BCS National Championship Game and various college football and basketball games. Early programming included 25 matches from the 2010 World Cup and the Summer X Games. Up to 85 live events were shown on the network in 2010. ESPN 3D produced 14 games from the National Basketball Association (NBA) during the 2010-11 season, including 7 playoff games. The first NBA game broadcast was between the Miami Heat and the New York Knicks on December 17, 2010. On June 30, 2011, ESPN announced that ESPN 3D would air the first Men's Semi-Finals match of the 2011 Wimbledon Championships live, to be followed by a tape of the 2nd Men’s Semi-Finals. ESPN would also air on July 4, 2011 a recording of the Ladies and Men's Finals ESPN 3D also broadcast all of the 2011 Little League World Series games.

Michael Benjamin Bay (born February 17, 1965) is an American film director and producer. He is known for directing high-budget action films characterized by their fast edits, stylistic visuals and substantial practical special effects. His films, which include The Rock, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor and the Bad Boys and Transformers series, have grossed over three billion dollars world-wide. He is co-founder of commercial production house The Institute, a.k.a. The Institute for the Development of Enhanced Perceptual Awareness. He is co-chair and part-owner of the digital effects house Digital Domain. He co-owns Platinum Dunes, a production house which has remade horror movies including Friday the 13th, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Michael Bay was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. He was raised by his adoptive parents Harriet, a bookstore owner/child psychiatrist, and Jim, a CPA. Bay's grandfather was Russian. His cousin, Susan Bay, is the wife of Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy. He attended the exclusive Crossroads School, in Santa Monica, California. Bay often traces his interest in action films back to an incident during his childhood. As a boy, he attached some firecrackers to a toy train and filmed the ensuing fiery disaster with his mother's 8mm camera. The fire department was called and he was grounded.

Pau Gasol i Sáez (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈpaw ɡəˈzɔɫ]) (born July 6, 1980) is a Spanish professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was born to Marisa Sáez and Agustí Gasol, and he spent his childhood in Spain. Gasol was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks in the 2001 NBA Draft, but his rights were traded to the Memphis Grizzlies, with whom he won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award. He currently holds the Memphis Grizzlies franchise records for career games played, minutes played, field goals made and attempted, free throws made and attempted, offensive, defensive, and total rebounds, blocked shots, turnovers, and points. After seven seasons with the team, Gasol was traded to the Lakers on February 1, 2008. His younger brother, Marc Gasol, who was involved in that trade, is also a professional basketball player for the Memphis Grizzlies of the NBA.

Pau Gasol was born in Barcelona. He began playing basketball with his school team called Alvirne, and he eventually signed with Cornellà. When he was sixteen, he began playing for Barcelona's junior team. He also won both the 1998 Albert Schweitzer Tournament and the 1998 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship. After moving to the senior team of Barcelona, Gasol played just 25 total minutes in the Spanish ACB League 1998–99 season, and averaged 13.7 minutes per game in the ACB the next year. However, in his final season in the ACB, Gasol averaged 12.4 points and 5.8 rebounds in 24.7 minutes per game. Barcelona was victorious in the Spanish National Cup championship game in 2001, and Gasol was named Most Valuable Player. After entering the NBA Draft, Gasol was selected third overall in the first round in the 2001 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks, who traded his draft rights to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for Shareef Abdur-Rahim.

Lamar Joseph Odom (born November 6, 1979) is an American professional basketball forward with the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA.

Odom was born in South Jamaica, Queens, New York City, New York. His father was a heroin addict and his mother died of colon cancer when he was twelve years old. He was raised by his grandmother Mildred.

In his first three years of high school, Odom played for Christ The King Regional High School in Middle Village, Queens. He transferred first to Redemption Christian Academy in Troy, New York for the basketball season and then to St. Thomas Aquinas High School in New Britain, Connecticut. Odom was named the Parade Magazine Player of the Year in 1997. He was named to the USA Today All-USA 1st Team as a senior. During his youth, Odom was teamed with Elton Brand of the Philadelphia 76ers and Ron Artest of the Los Angeles Lakers on the same AAU team.

In 1997, Odom attended the University of Nevada at Las Vegas and was enrolled in summer classes. Following an academic scandal, an NCAA inquiry found Odom received payments amounting to $5,600 from booster David Chapman. Coach Bill Bayno was fired and UNLV was placed on probation for four years. Odom transferred to the University of Rhode Island but was forced to sit out the 1997–98 season.

David Américo Ortiz Arias (born November 18, 1975), nicknamed "Big Papi", is a Dominican-American professional baseball player with the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball. Previously, Ortiz played with the Minnesota Twins from 1997 until 2002. Ortiz is a seven-time All-Star and holds the Red Sox single season record for home runs in a regular season with 54, set during the 2006 season. In 2005, Red Sox ownership presented him with a plaque proclaiming Ortiz "the greatest clutch-hitter in the history of the Boston Red Sox".

Ortiz graduated from Estudia Espallat High School in the Dominican Republic and in 1992 he was signed by the Seattle Mariners who listed him as "David Arias". He played for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, a Mariners farm team, until 1996, when he was traded to the Minnesota Twins as the player to be named later in an earlier trade for Dave Hollins. When he arrived in Minnesota, he informed the team that he preferred to be listed as "David Ortiz."

He made his Twins debut in September 1997. For a few years, he was moved back and forth between the Twins and their minor league affiliate in Connecticut, the New Britain Rock Cats. The Twins advanced to the American League Championship Series that year, where they lost to the Anaheim Angels. Despite showing flashes of talent, Ortiz's time with the Twins will be remembered as a series of injuries and inconsistency both in the field and at the plate. Ortiz suffered wrist injuries in both 1998 and 2001. He continued to experience knee problems in early 2002 that plagued him throughout the season, despite hitting 32 doubles, 20 home runs and 75 RBIs in 125 games. He was released by the Twins after the season. In six seasons with the Twins, Ortiz hit 58 home runs and 238 RBI.