- published: 03 Aug 2013
- views: 9455016
NBC Sports is the sports division of the NBC television network. Formerly "a service of NBC News," it broadcasts a diverse array of programs, including the Olympic Games, the NFL, the NHL, MLS, Notre Dame football, the PGA Tour, the Triple Crown, Indycar Racing, and the French Open, among others. Other programming from outside producers – such as coverage of the Ironman Triathlon – is also presented on the network under the NBC Sports brand name.
With NBC's merger with Comcast, Comcast's sports channels were combined under the NBC Sports division, in an arrangement known as the NBC Sports Group, which also comprises Golf Channel, the Comcast Sportsnet regional sports networks, and NBC Sports Network
NBC Sports’ history can be traced back to May 17, 1939, when experimental television station W2XBS in New York (which would eventually become WNBC) televised an intercollegiate baseball game between Columbia and Princeton. That year, W2XBS would also televise a boxing match between former heavyweight champion Max Baer and Lou Nova at Madison Square Garden, a double header between the Cincinnati Reds and Brooklyn Dodgers from Ebbets Field, and a professional football game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Brooklyn Dodgers of the National Football League. All were firsts for the respective sports. After the war, sporting events were staples of the nascent NBC Television Network. NBC televised the Army–Navy Game in 1945, hailed by sports writers at the time as “The Game of the Century.” In 1946, the Cavalcade of Sports, a primetime boxing program, debuted. NBC would televise boxing, usually on Friday nights, until canceling the program in 1960. In 1947, NBC televised Games 1 & 5 of the World Series in the New York Metropolitan Area (CBS televised Games 3 & 4, while DuMont televised Games 2, 6, & 7).
Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963) is a retired American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. His biography on the National Basketball Association (NBA) website states, "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time." Jordan was one of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation and was considered instrumental in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s.
After a three-season career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a member of the Tar Heels' national championship team in 1982, Jordan joined the NBA's Chicago Bulls in 1984. He quickly emerged as a league star, entertaining crowds with his prolific scoring. His leaping ability, illustrated by performing slam dunks from the free throw line in slam dunk contests, earned him the nicknames "Air Jordan" and "His Airness". He also gained a reputation for being one of the best defensive players in basketball. In 1991, he won his first NBA championship with the Bulls, and followed that achievement with titles in 1992 and 1993, securing a "three-peat". Although Jordan abruptly retired from basketball at the beginning of the 1993–94 NBA season to pursue a career in baseball, he rejoined the Bulls in 1995 and led them to three additional championships (1996, 1997, and 1998) as well as an NBA-record 72 regular-season wins in the 1995–96 NBA season. Jordan retired for a second time in 1999, but returned for two more NBA seasons from 2001 to 2003 as a member of the Washington Wizards.
Robert W. "Robby" Gordon (born January 2, 1969) is an American racecar driver who currently competes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series as an owner-driver, driving the No. 7 Mapei Dodge Charger for Robby Gordon Motorsports, and also competes part-time in the Nationwide Series. He has also raced in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Champ Car, Indycar, Trans-Am, IMSA, IROC and Dakar Rally. Gordon is regarded as one of the best road course drivers in NASCAR. Along with Tony Stewart, Joe Nemechek and Michael Waltrip, Gordon participates in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series as an owner/driver. He is not related to fellow Sprint Cup driver, Jeff Gordon. Robby and his Robby Gordon Motorsports team are currently[when?] the stars of a reality TV series following the daily operations of his organization called SpeedFactory.tv, while he is also the founder of Speed Energy Drink.