13,239 articles
National Hockey League
National Hockey League (NHL), founded November 26, 1917 in Montreal; 32-team professional ice hockey league in Canada and the US awarding the Stanley Cup; 82-game season, hard salary cap, 84 games from 2026-27.
National Hockey League rules
National Hockey League rules: the NHL Official Rule Book governing game format, penalties, video review, and conduct; three 20-minute periods, Rule 69 goalie interference, fighting permitted but penalized, differing from IIHF rules.
National Invitation Tournament
National Invitation Tournament (NIT), annual NCAA Division I men's postseason basketball tournament, first held 1938 with Temple winning at Madison Square Garden; NCAA-owned since 2005, 24 teams from 2027.
National Lacrosse League
National Lacrosse League (NLL), also Eagle Pro Box Lacrosse League and Major Indoor Lacrosse League, professional box lacrosse league founded 1986 by Russ Cline and Chris Fritz; 12 clubs for 2026-27, Buffalo Bandits hold seven titles.
National League
National League (NL), founded February 2, 1876 by William A. Hulbert with eight charter clubs, the older of MLB's two leagues; adopted the designated hitter in 2022 after the American League did so in 1973.
National League Championship Series
National League Championship Series (NLCS), MLB's best-of-seven playoff deciding the NL pennant since 1985 (best-of-five 1969-1984); winner advances to the World Series; 2026 champion Milwaukee Brewers swept the Dodgers 4-0.
National Pro Fastpitch
National Pro Fastpitch (NPF), formerly the Women's Pro Softball League, was a US professional women's fastpitch softball league playing 2004-2019; its Cowles Cup went mostly to the USSSA Pride and Chicago Bandits before operations suspended in 2021.
National Provincial Championship (2006–present)
National Provincial Championship (2006–present), also Air New Zealand Cup, ITM Cup, Bunnings Warehouse NPC: New Zealand's 14-team professional provincial rugby union competition, replacing the three-division NPC; Canterbury won the 2025 final 36-28 over Otago.
National Rugby League
National Rugby League (NRL): Australasia's elite rugby league club competition, formed 1998 after the Super League war, governed by the ARL Commission since 2012; 17 clubs, $5.3 billion media deal, PNG team from 2028.
Nationals Park
Nationals Park, the Washington Nationals' MLB ballpark in Southeast Washington, D.C., opened March 30, 2008; cost over $611 million; first LEED Silver-certified MLB stadium; 41,565 seats.
Nations Championship
Nations Championship: biennial men's rugby union tournament launched July 2026, pitting the six Six Nations unions plus SANZAAR sides, Japan, and Fiji across July and November windows, with a Twickenham Finals Weekend and a linked World Rugby Nations Cup second tier.
Nationwide Arena
Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio: home of the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets, opened 2000, privately financed at $150 million after a 1997 referendum defeat; publicly owned by the FCCFA and anchor of the Arena District; $400 million modernization planned.
Natisha Hiedeman
Natisha Hiedeman (T-Spoon), born 1997, Green Bay, Wisconsin, is an American WNBA guard, 5-8, drafted 18th overall in 2019 by Minnesota, traded to Connecticut Sun; Marquette's 2019 unanimous BIG EAST Player of the Year; now with the Seattle Storm.
NaVorro Bowman
NaVorro Bowman is a former NFL linebacker who spent most of eight seasons as an All-Pro inside linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers, retiring in 2019.
Nayu Kiyohara
Nayu Kiyohara (清原奈侑, born 1991, Osaka) is a Japanese softball catcher for Hitachi Sundeyva who won gold in women's softball at Tokyo 2020, wearing number 21 and appearing in two games as catcher and pinch hitter.
Naz Reid
Naz Reid (Nazreon Hilton Reid, born 1999) is an American NBA center-forward, undrafted from LSU in 2019, who won the 2023-24 Sixth Man of the Year with Minnesota before being traded to the Charlotte Hornets in June 2026.
Nazem Kadri
Nazem Kadri (born 1990, London, Ontario) is a Canadian NHL center, drafted seventh overall by Toronto in 2009, a 2022 Stanley Cup champion with Colorado, later Calgary's scoring leader, and traded back to the Avalanche in March 2026.
NBA 2K14
NBA 2K14 (also written NBA 2K14) is a 2013 basketball simulation by Visual Concepts and 2K Sports, a LeBron James cover entry of the NBA 2K series released October 1, 2013 on PS3, Xbox 360, PC, and iOS, with Eco-Motion engine next-gen PS4 and Xbox One versions in November.
NBA 2K16
NBA 2K16 is a 2015 Visual Concepts basketball simulation, the 17th NBA 2K entry, with Spike Lee's 'Livin' Da Dream' MyCAREER story, Curry, Harden, and Davis covers, and over four million first-week sales.
NBA 2K17
NBA 2K17 is a 2016 Visual Concepts basketball simulation published by 2K Sports, with Paul George on the standard cover and Kobe Bryant on the Legend Edition; released September 20, 2016, Metacritic 88.
NBA 2K18
NBA 2K18 is a basketball simulation video game by Visual Concepts and 2K, released in September 2017, the nineteenth NBA 2K entry, known for its open-world Neighborhood feature.
NBA 2K19
NBA 2K19 is a 2018 basketball simulation by Visual Concepts and 2K Sports, the series' 20th entry, with LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo covers, Metacritic 82, the Takeover feature, VC-based monetization, and servers shut down in December 2020.
NBA 2K21
NBA 2K21 is a 2020 basketball simulation by Visual Concepts and 2K Games, the 22nd NBA 2K entry, released September 4, 2020 on current-gen and November 2020 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, known for its controversial Pro Stick shot meter, The City, The W, and a 68 Metacritic score.
NBA 75th Anniversary Team
NBA 75th Anniversary Team (NBA 75): 76-player list of the greatest NBA players, chosen by a blue-ribbon panel in October 2021 for the league's 75th season; kept all 50 from 1996, honored at the 2022 All-Star Game.
NBA All-Defensive Team
NBA All-Defensive Team: annual NBA honor naming First and Second Teams of the league's best defenders since 1968-69; coaches voted until 2014, now 100 media voters, positionless since the 2020s.
NBA All-Rookie Team
NBA All-Rookie Team: annual First and Second Team honors for the league's best first-year players, awarded since 1962-63 (originally by the Newspaper Enterprise Association) and now chosen by a 100-member global media panel; 2025-26 First Team led by Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel.
NBA All-Star Celebrity Game
NBA All-Star Celebrity Game (Ruffles NBA All-Star Celebrity Game), annual Friday exhibition of entertainers and athletes opening NBA All-Star Weekend on ESPN; Rome Flynn won back-to-back MVPs in 2025 and 2026, Micah Parsons holds the scoring record with 37 points.
NBA All-Star Game
NBA All-Star Game, the NBA's annual midseason exhibition since 1951. Formats: East vs. West until 2018, captain's draft 2018-2023, East vs. West 2024, four-team tournament 2025, U.S. vs. World round-robin 2026.
NBA Coach of the Year
NBA Coach of the Year, awarded as the Red Auerbach Trophy, honors the league's top head coach, chosen by 100 media voters; Boston's Joe Mazzulla won 2025-26, and the NBCA coaches' award is a separate, peer-voted honor.
NBA conference finals
NBA conference finals: the penultimate playoff round, two best-of-seven series (East and West) whose winners meet in the NBA Finals; 2026 winners were the Knicks (4-0 over Cleveland) and Spurs (4-3 over Oklahoma City).