Watching sporting events, such as the NBA finals or the U.S. Open, is a slick production honed by years of practice - and it's a craft that traces back to West Orange.

On this day in 1894, the first filmed sporting event was a boxing match that was produced at the studio of Thomas Edison in West Orange. Edison's company filmed it, edited it down and released it as a movie two months later. There were no announcers and no sound.

However, sports broadcasting was born. The original film was lost -- all that survived was a 37-second clip that's now digitized at the Library of Congress.