The Wednesday Links

Time for the links on this Wednesday.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir talks with former MLB Commissioner Fay Vincent about the NBA referee gambling scandal. You may remember Vincent was in charge when the Pete Rose gambling story ruled the front pages.

Paul Gough of the Hollywood Reporter writes that the NBA TV partners still have confidence in the league despite the referee gambling scandal.

Neil Best of Newsday writes that Don Imus more than likely won’t be returning to WFAN and Boomer Esiason will be his replacement.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today talks about ESPN’s re-entry into NASCAR with plenty of bells and whistles.

Jim Williams of the DC/Baltimore Examiner compares David Beckham’s MLS debut on Saturday to Geraldo Rivera’s opening of Al Capone’s safe. Harsh, but there’s a certain ring of truth to it. And Williams says in his blog that the ratings for Saturday on ESPN was a big hit as far as soccer is concerned.

CBS will air a PGA Championship preview this weekend.

Mark Alesia of the Indianapolis Star says Indiana University fans are worried that they won’t be able to see games once the Big Ten Network launches.

Continuing on conference TV networks, Mark McGrane of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that the Mountain West Conference is concerned about carriage for the mtn. channel which is still struggling to get agreements with cable companies.

The Chicago Tribune’s Teddy Greenstein writes that WMVP’s Dan McNeil returns from suspension today. Apparently McNeil insulted a Comcast Sportsnet Chicago executive on the air. Real nice, Dan. And Greenstein reports that WSCR morning show host Mike North has garnered his best ratings since moving to morning drive.

Dave Weekley of the Charleston (WV) Gazette has praise for ESPN’s new College Football Live show which debuted this week.

In Bob Wolfey’s column in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Jon Anderson of ESPN says he was surprised that Dan Patrick announced his departure from the network (scroll down).

That’s it for now.