Missing Link (TV series)
Missing Link was a short-lived American sports TV show on ESPN Classic. It was created by Robert Abbott and hosted by Colin Cowherd. The series ran for one season in 2007, with 13 half-hour episodes that aired on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. Eastern, from March 7 to May 30.
The show was like a sports version of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. Each episode built a chain of five to seven famous athletes, coaches, or other sports figures. The ends of the chain seemed opposite in some way, but were connected through middle links that were revealed after a commercial break.
The premiere chain connected Lou Gehrig to Mike Tyson. Some sports footage was shown as still pictures (NFL) while other sports used video. There was no official explanation for these choices, but it may have been related to exclusive rights deals, especially as NFL Network launched a competing show around the same time. The program was pre-empted on April 25 for a Lennox Lewis–Frank Bruno boxing replay, returned briefly, then was dropped two weeks later and did not come back.
There were notes about coverage: NASCAR footage was limited (only pre-2001 Dale Earnhardt Jr. material appeared on the episode linking him with Carl Lewis) due to NASCAR’s TV contracts starting in 2001.
Season 1 consisted of 13 episodes.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 09:57 (CET).