YOU CAN'T STOP DAN PATRICK, WILL ABC TRY TO CONTAIN HIM?

          ESPN's Dan Patrick will sit in for ABC's "Good Morning
     America" host Charles Gibson from December 30 to January 1,
     and that if his "stint goes well, GMA viewers could be
     seeing a lot more of Patrick," according to Peter Johnson of
     USA TODAY.  ABC execs are "scouting around" for someone to
     replace Gibson and news that ABC "reached outside" their
     news department "may indicate how seriously their eyeing
     Patrick for the job (USA TODAY, 12/17).
          GUMBEL LOOKING BACK? USA TODAY's Michael Hiestand
     reports that although Bryant Gumbel hasn't been with NBC
     Sports "since the first year of the Reagan presidency,"
     returning to sports might be a possibility after he finishes
     his last "Today" show on January 3.  Gumbel says of his
     future he's "officially undecided," and that if he were to
     return to sports, "it would have to be something different
     than I've done."  He has been hosting HBO's bimonthly show
     "Real Sports" since '95 (USA TODAY, 12/17).