Presenting this week's sports media notes while keeping one eye out for falling spy satellite pieces:

The title of HBO's documentary Joe Louis: America's Hero ... Betrayed (debut tomorrow at 8 p.m.) would lead you to believe the focus is on the sad part of his life after boxing, but the show is much broader than that. In another terrific HBO sports documentary, the story is just as much the America's Hero aspect of Louis.

Though even the casual sports fan certainly is aware of Louis, his familiarity doesn't make Louis' tale any less stirring. But particularly for those too young to know, America's Hero is a wonderful Black History Month lesson.

A succession of well-known people speak to Louis' almost saintly status in the black community. Comedian Dick Gregory says of a Louis fight: "It was better than Christmas - because on Christmas you couldn't be guaranteed you was going to get anything." Rep. Charles Rangel: "As a kid, Joe Louis was everything. He was the epitome of racial pride." And how important was it for Louis to win? Bill Cosby: "If Joe loses, our whole race will be down."

Schooled to be everything the brash, boastful and (to white Americans) abrasive heavyweight champion Jack Johnson was not, Louis projected a humble, dignified image that made him a true crossover figure. So by the time Louis defeated Max Schmeling in their second bout, the Brown Bomber was packing a punch for America against the symbol of the Nazis' Aryan supremacy. And when World War II began, Louis supported the war effort with patriotic pride, despite representing a nation that would not integrate its armed forces.

Here is where the Betrayed part comes in. Cut off from his lucrative boxing income while helping to sell war bonds and staging exhibitions as a member of the Army, Louis continued to spend as if he still had the money rolling in. Exploited over his career by his management, Louis came out of the war with a huge tax bill. For years afterward, the Internal Revenue Service dogged him, playing Inspector Javert to Louis' Jean Valjean.

So the final chapters of Louis' life indeed were sad - demeaning efforts to earn income, descent into drug use and paranoia, relegation to irrelevance in an aggressive civil rights era.

But overall, America's Hero is a celebration of Louis. (The show will be replayed several times and is available On Demand starting Monday.)

On Monday starting at 10 a.m., Brian Billick joins The Mark Viviano Show on ESPN Radio (1300 AM) for the whole three hours, his first radio appearance since being fired as Ravens coach.

We should know very soon what kind of high-definition schedule Mid-Atlantic Sports Network will have for Orioles (and Washington Nationals) games. A recent report at washingtonpost.com said there would be 60 HD telecasts, split evenly between the teams.

(Special HD update: The Frager household remains an HDTV-free zone. Which makes me a Blue Ray.)

So this is Dick Vitale's take on the Kelvin Sampson situation at Indiana: Yes, Sampson must own up to committing NCAA violations, but Indiana athletic director Rick Greenspan also should lose his job. After all, Vitale reasoned on ESPN Radio's Mike and Mike show, Sampson had a history of breaking NCAA rules before he was hired as Indiana coach. Somehow, you just knew Vitale, coach coddler that he is, would diffuse the blame in Bloomington.

When the Orioles' full squad reported to camp earlier this week, Jay Gibbons appeared on camera to speak about his inclusion in the Mitchell Report. Brian Roberts, however, did not. On WBAL/Channel 11, Gerry Sandusky said Roberts had refused to speak on camera about steroids use. The Orioles, though, say Roberts told media members he would talk about it only once and - inadvertently or not - ended up doing it in the clubhouse with print reporters and not with anyone from television.

ray.frager@baltsun.com

Sun reporter Jeff Zrebiec contributed to this article.