Yet another set of weekly sports media notes, where - unlike in politics - middle names don't matter:

It seems Sean Salisbury wasn't looking in the rearview mirror as he drove away from ESPN. The NFL analyst's contract wasn't renewed by the network this week - ESPN hired Cris Carter, formerly of HBO's Inside the NFL, the same day - but Salisbury sounded almost giddy.

"I'm a free agent," he told the Los Angeles Times. "I've been liberated. I knew this was coming, but I couldn't be happier. I'd grown tired of being punished for not being an NFL superstar. Analysts who don't work as hard as me, don't prepare as hard as me and don't have my resume were making more than me just because of their ability to throw or catch a football.

"Don't get me wrong, I appreciated the opportunity ESPN gave me, but they had capped my ceiling. There was only so far I could go there."

Salisbury told the Times he already has a job offer from Fox SportsNet and a "nonsports" possibility with CBS. (Replacing Jorja Fox on CSI? Introducing the newest member of the CSI team, an opinionated guy who constantly second-guesses Grissom ... )

I've never been a big Salisbury fan, but he makes a salient point with the "superstar" comment. So he spent most of his NFL career carrying a clipboard as a backup quarterback - so what? All that matters is how he performs on the air. Does he communicate well? Does he know what he's talking about? Is he interesting and informative?

Emmitt Smith was a fantastic running back. As we can clearly see, that doesn't make him a fantastic television analyst.

Irony, third meaning, from Webster's: "a combination of circumstances or a result that is the opposite of what is or might be expected or considered appropriate."

Why the definition? ESPN announced yesterday that Bob Knight - whose Hall of Fame coaching career was marked by a contentious relationship with the media - will join the network as a college basketball studio analyst starting March 12 through the NCAA championship.

The entire Orioles spring TV schedule isn't out yet, but Mid-Atlantic Sports Network's first Grapefruit League game will be next Friday's exhibition against the Boston Red Sox at 1 p.m.

Looking for growth sectors in our economy? How about the lawyers involved in the NFL's disputes over carriage of its NFL Network?

This week, a New York state appeals court decided the league's dispute with Comcast over the moving of the NFL Network to a premium sports tier of service had to go back for a jury trial. A judge in a lower court had ruled Comcast was allowed to shift the NFL Network away from a basic level, where the NFL wants its channel to live side by side with ESPN, CNN and VH1. (Well, except maybe when the latter is running Rock of Love.)

Meanwhile, the NFL is suing Dish Network for also planning to move the NFL Network to another, more expensive subscriber level.

ray.frager@baltsun.com