Sports

IMPOSSIBLE TO FEEL SORRY FOR STEPHEN A.

MAYBE it’s just a coinci dence; maybe it has nothing to do with ESPN or time spent in Bristol. Delusional isn’t an air-borne condition, right?

Last year, when ESPN let Sean Salisbury go, execs finally realized he was a self-smitten windbag. Salisbury confirmed their position by releasing this statement:

“I have grown as much as I can at ESPN and decided to expand my horizons. I have created a brand and it’s time to expand into other opportunities in TV, radio, Internet, publishing, movies and public speaking, among others. My resume speaks for itself as a football analyst, and I believe I can talk all sports with the best of them.”

Brand Salisbury hasn’t been heard from since. And while no one wanted to kick Salisbury when he was down and out, his bloated departure message made that impossible.

Same thing with Stephen A. Smith. What had been abundantly clear among ESPN’s TV and radio audiences from the start — that Smith was a self-promoting, race-based gasbag with almost no discernible sports credibility beyond maudlin genuflecting at the feet of big shots — had finally become clear to ESPN’s shot-callers.

After 5½ years of blowing every opportunity ESPN handed him, Smith was not renewed; he’s out effective Thursday. And who wants to kick him when he’s down?

But last week Smith begged for it. He went on Atlanta’s 790-Radio sports station to provide a highly public reminder, in a long, self-absorbed speech, as to why ESPN no longer could indulge him. Some highlights:

“I just looked in the mirror, fellas, and I said, ‘You know, I’m 41 years of age, I’ve got a little cash stashed away. … I’m a proud single daddy, no question about that, but it’s just one those things, man, where I reached a point where at age 41 with about 20 to 25 years left in this business, me doing my public-speaking engagements around the country, me representing the communities, especially the African-American community, throughout this county, being one of the preeminent voices out there.’ …

“If this is where I stop, then at age 41, I’m not growing anymore, and I couldn’t live with that.”

Geez, he was just dumped for being a self-promoting, self-aggrandizing, self-congratulatory, race-hustling, blowhard and sports know-nothing and he still was unable to subjugate his bombast long enough to allow you a minute to feel sorry for him.

Yep, despite all ESPN’s media platforms, it no longer had room for a wildly popular, in-demand fellow who’s one part Martin Luther King and one part Daniel Webster (but mostly like Sean Salisbury). Smith’s so delusional he’d insult those he considers his greatest admirers. He apparently feels that black Americans find him less full of it than everyone else.

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With its three new ballparks designed to primarily serve as clip joints, New York should be known as Chumptown or Suckerville.

The Jets, eager to let all know that, unlike the Giants, they didn’t apply new-park PSLs to all seats, last week announced a soaking of those who thought they’d escaped. Holders of the 27,000 (of 82,500) non-PSL tickets have been ordered to pay a $500 per seat “location reservation deposit” now, for the 2010 season.

Those patrons are expected to provide the Jets an interest-free, 16-month loan totaling $13.5 million.

Meanwhile, during Yankee Stadium’s opener, two weeks ago, Bud Selig told YES’s Michael Kay that he personally studied all the Yanks’ ticket pricing and found them all affordable. Last week he declared that Yankee and Met tickets are priced too high, which explains all the empty seats. Either way, he’ll be ignored.

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With one out in the ninth, Friday, Yanks up 4-2, YES declared its Chevy Player of the Game to be the “Yankees Bullpen.” Two pitches later, Kevin Youkilis nearly took Mariano Rivera’s head off. You know the rest.

ESPN’s Keyshawn Johnson, during Saturday’s draft coverage, noted that Browns’ WR Donte Stallworth has “some legal issues going on.” But that’s only if you consider vehicular manslaughter charges an issue at all.

phil.mushnick@nypost.com