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ESPN fans are accustomed to hearing Sean Salisbury talk about Terrell Owens, Peyton Manning and Donovan McNabb.

But on Monday, Salisbury started reeling off names such as Norm Van Lier, Jerry Sloan, Ron Santo and Keith Magnuson.

Homes
So Salisbury doesn't have an Illinois drivers' license and won't get choked up if he's asked about the demolition of old Comiskey Park. Nevertheless, he's ready to dive into the Chicago sports radio scene, which he'll do Tuesday morning on WMVP-AM 1000.

"I don't consider it a detriment that I'm not from Chicago," he said. "And I'll set out to prove that quickly."

Salisbury, who will team with the Tribune's Steve Rosenbloom from 9 a.m.-noon on weekdays, plans to buy a home in Chicago and spend at least 100 days a year here. When he's not at WMVP's downtown studio, he will broadcast from the ESPN mother ship in Bristol, Conn.

"I'll become a Chicagoan and would hope people will welcome me," he said.

Salisbury's competitors at WSCR-AM 670 won't be rolling out the red carpet, not after running this promo Monday: "We're Chicago's home-grown sports station, not some crap imported from the East Coast. Keep it here for all Sox talk, all Cubs talk, all Chicago sports talk."

WMVP program director Jeff Schwartz said Salisbury would blow people away with his Chicago sports knowledge.

"Anybody who wants to challenge him or test him, they're going to lose," Schwartz said. "And if there's something he doesn't know, he won't try to fake it."

Schwartz said what Salisbury also has going for him is "enormous pride and ego ... it's big enough that, if anything, it will force himself to overachieve."

Rosenbloom's take?

"Jerry Reinsdorf is not from around here either," he said. "You think Bulls fans and Sox fans have any problem with him? The Tribune Company has been here 150-plus years. How many championships have they won?"

Salisbury grew up in Southern California and played quarterback at USC before enjoying a 10-year NFL career. He joined ESPN in 1997 and is now widely regarded as the network's top NFL analyst, contributing to many of its TV and radio shows.

"People who think he's just a football guy need to see him walk through a baseball clubhouse," Rosenbloom said. "The players pull Sean aside because they've seen him on TV and want to know who to draft for their fantasy football team. And the guy's a human Rolodex."

Schwartz said Salisbury counts actors Vince Vaughn and Adam Sandler among his friends.

"And Sean has so many inside stories about Bristol," Schwartz said, referring to ESPN's on-air personalities. "People will hear things that are absolutely hysterical. And Sean said almost nothing's off limits."

Brief courtship

Salisbury has worked with Rosenbloom only once, when they subbed for former WMVP midday hosts Marc Silverman and Carmen DeFalco in January.

A canceled flight prevented Salisbury from meeting Rosenbloom until about 10 minutes before the show. So much for devising a script.

"He walks in, puts on the headphones and we roll," Rosenbloom said. "We fought and argued without it getting personal. It was loads of fun."

Said Salisbury: "It's amazing how he knew in one show how to get my blood flowing. He has a strong personality and knows where to take me."

For years Rosenbloom resisted taking on a five-days-a-week radio gig, preferring a weekend show at WSCR. But he said the chance to work with Salisbury—while continuing to write his "Out Loud" and poker columns in the Tribune and travel to poker tournaments for ESPN.com—was too irresistible to pass up.

And if he doesn't thrive, Rosenbloom said he'll tell WMVP officials to take him off the air.

"Radio contracts are worse than NFL contracts," he said. "Every 13 weeks they can take you out back and shoot you."

Night shift

The Salisbury hire pushed Silverman and DeFalco back to weeknights, where they started together at WMVP on June 2, 2003.

"That was the night Sammy Sosa corked his bat," Silverman said. "And the phone lines lit up."

Silverman will take his trademark intensity to the 7-10 p.m. show. He won't sulk about losing the more coveted time slot, though the winter ratings for the "Silvy and Carmen" show were strong, surging from 3.0 to 3.6 among men 25-49. And from 9-10 a.m., the duo easily surpassed the audience of the Score's Mike North.

Silverman and DeFalco will try to play to the younger set by doing remotes from sports bars.

The Score is Doomed...now do you believe "my numbers."

so they improve their numbers and they get demoted? spaceball had his decision made up back in january. what's most disgusting is MJH playing company men and trying to talk it up. the only good thing about all of this is overlap at 7pm when all the guys will be in the studio.