Media Power Rankings for May

Jeff Van Gundy has to walk a fine line while calling the NBA Finals, which feature his brother Stan. Garrett Ellwood/Getty Images Richard Deitsch's Mailbag Submit a question or comment for Richard. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND Follow Richard Deitsch on Twitter

1. Van Gundys, NBA brothers: Sure, they lack the sex appeal of the Bacon brothers and the loquaciousness of the Sharpes, but Jeff and Stan Van Gundy will be inundating your airwaves over the next two weeks. The emergence of the Magic sets up a delicious television storyline for the NBA Finals as ESPN/ABC analyst Jeff will analyze Magic coach Stan.

There is some familial precedent here: Bob Griese, John Thompson and Bill Walton have all worked events featuring their sons, and Van Gundy called a Boston-Orlando game in March. (Famously, Darrell Waltrip got emotional when his younger brother, Michael, won the Daytona 500 in 2001, the same race that took the life of Dale Earnhardt Sr.)

ESPN officials told Jeff Van Gundy that they wanted him to do this assignment. Jeff said that while he will be as objective as possible, he wants his brother's team to win. (Van Gundy predicted Sunday that the Lakers would win in five or six games.)

With a self-deprecating manner and a high basketball IQ, Van Gundy has emerged as one of the top basketball analysts. Play-by-play man Mike Breen, long championed in this space, is one of those rare broadcasters comfortable letting his analyst shine. Fellow analyst Mark Jackson remains too often hyperbolic but he has grown on me, and Doris Burke is ESPN's best sideline reporter. This group has been praised during the playoffs and deservedly so.

2. Sports media people on Twitter: Sure, Ashton, Demi and The Real Shaq draw the headlines, but sports media people are among Twitter's fastest-growing groups. (Speaking of narcissism and self-promotion, you can follow me on Twitter here.) The diligent SportsIn140.com has chronicled the growing list of people in sports, and the numbers are growing daily.

Among the most prominent sports media Twitterites at the moment is ESPN's Bill Simmons, who has been firing tweets faster than you can say Dennis Scott. He was closing in on 120,000 followers as of this writing, and the service has allowed him to do something he has long desired more of at ESPN: media commentary. Two recent Simmons tweets were aimed squarely at TNT's Reggie Miller -- ("Stu Scott should promote ABC's postgame show like this: 'Stay tuned for a postgame show that doesn't have Reggie Miller!'") and ("Why can't Reggie Miller just make it official and put on a blond Ted McGinley wig?"). We gleefully await Miller joining Twitter for a response.

3. Jonathan Goldsmith, commercial actor: His acting is so good you don't even know his name. Once, he flubbed his lines, just to see what it was like. Who is Jonathan Goldsmith? He is the actor portraying The Most Interesting Man In The World in the Dos Equis commercials you've been seeing every three minutes during the NBA playoffs. Alas, the brand isn't permitting Goldsmith to do interviews in an attempt to maintain focus on the campaign.

"The Most Interesting Man in the world is an enigma wrapped in mystery, and he is this amazing man who lives life in a very interesting way," Kheri Tillman, vice president of marketing for Dos Equis, said when asked by SI.com why Goldsmith remains wrapped in anonymity. "That's the image we want the consumer to see."

No question, the ads are amusing, and Dos Equis is looking into advertising during MLB games and NFL preseason football. But shouldn't Goldsmith get some love for his deeds? This space has an open invite for Goldsmith should Dos Equis free him from his character. Until then, the message is clear: Stay anonymous, my friend.

4. Jason La Canfora, NFL Network reporter: On Monday, the network announced that the former Redskins beat reporter for The Washington Post had been hired to cover national stories for the network and NFL.com, a role similarly performed by Adam Schefter, who is expected join ESPN later this summer. La Canfora will appear on NFL Total Access and NFL GameDay, as well as combine, draft and Super Bowl coverage. He had been with the Post for a decade and covered the Redskins since 2004.

"I am looking at this as a life-changing opportunity, and I could not be more excited," he said. "For the past six years, my work patterns were pretty staid, and this will be entering a brave new world for me, which will shake me out of my comfort zone if nothing else. I think that's a good thing."

La Canfora said the network told him he would be free to report as he saw things. He was first approached by NFL Network executive producer Eric Weinberger and signed with the network over the weekend.

"The coolest thing about the entire process is that when Eric first called me, the entire conversation was focused on journalism," he said. "He could not have been any more clear or direct about the mandate to be fearless and courageous in my reporting, and to approach this job as I would any other."

5. Jon Gruden, ESPN Monday Night Football analyst: The over-under on Gruden's ESPN broadcasting career is two years. My advice? Bet the under.