Power Rankings for June

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6. Joe Tait, Cavaliers radio announcer: The 72-year-old Tait has been the voice of the team since it began play in 1970. And with Shaquille O'Neal joining LeBron James next fall, Tait gets to broadcast two of the NBA's greatest players of all time on a nightly basis.

"If I allowed myself to get all swept up in that sort of thing, I probably would not be able to do my job very well," Tait said. "I really don't have any extra excitement or concern. I'll just do the games the way I've done them for the last 39 years. But it is nice to have people of that caliber on your side."

Tait is one of the few NBA play-by-play announcers to call games without an analyst. "I don't need one," he said. "Most second guys just get in the way. They feel they have to say things to justify their existence and as a result they just muddy up the waters."

As James has raised his franchise's global relevance, Tait said he's heard from people all over the world who are listening to him via the Web. "I got a call the other day from a guy who listened to the entire Orlando series in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia," he said of the Cavs' appearance in the Eastern Conference finals. "He said he sat there listening to the Cavs and Magic while watching a tank out in front of hotel."

7. Jonathan Goldsmith, Dos Equis pitchman: Last month, we promised to give Goldsmith (the actor who portrays The Most Interesting Man In The World character in the Dos Equis commercials) some love if we heard from him. Well, he lives. In fact, he lives much like the character he plays: Goldsmith lives on a 47-foot Beneteau sailboat in Los Angeles. The actor said he's been working professionally for 50 years and is in his third year of playing TMIMITW.

"I got an audition like many actors across the country, and after three or four more auditions, I was lucky to be hired," he said.

Goldsmith considers himself more of an outdoorsman -- he's fond of camping, fly fishing and sailing -- than a hardcore sports fans. His sports highlight was attending the 1972 Muhammad Ali-Jerry Quarry championship fight in Las Vegas. The actor plans on keeping the Most Interesting Man role for as long as he can. "Fine wine gets better with age so I imagine the Man will be around for a while," he said.

Excellent news. Stay visible, my friend.

8. and 9. Patriots tackle Matt Light and Jets center Damian Woody, budding broadcasters: Ask an NFL beat writer about the go-to guys in his or her locker room and it won't be long before an offensive lineman's name comes up. Light and Woody attended last week's annual NFL Broadcast Boot Camp at NFL Films headquarters in Mount Laurel, N.J., where 24 current and former players took part in a four-day league and NFLPA initiative to help prepare players for their post-playing careers. The 14-hour days included seminars in all facets of broadcasting, from studio analysis to field reporting to radio hosting to taped on-camera segments. Of the group I followed on the first day of classes, the two linemen and Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew showed promise.

"Offensive linemen are usually some of the most knowledgeable guys in football, even though we are unheralded," Woody said. "We're insightful, smart guys, and articulate. I think Matt is someone who can do well in this environment. He's a funny guy and I think he'd be a spontaneous guy on the set."

NBC Sports coordinating producer Molly Solomon, one of the many management types on hand, told the participants that there was no better time to be in the business because of the proliferation of regional networks such as the Big Ten Network. Instructors advised the players to focus on learning the game beyond their position and look to Saturdays instead of Sundays, given that there are fewer than 20 NFL television analyst jobs. "It's harder to make it as an NFL analyst," Fox Sports producer Bill Brown said, "then it is the NFL."

10. The Best Damn Sports Show, Period, former FSN show: When Best Damn made its debut in 2001, I labeled it "the worst damn hour in sports broadcasting, exclamation point" thanks to a steady diet of jokes about toilet seats, pap smears and big butts. Plenty of people floated through the set over the years, including Tom Arnold, Rob Dibble, John Kruk, Michael Irvin, Chris Rose, John Salley, Michael Strahan and even Deacon Jones. The show continued to have plenty of juvenile tendencies but it cleaned up its act from its cesspool beginnings. It also made a legitimate attempt to get A-list sports guests. Best Damn ended its original run this week after eight years, an eternity in sports television. It taped its last show Monday. Wide World of Sports it was not, and while I won't miss it, I recognize some will.