FanHouse MikeBreen

There was all sorts of ridiculous speculation about what was wrong with Mike Breen when he appeared on television the other night with junk all over his face (click for picture). Personally, I just thought it was like a mid-life crisis or something. Then I realized people weren't mocking the goatee, they were wondering about the band-aid.

Given the massive amount of makeup they thrust at television personalities, some sort of skin imperfection seemed like an unlikely source. So many people began speculating that Breen had skin cancer. Fortunately, Tom Hoffarth got some answers. And Breen is okay. Well, more or less.

Breen told us this morning that he'd smacked his head against the corner of the bathroom door in the hotel room as he shutting off the lights and leaving for the game, and the scalp wouldn't stop bleeding. He was across the street from a hospital, but didn't think it was necessary to go there. He ended up getting a couple stitches from the Celtics' team trainer and had to wear the bandage because it continued to bleed. No makeup could fix it -- in fact, if makeup had gotten into it, there could have been infection.

There is always the problem that he seems to have with running into doors, assuming we give him the benefit of the doubt here. Which I am totally down with doing. Lord knows I have hit my head and/or had cuts that would not stop bleeding before. Just not the night of an NBA Finals game where they were going to keep showing my face. Again, benefit of the doubt and all that but the injury excuse just seems so ... Vlad-Rad-like.

In addition to calling nationally televised games alongside Mike Breen on ABC and ESPN, analyst Mark Jackson also works alongside Marv Albert covering the Nets for the YES Network.

At least, he used to work for YES: as those dedicated (and tortured) Nets fans who tuned into Wednesday's meaningless season finale heard first-hand, Jackson revealed that he wouldn't be returning next year. From Neil Best at Newsday (via Sports Media Watch):

During the telecast, Albert called Jackson's announcement, which he initially made in the third quarter, "startling." As the duo signed off, Jackson said, "Thank you, people, for letting me in your home."

Naturally, this fueled speculation that Jackson is headed to the Knicks. But he told YES executives after the game that he simply had tired of the time apart from his family, which is based in Los Angeles.

First of all, disregard his official explanation: yes, he may miss his family, but I have a hunch he won't have trouble convincing them to move out to the Big Apple if he gets his dream job. Jackson is from New York, born and raised in Brooklyn before playing college ball at St. John's and getting drafted by the Knicks. And oh yeah, he's pretty familiar with Donnie Walsh, too, playing five and a half years with the Pacers.

I'm not saying Walsh has already contacted Jackson for the deal, but it doesn't seem like much of a stretch to think that Jackson is making it very apparent that he's interested and available for the job. As a local guy who's maintained a media presence across the river in New Jersey, hiring Jackson wouldn't be a bad public relations move for a franchise struggling to connect with it's base, either.