They Retired Jackie MacMullan's Jersey on 'Around the Horn'

Jackie MacMullan retired from ESPN yesterday. The veteran reporter, who has become a crucial figure in the Boston sports landscape through four decades of work, is synonymous with the NBA and the recipient of numerous awards and honors — all well-deserved. She marked the occasion with one final appearance on Around the Horn, where she faced a familiar frenemy in the final showdown. But before getting to the business of dispatching Bob Ryan, Tony Reali called Pablo Torre out from the shadows to retire a MacMullan Celtics jersey commemorating her 258 career wins on the show.

It was a nice moment even if the finished product looked a bit crooked. Something to work on for the next time a fake jersey is sent to the non-existent rafters. Valuable feedback when it's time for the manual labor portion of Reali's performance review.

Honestly, this should become a tradition. ATH has been the home of so many icons who turned a show where the points are made-up and largely don't matter into something with actual value that does matter. MacMullan spoke about the joy of doing the show and the friendships that were facilitated.

Ten years ago you could have told someone that a jersey she never wore would one day be affixed to a television near the top of a television studio and people would have — well, I guess they would believed such a specific prediction.

Still nice to see it come to fruition.