Kudos on your 4/12 piece about Pam Ward and the NFL network. I watch college football intensely and have a strong opinion on the good and very bad broadcasters. Pam Ward by far is the best caller in college football, and is one of the best in any sport. She calls the game in a detailed manner, but lets the color guy shine and give their input. She doesn't try to overshadow the game, yet definitely becomes an intergral part of it. Since she mainly does Big Ten games (including my Iowa Hawkeyes), I consider her the official voice of the Big Ten.
I think the NFL network would be very wise in hiring her, and actually feel that her and Collinsworth would be that magic combination that the suits have looked for. Instead of trying to create good natured tension in the booth, Ward and Cris would call a good game, but mix enough to bring discussion. Now whether the NFL hires her or not is another story. I think their TV venture has been a failure so far, and hiring Bryant Gumbel in the first place was showing their lack of vision and insight into the NFL fan. The majority of people who will tune in are not "casual" fans. They are smart about their sport, and want their "voice" to be the same. It also helps that the announcer, well, doesn't sound like Bryant Gumbel.
-- Drew Murphy
Just read your column on Pam Ward, and you're exactly right -- she's terrific. I worked with her for a short stint at WTEM/Washington in 1992, before she got any of the network PBP gigs. Even then, she was one of the
hardest working people on the staff, and I wasn't the only one who noticed how tremendous her abilities were. It would be good for NFLN to give the PBP job to Pam, under one condition -- that they don't play it up as "a
first." Just hire her, let her show the fans and critics how well she'd do the job, and leave aside the gender/glass ceiling angle. I know that would be hard to do, but doing so would send an even stronger statement: that NFLN didn't hire her because she's a woman, they hired her because she's the right person for the job.
-- Paul Harris
