My "Pam Ward for NFL Network" campaign cruelly crushed...

The lightly distributed cable network owned by the National Football League said goodbye to potentially hundreds and hundreds of new female viewers by taking the safe route and picking Giants play-by-play announcer Bob Papa to call the handful of games played on the NFL Network later this year.

I argued in these pages that Pam Ward would be a great choice to replace Bryant Gumbel as the first play-by-play caller on a national NFL broadcast, and I thought sentiment was turning my way. Indeed, when Deadspin editor Will Leitch dared to challenge my selection of Ward, he was forced to backpedal. And then he was replaced by a new editor. Coincidence?

Sadly, yes.