I can report ESPN has removed Pam Ward from its college football coverage.
— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) May 21, 2012
With those 13 simple words, our world changed forever. Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch reported the news that Awful Announcing mainstay Pam Ward has been taken off ESPN’s college football coverage. Ward had been a part of ESPN’s college football coverage since 2000 and had been calling Big Ten games at noon for ESPN2 in the recent past. She worked with Dan Hawkins last year, which produced quite a few memorable quotes throughout the year. Deitsch did go on to state Pam Ward will remain with ESPN in a variety of other roles at the network, so at least she won’t be totally out of a job.
More than any one person, Pam Ward has been synonymous with AA back to the days when I was just a college kid reading Brian Powell’s site every day. She was the inspiration for the Pammies, which put AA 1.0 on the map in the latter part of the 2000’s and took home the Pammies crown in 2008 and 2009. Last year, she finished 3rd in her namesake awards behind eventual winner Craig James.
Losing Craig James AND Pam Ward in one offseason is a victory for people that happen to enjoy college football while not having to mute the television or ram your head into the nearest wall ala Gus Frerotte. Maybe we’ll all look back at this day as a win for the internet and tell ourselves somebody that makes these decisions is actually listening to college football fans. But, it is a bittersweet day for us as well. Have no fear, the Pammies will always be a part of AA, but they will certainly never be the same again.
We’ll be back later on with a proper retrospective that will pay homage to Pam Ward’s AA legacy.
