Ward on call in booth

Pam Ward used to watch football on TV, and like any fan, she'd yell at the players. She'd yell at the announcers, too.

Now, as a play-by-play announcer for ESPN, Ward takes the potshots from viewers. She will be calling the Meineke Car Care Bowl tomorrow between Boston College and Navy in Charlotte, N.C. Joining her in the booth will be analyst Mike Gottfried, while Jimmy Dykes will be on the field.

Ward, who grew up in Washington, D.C., worked for radio stations in Washington and Baltimore after graduating from the University of Maryland. She was hired by ESPNews shortly after the network went on the air 10 years ago.

She did play-by-play for women's college basketball, WNBA studio work, and "a variety of things." For the past six years, Ward has been doing play-by-play exclusively.

"I always wanted to do play-by-play since I was a little kid," said Ward. "I told them that before I agreed to work for ESPNews and move to Connecticut, I would have to continue to do play-by-play because I didn't want to give that up. Now I don't do ESPNews or 'SportsCenter' or the studio shows anymore."

Ward grew up in a house where sports were on TV or radio all the time. It didn't occur to her that sports announcing was a male domain. "I was naive and didn't think that it would be considered weird or novel," she said.

She still gets the occasional questioning looks, and coaches sometimes assume she's the sideline reporter when she shows up with the TV crew at the team's pregame meeting.

This year, she said Penn State coach Joe Paterno walked in and said, "You're doing the sidelines, right?"

Ward, who has known Paterno for several years, laughed it off.

"You have to understand that they have entirely different priorities," she said. "They just get through these meetings with us, then they can get back to doing their jobs. Joe's a great guy; it just didn't register with him."

Ward's parents, who also went to the University of Maryland, are avid sports fans. For the most part, Ward said, they don't critique her, "except my mother who critiques what I'm wearing or tells me if my lipstick is wrong."

Fox Sports, which has entered a four-year agreement with the Bowl Championship Series, kicks off its BCS bowl coverage with a day-night broadcast on New Year's Day: Pat Summerall returns to the airwaves to call the Cotton Bowl between Nebraska and Auburn at 11:30 a.m. , followed by the Fiesta Bowl (Boise State vs. Oklahoma) at 8 p.m.

Fox will continue with its "bowl bash" with the Orange Bowl Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., the Sugar Bowl Wednesday at 7:30 , and culminate with the BCS national championship game between Ohio State and Florida Jan. 8 at 7:30 p.m.

All this after never broadcasting a college game all season.

"It is a significant challenge," said Ed Goren, head of Fox Sports. "It sort of reminds me of the first year we took on NASCAR, and the first race was Daytona, without a regular-season buildup. So I think we know it's a challenge. But we feel we're ready, and we've doubled our efforts in preparation. This isn't the NFL, and we're well aware of that."

In the Sugar Bowl between LSU and Notre Dame, Terry Bradshaw and Howie Long will be in the booth with play-by-play announcer Kenny Albert.

When Long was asked how long it's been since he did analysis, he promptly replied, "Never."

"But football is football is football," he said. "Obviously, the rules are different [in college], and you have to familiarize yourself with two full college rosters, and the coaching staffs, story lines, the history of the two schools. And you add to that the importance of the Sugar Bowl being played in New Orleans, and the kind of impact that has on that community." . . . NESN will air an Atlantic Coast Conference basketball tripleheader Sunday, starting with No. 5 Duke against San Jose State at 1 p.m., followed by Boston College vs. Northeastern at 4 p.m., with Don Orsillo and Ron Perry announcing. The third game is No. 2 North Carolina vs. Dayton on tape delay at 6 p.m.

Susan Bickelhaupt can be reached at bickelhaupt@globe.com.