Alabama fans are livid with ESPN over Week 6 GameDay guest picker
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On Saturday, in Tuscaloosa, the celebrity guest picker on ESPN’s College GameDay might actually pick against the home team.
Comedian and prominent podcaster Theo Von was announced as the guest picker for ESPN’s Week 6 broadcast on Thursday night. Von, a Louisiana native, has been a regular on the sidelines of Vanderbilt games this season. He even had a public bet with Vandy quarterback Diego Pavia that included a date with Pavia’s mom.
On the surface, Von doesn’t have any direct tie to the University of Alabama. He attended LSU at one point. He also spent time at Loyola University New Orleans, the University of Arizona, the College of Charleston, and Santa Monica College before graduating with a degree from the University of New Orleans.
Von is also the first guest picker of the 2025 season to not be an athlete. Former Oklahoma basketball player Trae Young was the Week 2 guest picker. Candace Parker, a Tennessee women’s basketball alum, was the Week 3 guest picker. Former Penn State linebacker LaVar Arrington was the Week 5 guest picker. For the Miami broadcast in Week 4, ESPN invited Florida Panthers’ star Matthew Tkachuk.
Miss Terry was the guest picker during the last GameDay broadcast Alabama hosted (Sept. 28, 2024). When Alabama hosted in 2023, Joe Namath was the guest picker in September, and comedian Nate Bargatze, a Nashville native, was tapped for the November show. Namath was also the guest picker for the November 2020 show Alabama hosted in Tuscaloosa.
When Alabama has been featured on GameDay for SEC Championship Game broadcasts, ESPN has used Von (2023) and Zac Brown (2021). Brown is an Atlanta native who went to school at the University of West Georgia.
Notably, when ESPN did its conference championship week broadcast from the site of the Big 12 title game between TCU and Kansas State in 2022, the network tapped TCU alum LaDainian Tomlinson as the guest picker.
While Alabama has hosted GameDay more than all but 1 other school, fans feel like the Worldwide Leader has consistently gotten the guest picker wrong in recent years. Crimson Tide fans were loud about their displeasure with the Week 6 selection on social media Thursday night. Some of that reaction is below.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
