College GameDay begs Alabama fans to show up but never gives them a reason to

College GameDay will be in Tuscaloosa this weekend for Alabama's matchup against Vanderbilt. If you're an Alabama fan and were hoping that the guest picker would actually have ties to the University - or at least the state - well, you probably knew better already.

As has too often been the case when ESPN's flagship college football show comes to Tuscaloosa, the guest picker is someone not at all related to the University of Alabama or the state. Instead, the GameDay producers have tabbed comedian Theo Von as the guest picker for this weekend:

Not only does Theo Von have zero, none, zilch in terms of connection to Alabama, but his college football connection this season has been him trying to take Diego Pavia's mom on a date. Yes, that Diego Pavia, the one who is the quarterback for the opposing team this weekend.

Where else does this happen but Tuscaloosa? It's a joke. And not a funny one, much like Von's comedy. And Alabama fans are sick and tired of it.

And maybe GameDay is tired of coming to Tuscaloosa. That's fine. Don't come. Go celebrate the game of college football and go to locations that would consider your presence special. That should be the essence of the show - not a "game of the week" in the same locations every single year.

The guest pickers this year have all had some sort of tie to the host school or at least the state the game was played in. Until now. After not having a guest picker in Week 1 in order to celebrate Lee Corso, GameDay has had the following guest pickers:

Week 2, Norman, OK: Trae Young, former Oklahoma men's basketball player
Week 3, Knoxville, TN: Candace Parker, former Tennessee women's basketball player
Week 4, Miami, FL: Matthew Tkachuk, Florida Panthers hockey player
Week 5, State College, PA: LaVar Arrington, former Penn State football player

So the only one until now without ties to the university hosting was Matthew Tkachuk, a professional hockey player in THE CITY THE UNIVERSITY IS LOCATED IN.

College GameDay's guest picker choices in Tuscaloosa have been laughable

Guest pickers with zero ties to the university continue to be a trend when GameDay comes to Tuscaloosa. And it's created an apathetic atmosphere around the show when they come for Alabama home games.

It's why Rece Davis and Nick Saban both released videos urging Alabama fans to show up and be loud. But once again, they've failed to give Crimson Tide fans a reason to.

Sure, they threw Alabama - and Nick Saban - a bone last year by having Miss Terry be the guest picker. The one before that? Comedian Nate Bargatze, who had zero ties to Alabama.

Von joins Bargatze, country music singers Sam Hunt and Eric Church, college football announcer Verne Lundquist, rapper Rick Ross, former Navy SEAL Marcus Lutrell, MLB pitcher Jake Peavy, and former LSU pitcher Brian Wilson on College GameDay in Tuscaloosa, with not even slight ties to Alabama.

GameDay producers apparently pick up the phone and call Joe Namath, and if he isn't available, they pick a random celebrity.

There's certainly not a laundry list of Saban-era Alabama stars who might could have been on the show. Julio Jones, anyone? How about Josh Jacobs on the Packers bye week? How about Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats? He'd love to get on and sell the program.

But no. Theo freakin' Von.

Remember that the next time Rece Davis comments about the atmosphere for GameDay being weak in Tuscaloosa.

Because it's going to happen again this weekend. And GameDay will get the atmosphere that it deserves.