Jonathan Papelbon, College Game Day: Videos You Need to See

ESPN kept its guest picker for Saturday’s show at Mississippi State a secret all week, leading many fans to speculate that the network had someone even better than Katy Perry, who was the talk of college football after her appearance last week at Ole Miss.

The surprise turned out to be Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon, who last made headlines by grabbing his crotch while walking off the field at Citizens Bank Park. Given the massive hype around the pick, the vast majority of fans on Twitter were disappointed that the surprise pick is a Major Leaguer on a non-playoff team, five years past his prime.

But that didn’t mean Papelbon’s appearance wasn’t entertaining.

Papelbon, who starred at Mississippi State before being drafted by the Boston Red Sox, showed up wearing a maroon suit with a white bow tie and joined Chris Fowler, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit on set. As you can see in the screengrab above, his son, who accompanied him on the walk up to the set, wasn’t crazy about all the noise produced by the cowbells.

Papelbon proceeded to pull out a cigar while on set and then bring a bulldog with him on stage while picking third-ranked MSU to beat second-ranked Auburn.

Here’s Papelbon arriving while ringing a cowbell:

Here he is, cigar in hand, picking LSU to blow out Florida:

Here he is pulling the dog on state and promoting all sorts of concern for the dog’s welfare.

And here’s some of the reaction on Twitter:

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