Vanderbilt Senior Offensive Advisor/Chief Consultant to the Head Coach Jerry Kill, left center, and quarterback Diego Pavia's mom, Antoinette Padilla, right center, celebrate their win over #1 Alabama after their game at Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. Credit: Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
By Sam Neumann on

Joey Galloway has an important question about Vanderbilt broadcasts this season.

“Is there a camera on Pavia’s mom the whole game?”

The ESPN analyst asked Kirk Herbstreit on their Nonstop podcast this week after watching Saturday’s Vanderbilt-Kentucky game, which featured constant cutaways to Antoinette Padilla, Diego Pavia’s mother, in the stands. The cutaways hit their peak during Vanderbilt’s 45-17 rout when a clip of Padilla dancing and celebrating went viral.

Pavia threw for a school-record 484 yards and five touchdowns, but his mother may have gotten more screen time.

“I’m just wondering. It’s just a question,” Galloway said. “I’m not saying it gets on my nerves, I’m just asking a question… Can you put in a request?”

“To not do that?” Herbstreit asked.

“Not every play,” Galloway said. “I love the story. I love the family. It’s great. Not every play.”

Herbstreit joked that Galloway could track down which crew is handling Tennessee-Vanderbilt this weekend and make the request himself, given that he’s an ESPN employee and all.

The exchange was lighthearted enough, but underneath the jokes, Galloway had a point.

There’s a difference between showing a compelling family story and turning it into the main event. Pavia’s journey from JUCO to leading Vanderbilt to 9-2 and its best season in years is worth telling. His mother has been a big part of that. But ESPN’s production team seems less interested in striking that balance than they are in making sure viewers never forget Antoinette Padilla exists.

And then there’s the Theo Von piece of it, too.

The Nashville-based comedian bet Pavia earlier this season that if Vanderbilt beat South Carolina, he’d get a date with Padilla. The Commodores won 31-7. Von has been cashing in ever since, showing up at multiple Vanderbilt games and giving ESPN’s cameras even more reason to stay locked on her.

ESPN has always loved a good family story, and this one’s legitimately compelling. But when your own analysts are openly joking about how often you’re cutting to someone’s mom in the stands, maybe it’s time to recalibrate.

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.

View all posts by Sam Neumann