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‘China Ain’t Played Bama, Pawl!’: Paul Finebaum considering 2026 Alabama Senate run

For more than a decade in the 1930s and early 1940s, Americans gathered around the radio every Sunday night to hear President Franklin Delano Roosevelt hold forth on the issues of the day. These fireside chats, as they were called, allowed FDR to speak directly to the nation on topics ranging from national security to financial stability.

In the groundbreaking fireside chats, FDR projected an image of confidence, warmth and humanity. But you know what he didn’t do? Take calls.

Granted, Roosevelt probably wasn’t going to be getting groundbreaking analysis on the growing threat of war in Europe from Dolores in Richmond. Even so, FDR understood the power of the microphone, of the ability to reach, reassure and embolden Americans with just the sound of his voice.

Which brings us to another gentleman who’s guided America — or at least the warm, humid part of it — through conflict and strife with vocal confidence. We speak, of course, of Paul Finebaum, the ESPN talk-show host who might just be the next senator from the state of Alabama.

Speaking to Clay Travis over the weekend, Finebaum called the prospect of a 2026 run for Senate “intriguing,” adding that he is “thinking about it constantly.” Finebaum said that an Alabama political operative persuaded him that this might just be a viable new career path.

"I was very cautious, I didn’t take it too seriously,” Finebaum told Travis. “And then, ultimately, I ended up talking to someone who made it clear that there was a desire for me to be involved. And this person, obviously who shall remain nameless, was compelling and compassionate in the approach to me, and I started thinking about it."

Finebaum would be the latest in a line of political officeholders who jumped from the world of college football into the world of politics, from Tom Osborne, former Nebraska head coach turned U.S. representative, to Tommy Tuberville, the former Auburn head coach who’s currently an Alabama senator himself. (Finebaum would be running to take over the seat of Tuberville, who has declared his candidacy for governor of Alabama.)

If he were to throw his hat in the ring — and every football fan in Alabama thinks he wears the other school’s hat — Finebaum would possess some instant electoral advantages. First off, pretty much everyone in Alabama already knows who he is, and name recognition is a powerful political asset. Second, he knows Alabama — the entire state, not just the school — like few other candidates anywhere know their constituencies.

“I’ve been speaking to Alabamians for 35 years. I feel like I know who they are. I think they know who I am,” he said. “You cannot hide when you’re on a radio show.”

SEC fans might feel like they can’t hide from Finebaum. He’s a fixture on ESPN’s college football coverage, and “The Paul Finebaum Show” runs every day on ESPN Radio and the SEC Network. The show is a combination of rage room and confessional booth, a space where callers can vent their heart out at the opposition or at their own underperforming squad. Finebaum listens, prods, encourages and renders judgment.

It was on Finebaum’s show, remember, that deranged Alabama fan Harvey Updyke confessed to poisoning Auburn’s trees back in 2011. Updyke returned to Finebaum’s airwaves again and again until his death to plead his case. Callers might amuse Finebaum, might enrage him, might annoy him, but you can’t deny how much they mean to him; he even takes time to eulogize frequent callers who have passed away in the time he’s been on the air.

It’s easy to mock the idea of a Finebaum candidacy as a mark of an unserious nation, but the sad truth is, we’re long past the days of political figures arising from the ranks of lawyers, professors and other tie-wearing types. Actors, pro wrestlers, and even a certain reality show host have won election to American office; why not a sports talk host who specializes in mediating conflict? More seriously, why not a candidate with experience listening to both sides, and calling them out when necessary?

The downsides of a run for office are obvious. Finebaum is 70, and he admits this is a “late” new path to take. Plus, with politics now a cannibalistic bloodsport, why would he want to subject himself and his family to an entire new cadre of unhinged critics? At least in college football, both sides respect the same scoreboard, regardless of the results.

Because of filing deadlines for primaries, Finebaum will need to make a decision in the next few weeks. He indicated that he would have to step aside from his ESPN duties to run for office. And the Alabama Senate race would instantly become one of the most fascinating in the country for 2026.

Imagine 21st-century fireside chats with Paul Finebaum talking national security, economic strategy and foreign policy. Admit it, you’d tune in, if only to hear someone declare that “China ain’t played Bama, Pawwwwl!”

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