Hank Jr. Ready for 20th NFL Season

Hank Williams Jr. photo courtesy of Webster & Associates.

Aug. 19, 2008 — "Are you ready for some football?"

That rally cry has become as much a part of "Monday Night Football" for the last two decades as the referee’s whistle and the crunch of shoulder pads, and Hank Williams Jr. is indeed ready for his 20th season with the institution.

Hank’s theme, built around his 1984 hit "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight," has had plenty of different looks to it. One year it incorporated the dance steps of Savion Glover, another season sent Hank into outer space, and several more recent versions have folded in such rowdy friends as Gretchen Wilson, Little Richard, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Snoop Dogg.

Oddly enough, Hank wasn’t the first choice of ABC, which originated "Monday Night Football." Instead, the network was interested in George Benson’s recording "20/20," but it didn’t really seem to have a strong connection to football, and the network decided to call Hank’s manager, Merle Kilgore.

"We asked if he knew anything about football," recalls ESPN exec Bob Toms, who worked for ABC at the time. "Merle's reply was, ‘Does Hank know football? Hank is an American. He knows football.' And ever since then, that was it."

It helps that somebody somewhere on ABC’s payroll had a relative who was a Bocephus fan.

"The story I got was that the son of one of the producers of ‘Monday Night Football’ had my tape in his tape player," Hank notes. "The producer said, ‘What is that?' The truth is usually stranger than what you can make up, and that is how it went down. When it comes on for that 60 seconds, it hits you right in the face and makes you go, ‘Wow!' It really gets people in a good mood and pumped up and ready for the game."

This year’s version of the promotion debuts when ESPN presents a season-opening doubleheader Sept. 8, with the Minnesota Vikings visiting the Green Bay Packers and the Denver Broncos playing the Oakland Raiders.