ABC News – Hank Williams Jr. will be bringing his rowdy friends back to ESPN on Monday nights this fall.

Williams will debut a new version of “All My Rowdy Friends,” featuring its “Are you ready for some football?” catchphrase, before the first Monday night game of the season, between the New Orleans Saints and Minnesota Vikings in Minneapolis on Sept. 11.

ESPN pulled the song midseason in 2011, following controversial comments made by Williams on Fox News…

Cynics will say that ESPN is too liberal, and that this is just a ploy to placate conservatives. They may be right, but I don’t care. This a solid move by TWWL.

“All My Rowdy Friends” “Are You Ready for some Football” is the best sports theme song of its generation. It started in 1989 and originally ran until 2011. I still watch Monday Night Football every week but I couldn’t tell you what songs they’ve used since 2011. I’m no country music fan, but it’s hard to top this classic. Honorable mention from this generation of sports theme songs goes to the NBA on NBC and MLB on Fox.

The song by itself won’t stop the NFL’s ratings slide, but it should evoke some feelings of nostalgia and generate some buzz. Not bad for a 90 second song.