Whether it was the decision of ESPN or Hank Williams Jr., the song that has been the staple of ESPN’s Monday Night Football intro for 20 years is no more. With that, NFL fans across the country immediately began to speculate as to what would be the next song to lead into everyone’s favorite Monday night programming.
It turns out there may not be a song at all, at least for the time being.
Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders announced via Twitter that he will do the intro for this week’s matchup between the Lions and the Bears.
“Ok, I admit it,” Sanders said. “I will be at MNF this week and doing the intro.”
It’s fitting that the network was able to get Sanders to do it, as this will be the first time that the Lions are playing a prime-time game since 2005, and the first time they appear on MNF since 2001.
From the sound of it, the spoken word will be the intro of choice for now.
According to the Detroit Free Press, ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz said, “This is the format we’ll likely use the remainder of the season. We haven’t made any decisions beyond that.”
