Are you ready for some football?
Hank Williams Jr. is bringing his rowdy friends back to Monday Night Football six years after ESPN dropped the country singer because of his comments about President Barack Obama.
ESPN said a new version of Williams' longtime theme will debut before the first regular-season Monday night game -- a Sept. 11 matchup between the New Orleans Saints and Minnesota Vikings in Minneapolis.
The network said in a statement that it's bringing back what it calls the "most iconic music video in sports television history" because fans missed it.
ESPN dropped Williams in 2011 after he compared Obama golfing with then-House Speaker John Boehner to Adolf Hitler golfing with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
ESPN executive Stephanie Druley told The Tennessean in Nashville that she's not concerned about any backlash over Williams' return.
"I think it's a return to our past in that it's such an iconic song associated with football," Druley said. "It was the original. It belongs to Monday Night Football. It really is about returning to what fans know. It's a Monday night party, and that's what we're all hoping to get back to."
Sock game
Who knew baseball socks could have flair?
Working with Stance, Major League Baseball's new sock supplier, some clubs decided to update an old aesthetic -- the St. Louis Cardinals added an "STL" logo to their classic red, white and blue bars, and the Houston Astros included an homage to their bursting orange rainbow jerseys from the 1970s and '80s with a few bright stripes around the ankle.
The Chicago Cubs kept things subtle with a sublimated team logo, while the Tampa Bay Rays have created three socks, including options with the team's "TB" logo and its newer sunburst. The Baltimore Orioles wear the Maryland state flag on their socks.
For fans raised watching Brooks Robinson in sanitary socks and stirrups, it may be a shock. A few players are keeping that look alive, but most now avoid that throwback.
"I feel like the stirrup thing has kind of been something that a lot of players have moved from for a while now, just for comfort," New York Mets outfielder Curtis Granderson told The Associated Press. "Having an additional piece that possibly moves around or stretches out, that's the reason why I moved away from it."
Now more players want a little say in their hosiery. The Mets were presented with their new socks right around opening day, and while they're excited with the direction, they've also come at the stockings with a critical eye. Granderson and teammates have asked for a redesign of the socks, which currently include two orange stripes, an orange Mets logo and a gray New York skyline on a blue background.
Some Mets are still wearing them on the road, but when paired with their white pinstripe home jerseys, it gets a little too busy for Granderson's liking.
"We got the gray, we got a horizontal stripe with our pinstripe with the skyline with the logo," Granderson said. "Just feel like there's a lot going on."
Don't expect an update too soon, though. Granderson was told it could take up to 16 months to finalize the fresh model.
Sports on 06/06/2017