NASHVILLE — Country star Faith Hill will sing the opening theme to NBC's "Sunday Night Football" this season, the network announced Wednesday.
Hill will perform "Waiting All Day for Sunday Night" before each game. The song, which pop singer Pink sang last season, is set to the tune of Joan Jett's '80s hit, "I Hate Myself for Loving You."
"I'm honored to have been asked," Hill told The Associated Press in a phone interview from her home near Nashville. "I truly am a football fan. Particularly men find it hard to believe that women can be big fans of football, but I love it. I loved it in junior high and high school, but being married to a man who schedules his life around football games, it makes it a lot easier."
Hill is married to fellow country singer Tim McGraw. A couple of years ago, McGraw sang the music to his "I Like It, I Love It" with the lyrics rewritten to go with the halftime highlight reel on "Monday Night Football."
"Around our house in football season there's a big routine," says Hill, 39, who has three daughters with McGraw. "Dinner has to be planned out around the game, homework has to be finished. It's an all-gather-around the television time."
Over the years, she's picked up a few of the finer points of the game. "I've learned when to ask questions and when not to ask them - like in the middle of a replay."
The couple are die-hard Tennessee Titans fans, but Hill grew up in Mississippi where her family pulled for the New Orleans Saints. She still has a soft spot for the Saints, especially with the city's struggle to rebound from Hurricane Katrina.
Hill, who's sold 30 million records worldwide with hits including "This Kiss," "Breathe" and "Mississippi Girl," has already recorded the theme songs in New York, altering the lyrics a bit with each one to include the teams playing that week. She shot an accompanying video for the show in Los Angeles.
She's also going to sing Sept. 6 in Indianapolis, along with John Mellencamp and Kelly Clarkson, during a special pre-game show before the NFL season opener between the Saints and the Super Bowl champion Colts.
"The song fits really well for the NFL," she said. "It fits the energy of what they want for the fans and the excitement needed before a game starts."
Hill, who will release a greatest hits album Oct. 2, also seems a good fit for the NFL.
"Sunday Night Football" producer Fred Gaudelli called her a "true recording star with mass appeal."
"It's not often that you get the opportunity to have a mega-star like Faith Hill perform the signature open to your show," he said.
For her hometown Titans, it could be a good omen. Hill sang the national anthem when the team played their first game at their new stadium in Nashville - and they went to the Super Bowl that season.