Hank Williams Jr.: Time Was Right for Split from Monday Night Football and ESPN

After pulling Hank Williams Jr. and his "Are you Ready for Some Football?" from the opening of Monday Night's Indianapolis Colts vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, ESPN has decided to permanently cut ties with Williams.

On their official website, ESPN released the following statement.

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"We have decided to part ways with Hank Williams, Jr. We appreciate his contributions over the past years.  The success of Monday Night Football has always been about the games and that will continue."

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Williams had the following response:

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“After reading hundreds of e-mails, I have made MY decision,” he wrote. “By pulling my opening Oct 3rd, You (ESPN) stepped on the Toes of The First Amendment Freedom of Speech, so therefore Me, My Song, and All My Rowdy Friends are OUT OF HERE. It’s been a great run.”

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Both quotes can be found here.

Without getting political, Williams is actually wrong. ESPN did nothing to step on his Freedom of Speech. What the First Amendment does is guarantee that you won't risk arrest by voicing your displeasure with government officials.

It does absolutely nothing to guarantee that your employer needs to stand by you when you make critical comments. That's a very common misconception. We often hear people make these comments after facing consequences for making critical comments about a high ranking official.

It happens on both sides of the aisle, this is not a political issue. This is a matter of ESPN hearing the comments that Williams made and saying that the negative backlash from them is going to outweigh any positives that people remember from Williams' song.

They were well within their rights to make that decision. Williams' rights would only be being violated if he was facing legal action, which he's not.

Apart from all of that, it was probably time to cut ties. ESPN's statement is absolutely right, Monday Night Football is about football and nothing more. This isn't that different than when a beloved announcer retires. The game will survive.

Williams is well past the point of being relevant. An entire generation of fans really only know him for his Monday Night Football song. It was time for ESPN to make this move.

There are plenty of people who can fill Williams' role. Even if I am wrong, the show will survive.

In case you haven't heard Williams' original comments, you can hear them here: