Talking Trash About ESPN: America’s Most Sacred Sports Institution

Call me a communist, but I think it was outrageous that ESPN banned the playing of "Are You Ready for Some Football" by Hank Williams Jr. The ban, which began this past Monday night and will continue ad nauseum, is an egregious hit to the head of basic American values, such as free speech.

It's the worst crime perpetrated by that bastion of the first amendment since the hiring -- and firing -- of Rush Limbaugh in the 20th century. (OK, so technically, he resigned. But the writing was on the wall.)

Based in Bristol, Conn., ESPN is 80% owned by ABC, an indirect subsidiary of The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS). Privately held Hearst Corp. holds the remaining 20%.

Hank Williams Jr. has been a staple on ESPN's Monday Night Football since 1989. But ESPN threw him out of the game for some remarks he made on Fox & Friends, a cable news talk show on Fox News perhaps best-known for the silly banter between its hosts. While discussing current events with host Steve Doocy, the singer compared a golf game between President Obama and John Boehner to one featuring Hitler and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.

That's it, ESPN decided. You're finished for the season. Hand in your song! It was a violation of an American's basic right to wake up at dawn, drink Fox & Friends' lousy coffee (I have had that experience), and say the first thing that came to mind.

What self-respecting Monday Night Football fan wakes up that early in the morning and watches Fox & Friends? So Williams's comments went viral. Big deal. What doesn't these days?

The question ESPN management should have asked itself during the constitutional crisis is this: What does a singer's quirky political opinions have to do with a song that has reached the iconic level of an American folk song?

I mean, it wasn't as if he sang the "Horst Wessel" song.

And what, really, was Hank Williams's crime? Did he accuse Obama of being a socialist or a Muslim or of not being born in the United States, all of which Fox audiences have heard from guests fairly regularly?

Did he offend the NFL by saying that professional football was a violent, dangerous sport, and could be harmful physically and mentally?

The metaphor about them playing golf didn't work. That's not surprising. Hank Williams Jr. is no Cole Porter or Noel Coward. He's not a wordsmith.

Rather than being upset imagining Hitler and Netanyahu on the links with the president, Williams would have been wiser to say it was as unthinkable as seeing the Packers-Vikings or Colts-Giants sitting down for a six pack of brewskis together.

It was yet another case of shoemakers not sticking to their lasts. But, WOW. What a shocking overreaction by the commissars at ESPN. What was their problem? Were they afraid of Hitler being defamed?

At the very least, ESPN should be penalized for unnecessary roughness, promise to stop repressing free speech at other networks, apologize to Hank Williams, and bring back the song. "Are You Ready for Some Football" has become a national anthem that arouses the passions the way Kate Smith singing of "God Bless America" did for an older generation.

Williams has responded to his firing by taking pot shots at Disney-owned ESPN, saying things like "Mickey is a mean mouse."

What kind of lesson is all this to young America? I know banning the song is causing a problem in my house. I have been trying to teach my three-and-a-half-year-old grandson, Milo Finn Kitman, basic wholesome values by letting him watch Monday Night Football.

"Are you ready for some football?" I call out when the show goes on.

"Yes," he screams, jumping up and down with the dancers on the screen. It is his favorite song, second only to the Bob the Builder theme. He wants to get America back to work, his mother says.

His interest in football, sad to say, is yet to kick in. But any day now, later this season, I dread having to explain what happened to his second-favorite song.

"It's banned, kid."

"Why, Zayde?"

"The network thought the singer was offensive."

"Why, Zayde?"

"Something he once said."

"Didn't you tell me we had the freedom to say anything in this country? Except 'no' to my mother and father?"

Next Monday night, I will be taking a crack at explaining the limited free speech concept.