Ranking Football's Theme Songs

The first traces of brisk temperatures are in the air. Across the Midwest, windbreakers and cardigans are making their debut. Across the South, the smells of cookouts and the sounds of drumlines are beginning to permeate the atmosphere. Colors everywhere are changing.

Yes, it's unmistakable: Fall is coming, and you know that means. Football is BACK, baby!

Unlike many Americans, I-- along with my Southern brethren --mark college football as the real football season, and thus we've really been "back" for 1.5 weeks (giving only partial credit to the annoying "Week 0" in College Football because this year it included the opening game for my North Carolina Tar Heels). However, I recognize that I am perhaps in the minority of fans that care less about the NFL, so with the welcome return of professional football as well this weekend, I celebrate the fact that we now can all celebrate.

But also, in the spirit of competition, let's kick off football season with a controversial ranking, shall we? This tweet from Rodger Sherman got a lot of hot takes flying around, and far be it from me to refrain from adding my own hot takes. So, allow me to put my controversial opinions out there- the best football theme music, ranked in order of least to most likely to get you hyped for the upcoming season:

7. FOX College Football

Massive point deduction for lack of originality. I suppose I should give FOX some credit for corporate synergy, and adding a percussive beat that's reminiscent of a college drumline to the existing NFL theme is a nice touch. But still, not coming up with an original tune for college football feels lazy, and with as much of a play as FOX is making to be a college football broadcaster (they're currently the home network to half of the power conferences), they have no excuse to be lazy.

6. ESPN College Football

I guess I'm being slightly disloyal to my own criteria by slotting this so low. This music does get me pretty hyped for football, because there's no season I love more than college football season, and ESPN is still the worldwide leader in college football. But woof, this theme, introduced with the new College Football Playoff in 2014, is just not good. ESPN's original theme was an absolute classic, but this more 'modern' one feels way-too-heavily produced, is not catchy in the least, and plays like a video game "main menu" song, which exemplifies the many ways sports coverage is increasingly mirroring e-sports.

5. ESPN Monday Night Football

This is definitely the superior ESPN football theme song, and this ranking may ruffle a feather or two, given how iconic the opening brass chords are. And it's true that Monday Night Football's identity has essentially been reduced to that tetrad. But, and be honest here, can you really hum the rest of the song? I love a good brass intro as much as anyone, but if it doesn't build to a particularly memorable track, then what's the point?

4. NFL on CBS

I flip-flopped on this ranking and the next one a bunch. Ultimately, I do think of the broadcast networks, CBS' music is slightly less memorable. Similarly to ESPN's Monday Night Football, the actual theme ends up being a little bit of a disappointment in comparison to the thumping introduction. It's more of a banger than the last, don't get me wrong; but you can't help but get a slight feeling of lost potential.

3. NFL on FOX

Many of the replies to Sherman's tweet have argued that your preferred music between FOX and CBS likely boiled down to whether your favorite team was an NFC team (who play primarily on FOX) or an AFC team (primarily on CBS). And maybe they're on to something; a Green Bay Packer fan myself, I am partial to the FOX music. But the margins are fine-- like I said above, I flipped this and CBS' spot quite a bit. What ultimately gives FOX the edge, in my opinion, is that the attention-grabbing hook gives way to a better track. With ESPN and CBS' music, you're only humming the intro; with FOX, you know that whole theme. It doesn't hurt that it interpolates part of "Sleigh Ride," the best Christmas song of all time.

2. Sunday Night Football on NBC

Yet, though CBS and FOX own most of the rights to NFL coverage, they do not own the best NFL theme music. That honor belongs to NBC's theme for Sunday Night Football. Every part of this song is terrific. The intro is memorable, the beat is thumping, the brass is heavy but not over-bearing, and it remains a banger from start to finish. It's a shame the great Al Michaels is no longer the play-by-play, but at least we still get to finish off this terrific theme with the goofy, off-kilter grin of Chris Collinsworth.

1. CBS College Football

The unequivocal best. THE college football anthem, and the most recognizable theme song in all of football. I don't have any particular brand loyalty to CBS, and actively dislike the SEC, and yet, nothing gets me more jacked for a college football Saturday than the first pounding drums of the "SEC on CBS" theme music. There's a longevity angle here, too; originally written for Super Bowl XXI, it's been CBS' theme for college football since 1987, a testament to "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Between this, the solid NFL theme, and the legendary March Madness theme (perhaps the best in all of American sports??), the good people at CBS are clearly doing something right.