Desmond and Kenny Chesney Visit Michigan to Film for ESPN

Submitted by MGoShoe on

@ michigan_fball We had VIPs at Schembechler Hall today - @KennyChesney and Desmond Howard filming for ESPN (pic) http://ow.ly/i/2Ugo

Owly Images

Chesney has a music video that will debut on Aug 2 on Sportscenter for "The Boys of Fall", a football themed song. It appears that Chesney will be back on ESPN's College Gameday for 2010 and this song will be featured.  Based on today's appearance, I'm guessing that for College Gameday there will be some college campus images (including Michigan) that get cut into the standard "The Boys of Fall" video for use on the show.

This article confirms that the song is College Gameday bound

For more established artists, opportunities to write and record music on assignment can be even more lucrative, as illustrated by Kenny Chesney, who cut "This Is Our Time" to add musical punch to ESPN's "College GameDay" — whose opening theme, Big & Rich's "Coming to Your Town," packed a Country punch of its own.

Written by Chesney and Brett James, the song sprang from a dinner that Chesney had in Nashville with ESPN producer Bill Bonnell and sports broadcasters Kirk Herbstreit and Brent Musburger. "It was one of those moments of spontaneous inspiration," Chesney recalled. "We were talking about how much goes into getting on that field, what it means to those guys out there, and Bill Bonnell turns to me and says, 'You ought to write a song about it.' I asked for a cocktail napkin and started writing the verses and the chorus."

A few months later, after recording the song, Chesney stopped by the ESPN offices to let Bonnell hear it. The track was approved quickly for use in dozens of football broadcasts. "The song really captures not just the sacrifice and the full-tilt way these athletes play, but it draws a pretty incredible parallel to what it takes to make it as a musician too," Bonnell observed. "They're more similar than you'd guess — and equally intense."

FWIW, I'm not a country fan or a Chesney fan, but ESPN is clearly working that demographic for its college football coverage as evidenced by the Big and Rich and Chesney connections.  I guess I'll endure it.

aenima0311

July 29th, 2010 at 7:17 PM ^

Glad they're featuring Michigan's campus.

Not so glad they're promoting terrible sport-themed music when there are plenty of collegiate bands out there to feature. Nobody goes to or watches football to hear Kenny Chesney.

Maximinus Thrax

July 29th, 2010 at 7:53 PM ^

At least Kenny Chesney is not wearing a stupid cowboy hat in this picture.  Just an inoffensive, generic ESPN "College Football" hat.  Yeah, I'm really a fan of "College Football" too.  Really though, is Kenny Chesney bald?  I have never seen him sans cowboy (or some other) hat, even in those stupid Renee Zellweger beach wedding photos.  I mean, I am balding but I am seen often in public without some sort of hat.   

dakotapalm

July 29th, 2010 at 8:26 PM ^

Awful. That Kenny Chesney experiment last year was horrific. Whose idea was it to make Midwesterners, northerners and West Coast folks listen to the country crap every time the football game went to a break.

 

ESPN, you suck.

Kal

July 29th, 2010 at 9:01 PM ^

It was a joke, and I didn't actually neg him. I was just citing the general trend of the board to neg an opinion they disagree with. I hate country music, but I know plenty of people that like it. To each his (or her) own.

Blazefire

July 30th, 2010 at 9:05 AM ^

but lets be honest. What other theme of music are you going to use to promote college football? Or any football. Country is, at its heart, American music, and football is America's sport. Since Hank Williams Jr. first belted out "Monday Night Party" on ABC years ago, country music has been, and always will be, football's music.

The only other type that would be acceptable is some serious metal, and that's got less "American" appeal. Other than that, what are you going to do? Phil Collins for some soft rock? Reggae? German Techno?

icefins26

July 30th, 2010 at 9:05 AM ^

"Boys of Fall" is an alright song -- doesn't get me pumped up for football though.  The lyrics sound more like he is describing rugby or a backyard brawl to me.  His old song "Touchdown Tennessee" is way better for a football song -- yeah, it's about UT, but it's pretty good if anyone wants a better football song by Kenny.