McDonald's recently confirmed on Twitter that they are indeed bringing back the McRib sandwich, America's favorite ground pork patty slathered in sugary barbecue sauce, limp onions, and soggy pickles. Prepare to have nostalgia punch you in the gut and fill you with heartburn and regret, because this bad boy is coming to a Micky D's near you on November 2nd.

The tweet heard round the world...by fatties, anyway

The sammich originally debuted in 1981, meaning it's plenty old enough to rent a car but will probably have to pay an extra cleaning fee for removing the barbecue sauced fingerprints all over the interior. It's one year shy of being 30, which is about how old the sawdusty pork products that serve as the "meat" in the sandwich look. 

It looks like it's made from ashy elbows

McDonald's waits a few years before pulling this crapwich out of their bag o' tricks, fooling us into getting excited and thinking about how awesome McRib sandwiches are. Then we buy one and realize that they're kind of disgusting, but before its footy taste commits to our long-term memory, McDonald's yanks the sandwich off the menu and lets us build up the nostalgia and fond memories until they dust off the freezer burn and re-debut them. This is also known as the "Disney Vault" Strategy, where we're fooled into thinking a product is only going to be offered for a limited time before being locked up FOREVERRRRRR...and then it's back on the shelves after a couple years.

After initially getting removed from the menu in the late eighties/early nineties, the sandwich was brought back in 1994 to coincide with the Flintstones movie. Then it came back in 2005, but only for a "farewell tour," as McDonald's insisted the sandwich was going to be retired, its soggy bun hoisted to the rafters alongside Mayor McCheese's top hat and the Fry Guys' roller skates. The tour lasted as long as Cher's retirement, as the sandwich was resurrected in 2007 and sold to hungry fatties nationwide.

In 2008 the sandwich came back again, accompanied by a "McRib DJ" (not sure what that is, but I can only imagine how disgusting his turntables are). Last year the sandwich reared its saucy head in November for a limited time, and now this piece of crap is coming back an umpteenth time, having officially fake-retired more times than Brett Favre.

And now for some questions that burn more than a post-McRib digestion gone horribly wrong. Do you think the McRib will ever retire? Have you ever even had a McRib sandwich, and if so, how do you rank it on the Scale of Deliciousness?

Are you a fan of the McRib sandwich?