Boomer Sooner through and through.
The late, great Toby Keith was not just an Oklahoma native – he was also a die-hard fan of his home state Oklahoma Sooners. Though Toby never went to college, instead going to work in the oil fields after graduating high school, he was a lifelong supporter of Oklahoma, and was often seen at Sooner football games in the fall.
So of course Toby wasn’t too fond of the University of Texas, who was Oklahoma’s (now-former) rival in the Big 12.
Toby’s good friend, former MLB pitcher Roger Clemens, made an appearance at the 2024 CMT Music Awards and spoke of just how passionate Toby was about Oklahoma – even when it came to losing a bet.
Clemens, whose sons played for Texas, recalled a game when the Longhorns traveled to Oklahoma to take on the Sooners:
“Toby told my boys, ‘If you hit a home run off our Oklahoma pitcher today, I’ll sit on your dugout and I’ll sing ‘The Eyes of Texas’ with you.’
Well guess what? It happened, and true to form, Toby sat on the dugout and with his funny and wit, sang, ‘I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.’
No chance Toby was gonna sing ‘The Eyes of Texas.'”
Classic Toby Keith.
Boomer Sooner, just for Toby.
@loweryaf @CMT Music Awards honored the late country musician Toby Keith. @MLB HOF Roger Clemens gave the introduction #CMT #TobyKeith #Rogerclemens #austinTX #loslowerys #solareclipse #brooksanddunn #laineywilson #sammyhagar @Lainey Wilson @brooksanddunn @Sammy Hagar @Betsy Lowery ♬ original sound – Adam Lowery
Brooks & Dunn Accused Of Butchering “Should’ve Been A Cowboy”
Honestly, the only part of the ridiculous music video awards show (does CMT even play music videos anymore?) that piqued my interest was the tribute to the late, great Big Dog Daddy himself.
And I have to say… it was pretty flat.
Roger Clemens and Sammy Hagar were two of Toby’s good friends, but for a country music awards show it seems a little out of left field (no pun intended). Lainey is Lainey… she’s always entertaining, but ol’ Kix and Ronnie seemed like they found out about the performance five minutes before they went on stage.
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE me some Brooks and Dunn, they put on one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to and Ronnie Dunn still can sing with the best of them, but the timing, the fumbled lyrics… everything was just a bit off.
And the folks were letting them hear it on X (formerly known as Twitter):
https://twitter.com/JDSHELBURNE/status/1777153611622965353
And like I said, everybody has an off night here and there, but with it being a tribute to a legend like Toby Keith, you really want to bring your A-game.
It just goes to show you how great Toby Keith really was… you just can’t do him justice with any ol’ cover.
