Toby Keith discusses his “weird connection” to OU and OSU
University of Oklahoma Sooners football fan Toby Keith cheers on the bench during a 2005 game at The Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, in Norman. (Photo by Jim Beckel/The Oklahoman Archives)
It’s no secret Toby Keith is a huge University of Oklahoma fan: In the fall, the country superstar and Norman resident often can be seen on the sidelines at the Sooners’ home football games.
An experience in the OU locker room inspired the singer-songwriter to pen the blues-rocker “If You’re Tryin’ You Ain’t,” one of the tracks on his new album “American Ride.”
In the press materials, Keith tells the story of how the song came about:
It was halftime, I was in the University of Oklahoma football locker room and there is a great guy who works there who always has these big rolls of athletic tapes on his belt. His job is to keep the players all taped up. They were in a dogfight with somebody and he was just sweating, wrapping ankles and trying to get the guys ready for the second half. He had a bunch of injured soldiers over there and was going at it. I went over and he said “How you doin’?” And I said, “Good, are you tryin’ to get everybody healthy?” He said, “If you’re trying you ain’t.” In my spare time I wrote this blues song. The whole song is about if you ain’t getting it done, at some point you can’t try you’ve just gotta get the job done.
In an interview last week, Keith told me that despite his fervent OU fandom, “there was every reason in the world for me to have been more of an OSU fan than an OU fan,” referring to OU’s in-state rival (and my alma mater), Oklahoma State University.
Keith, who will open up the National FFA Convention Oct. 21 in Indianapolis, said his favorite class in high school was agriculture, or ag class.
“I had FFA every year I could have it. Ag class is what we called it. … To me, it was my favorite class in school. They really taught me. They taught me how to weld in ag class in high school. I can go down here today and turn my welder on, put my hood on, get my gloves on and I can build you (something). I built all the service gates out here at my house.”
His love of all things agricultural would have made him a prime candidate for OSU, originally known as Oklahoma Argricultural & Mechanical College.
“That’s what my world was: I mean, I worked for a rodeo company, I was in ag, if I would have gone to college and pursued a degree, instead of going to work in the oilfield, I’d've had to go to OSU to get my degree because it would have been some kind of ag related to degree,” he said.
But he grew up watching OU Coach Barry Switzer and football greats like Billy Sims and Joe Washington.
“I started selling Cokes at OU when I was 13; I grew up in Moore and Norman; I was right here in the shadow of this stadium, so it’s really weird my connection with OU and OSU,” he said.
Despite his very public loyalty to OU, Keith’s first hit, 1993′s “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” is often played at the OSU Cowboys’ football games.
“I went up there (to Stillwater) and watched OU play OSU two or three years ago … and OSU beat the fire out of them. And every time they scored, they played it. Then, at the end of the game, as we were leaving the stadium, they had it on a loop,” he said with a laugh.
“I bet it played 20 times in a row, just over and over and over and over, and the irony of getting your butt kicked and walking out there and hearing your song play was pretty crazy.”
This year, OU and OSU will play their bedlam matchup Nov. 28 in Norman.
-BAM
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