Ray Romano Sang Eminen’s ‘Lose Yourself’ at a Karaoke Contest. And Won!!!

Ray Romano won the karaoke contest at the American Century Championship by singing Eminem's Lose Yourself. He won it because his twin sons, in matching Yankees jerseys, came out and absolutely brought it on the chorus. And Rich, who was up next on stage, knew the moment they walked on that the night was over.

The story unfolded on The Rich Eisen Show, with Romano walking through how a non-singer became a three-time karaoke participant at the Tahoe celebrity golf tournament.

For those who do not know the format, this is not push-a-button karaoke. The band Rascal Flatts is on the stage. Outdoors. The corporate crowd watches. Singers pick a song, the band plays it, and the audience picks the winner by applause for first, second, and third place monetary prizes.

Romano had an exit strategy from the start. Three years ago, he made his debut with Rocky Raccoon, a deep cut from the Beatles he picked because, in his own words, it does not take a lot of heavy lifting singing-wise. It is almost talking. He did not come close to winning. He did not expect to.

Then Jay DeMarcus from Rascal Flatts texted him a month before the next year's contest. The crowd loved it. Do something. Romano picked Dialogue, an obscure Chicago song with two singing parts, less work for him.

Last summer, he had to top himself again. He picked Lose Yourself. The plan was simple. He would handle the Eminem rap. His twin sons would handle the chorus. Romano told them to wear matching shirts. They went with the Yankees jerseys.

"I didn't know that they were this gangster," Romano said. "You're raising gangsters."

The twins delivered. The Romano team won first place.

The twist for Rich is that he was the act after Romano. Rich had sung New York, New York, and was confident.

"I crushed it to the point where I thought there's no way I lose this thing," Rich said.

Then Romano handed him the microphone and said, I got to follow that?

Then the twins came out in the Yankees jerseys.

"As soon as it was over, I'm like, oh my, I'm not winning this," Rich said. "It's over."

Rich is considering going with That's Life as his bounce-back song this summer.

Romano was generous about the loss but firm on the framing. He does not tell the story as the night he beat Rich. He tells it as the night he took down Travis Kelce, the two-time defending karaoke champion who teamed up with brother Jason this year. Alfonso Ribeiro is still in the mix as a ringer. Ribeiro can actually sing.

From there, the conversation drifted to the actual golf, where the only thing more brutal than the field is the altitude. Rich teed off his first shot, looked up to silence, and saw the ball had traveled 15 yards into the crap. He recovered with a clean second shot down the middle of the fairway and walked off with Matt Ryan, who told him it took until the third tee box for him to feel his hands again the first time he played the tournament.

"And you played in the Super Bowl," Rich said. "How the hell am I supposed to feel?"

Romano's read on the whole experience was the best line of the segment. The hard part of celebrity golf, he said, is the first tee, when fans are wondering how good you are. Once they know you suck, the nerves go away.

"You're free to suck," Romano said.