It was meant to be a typical celebrity sighting by the CBS crew. During a commercial break in the KU v. WSU game, the camera focused on Kansas Governor Sam Brownback. The shot was displayed on the screens in the arena, and when fans got a glimpse of Sam Brownback, they started booing loudly. Let’s just say it was kind of uncomfortable to watch.

The next day the incident received some media attention–local and national. Most of the coverage points to the fact that he had on a T-shirt with both KU & WSU logos on it–a display of impartiality. That’s what the announcers focused on. The question being debated now is, was the governor booed for his fashion choice, or his politics?

I’m not a huge Brownback fan, so my first inclination was that he was booed not because he wore a non-committal t-shirt, but because he’s a really bad governor. What do you think? Why was Brownback booed?

He was booed for the t-shirt: The game was intense, and the arena was polarized. By all accounts, this was a somewhat hostile environment. When fans got a glimpse of the governor with a non-committal t-shirt, they were booing the equivocating politician thing.

He was booed for his politics: Brownback has become incredibly unpopular in the state of Kansas. Under his leadership Kansas has rolled up a $113 billion deficit. The drastic cuts to education looming in the not so distant future would have instantly come to the minds of a bunch of folks committed enough to their school that they travelled to see an away game. Brownback has robbed the pension funds of Kansas employees to cover the state’s cash flow problems, and removed anti-discrimination protections for LGBT employees–both have received a lot of public condemnation of late.

One interesting detail that seems to indicate that Brownback was booed for his politics involves a report that the t-shirt he was sporting actually sold out in minutes. The t-shirt was really popular with fans of both schools, and Kansans in general. People who were booing were also sporting the t-shirts.

What do you think? Were they booing the politics or the t-shirt? Here’s a clip: