Garth Brooks Wore A Barry Sanders Jersey In Detroit And Some Fans Took It As A Bernie Sanders Endorsement

Election season means everyone is on pins and needles a little bit more than usual this year. It also means that good-natured actions or comments can sometimes be misconstrued as something political, even if they have nothing to do with politics, something that Garth Brooks learned the hard way recently.

Brooks performed at Ford Field in Detroit last Saturday, and in a perfectly reasonable move to try and get fans fired up, he decided to wear a Barry Sanders jersey, because there are few players that people in the Motor City love more than the Lions’ Hall of Fame running back. Add in that both Brooks and Sanders went to Oklahoma State and it just makes sense that Brooks would toss this on.

While I was not in attendance for this show, I assume that when those in attendance saw Brooks wearing a Sanders jersey, the entire place exploded and then had a wonderful time throughout his 31-song set. The reaction outside of Ford Field, however, was not quite as warm. As plenty of folks have pointed out, the comment sections on Facebook and Instagram for this post got a little too election season-y, and led to a host of people getting upset at Brooks’ perceived (at least in their eyes) endorsement of Vermont senator and presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders.

Based on a very quick search of Brooks’ Twitter account, he has never offered up any sort of endorsement of Sanders, while his only donation in the Federal Election Commission’s database came in 2001, when he cut a $1,000 check for the ASCAP Legislative Fund for the Arts. All of this is to say that it stands to reason that this was not some sort of implicit way to offer up an endorsement for Bernie Sanders in a state that Democrats hope to carry in 2020, but if Barry Sanders has his way, perhaps we’ll see Brooks jump into the world of politics sometime soon.

The Lions, for good measure, are on board with a second Sanders hopping into the race.

I am going to go out a limb and say this isn’t going to happen, although let’s face it, “Sanders/Brooks 2020: Pulling People Out of Low Places” shirts would be quite popular in Michigan and Stillwater, Oklahoma.