Ron DeSantis, NFL jinx? The Governor attended Tampa Bay’s home loss on Sunday

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ appearances at NFL games don’t correlate with luck for Florida’s home teams.

On Sunday, DeSantis attended the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ home contest against the Detroit Lions. The Bucs donned their historic “creamsicle” jerseys, a retro look associated by most fans of a certain age with on-field struggles.

The battle of previously 4-1 teams went the way of the squad from Michigan, however, with the Bucs managing just 6 points.

Quarterback Baker Mayfield blamed himself for the loss.

“We sucked today,” Mayfield said in the post-game presser. “I sucked today, we sucked today, it was awful from the get-go. We can’t play like that. We didn’t start fast, we didn’t pick it up in the middle and we didn’t finish strong. Plain and simple, we have to be better. The Lions are a good ball club, but if we play like that we’re going to lose every time.”

While Mayfield is willing to take the blame for the Bucs’ second loss in 2023, it’s hard not to notice the correlation between cameos by the Governor and a Florida team having problems on the field.

DeSantis attended two Jacksonville Jaguars games during last season’s playoff run. While the team went 1-1, it was with a caveat, as DeSantis only stayed for the first half of the team’s historic come-from-behind win against San Diego.

The Governor has offered varying accounts of his attendance at the game.

During an interview with Clay Travis of Outkick, the Governor claimed he and his son Mason stayed for both halves of the game, catching the “great comeback” in the second half.

On the campaign trail, he told a different story, however, when he noted that he left the game when the home team was down 27-7 at halftime, with his son not having a good time.

“I took him to the Jags-Chargers game. It was a great game,” the Governor said in Iowa in May. “He fell asleep at halftime and the Jags were getting killed.”

“So, since he fell asleep, you know, we went home. But by the time we got home, we saw the comeback and he was so excited when he saw that,” DeSantis said, not explaining how exactly he left the Jaguars’ stadium and traveled back to Tallahassee in time to see the end of the contest.

DeSantis then went to the Jags’ game in Kansas City, which offered no such comeback, but which did see him tour the field ahead of the game, where he got a vocal reaction with many cheers and the occasional jeer.

Florida’s three NFL teams are all in playoff contention at this writing. The Jaguars and Bucs each have four wins, while the Dolphins have five. This all but guarantees more DeSantis appearances in support of Florida teams. Let’s hope things go better than Sunday’s game in Tampa though.

While one can’t exactly say teams are 0-3 with him in attendance, the argument can be made for 0-2.5.