At one point during the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ impressive 48-14 victory over Carolina, the former’s fans were chanting “Ducky! Ducky! Ducky!”
While it sounded very similar to the chants for phenom Bucky Irving, who had a solid day himself with nearly 200 total yards to his name, the fans weren’t mispronouncing his first name—they were actually cheering for a duck.
In what became an instant cult icon and rallying cry for the team, a duck randomly popped up on the field during the Tampa Bay-Carolina game and was completely unfazed. Coincidentally, the duck’s arrival lined up with a near-simultaneous touchdown and then another shortly after. Talk about a good luck charm, right?
The duck eventually stood on the Bucs’ sideline to watch the end of the game.
“That was our good luck duck,” said Tampa star, Mike Evans, who also called it the craziest thing he had ever seen during a game, per ESPN. “I’ve never seen us block a punt and then we scored a touchdown. When the duck flew on the field, that was amazing.”
“I just thought it was funny. I was laughing the whole time, seeing the guy try to get him off the field or whatever,” said Tampa tight end, Devin Culp.
The players noticed a change in the air when the duck arrived, and so too did their fans, who flooded social media in support of the team’s new unofficial mascot.
“I am obsessed with the duck at the Tampa Bay game. That is all,” one X user wrote.
Another fan went a step further on X, “If the Bucs win the Super Bowl that duck should be made mayor of Tampa.”
I agree, let’s get this duck at every Tampa Bay game moving forward. While we’re at, how about we switch up the name to the Tampa Bay DUCKaneers?
I’ll see myself out.
The post NFL Fans Lost Their Minds Over a Duck on the Field appeared first on VICE.
