Yes, Joe closed the comments on this one because this isn’t a website for political commentary.

But it is a site about all things Bucs — specifically things Joe finds interesting, like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis talking like a typical Bucs fan before playing golf in the Valspar Championship Pro-Am event last month with Baker Mayfield, Rondé Barber and Jon Gruden.

(Valspar should have sold streaming rights to that mic’d up foursome for charity.)

Before hitting the course, DeSantis sat down for The Rondé Barber Show on the WFLA streaming platform.

Asked by Barber how he decides to cheer for a team in a state with three NFL clubs. DeSantis waved off the question.

“Oh, I’m a Bucs fan,” DeSantis said, cutting off Barber. “Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh no, no. I’ve never [hid] that. No, no, no. I grew up a Bucs fan. I am a Bucs fan.”

DeSantis went on to tell a story about how he pleaded the NFL to allow a full stadium for the Bucs home game in the Super Bowl five years ago, telling the league there would be 100,000 people in Ybor City partying in the streets after the Bucs win, so they should loosen the COVID attendance rules for the final NFL game of the season.

DeSantis explained he was a kid growing up in Dunedin, about a half hour from the stadium, struggling through so many losing Bucs seasons. So the Bucs’ revival of the Bucs’ first Super Bowl era was so meaningful to him.

As for the current Bucs, DeSantis said he’s dialed in. The Governor said he ran into Jaguars head coach Liam “El Serpiente” Coen recently and couldn’t resist.

“I just told him, ‘I wished they kept you.’ Right?,” DeSantis said. “He’s done a really good job.”

The Bucs’ collapse last season has DeSantis uncertain about 2026.

“Last year was frustrating because I thought they were going to go deep into the playoffs,” DeSantis said. “You know, I thought Baker was the MVP, all this stuff. And then kind of the wheels came off. Now they were winning a lot of close games early; so it wasn’t like they were blowing people out. So I kind of feel like there’s a range of possibilities [for the 2026 season]. I think they could sputter bad or I think they could get it together and have a productive season.

” … Losing Mike [Evans], though, that’s kind of a gut punch.”

While talking about the draft, DeSantis didn’t share a firm preference for what the Bucs do in Round 1.