Bucs SuperFan “JayBuc,” Mike Evans and Evans’ touchdown ball from the win over Green Bay. (Photo courtesy of Jamal Sanders.)

So we all saw what happened last week when Mike Evans gave a Bucs fan the ball from his touchdown catch in Green Bay. And the hassle that followed.

Shortly after referees raised their arms to signal touchdown, Joe started getting texts about how the Packers security guard was taking the ball away from the Bucs fan and how that was wrong.

Joe wasn’t the only one who said “Wow.” So too did a lot of NFL fans, as the game was broadcast live to about half the country last week.

Even Joe’s good friend Mike Tanier of The Messenger and the New York Times saw the incident and wrote about it.

Well, Joe caught up with the fan and found out the story.

The fan’s name is Jamal Sanders. He’s a hardcore Bucs fan. Has been since he was little.

Jamal Sanders aka “JayBuc.”

(Sanders told Joe that when he was a kid in the 1980s when the Bucs were terrible, at a Sunday church service the minister had kids like him come up and the minister asked each youngster what they would ask God for. Sanders said one boy asked God to help his father who is in prison. Another girl asked God for help with her mother’s battle with cancer. Sanders said when it was his turn, he told the minister he would ask God to help the Bucs just win a game.)

Sanders goes by the handle of “JayBuc525” on Twitter, or just plain JayBuc away from social media. Some refer to him as “JayBoogie,” and he admitted to Joe he now has a third nickname as Tanier referred to him in a column as a “pirate gargoyle.”

During the day, JayBuc is a mental health counselor. During gamedays he transforms from a mild-mannered professional into a SuperFan, wearing pirate regalia. JayBuc estimates he’s been to 57 Bucs road games in the past decade including London and Munich.

So about that incident in Green Bay you ask? It was all innocent. And yes, JayBuc did get to keep the ball and the story has a happy ending, much happier than JayBuc ever imagined.

JayBuc said he likes to sit in end zones, preferably behind the goalposts because he’s used to that view (JayBuc said he sits in Section 122, Row L, Seats 1-2 which are end zone seats — and he invites Bucs to come say hi). He got two tickets to the Bucs-Packers on Ticketmaster, fifth row on an aisle seat. JayBuc says he likes aisle seats so he can jump around without causing much of a commotion for nearby fans.

“I’m not stationary at the game,” JayBuc said. “When we’re on defense I’m standing up and when he score, I’m standing up.”

When the Bucs had the ball on the Packers-19 early in the second quarter heading for the end zone where JayBuc was sitting, he turned to his cousin and told him he was going to race to the bottom of the aisle if Evans caught a touchdown. JayBuc knows Evans has a tradition of giving away the ball to a Bucs fan on his touchdowns.

The second JayBuc said that, he looked up and saw Evans streaking for the end zone. He noticed Baker Mayfield had already released the pass. It was coming!

Sure enough, Evans caught the ball for a score. JayBuc was so excited that as soon as he noticed the ball was targeting Evans in the end zone, he started running down the stairs, hoping to be the first Bucs fan Evans noticed. His red Super Bowl jacket stuck out among the dark green-wearing Packers fans.

Then, it happened. JayBuc, as part of his Bucs pirate costume (?) wears big, huge red boots. They look to Joe like snowboots. It’s part of his pirate getup. Because of that, while trying to run to the front row, JayBuc stumbled forward.

JayBuc planned to lean over the yellow gate at the bottom of the stairs to both hold him up from falling, and to lean over to try to get the ball from Evans. Problem was, with his forward momentum and the gate not being secure, the gate flew open when JayBuc hit it.

“That door flung open, I fall — fall to my knees,” JayBuc said.

The gate opened to a secondary small set of stairs that led to the field. That was a big-time no-no. The area on the other side of the yellow gate is forbidden territory for fans.

Wait, why’s this lunch lady in the neon vest involving himself in Mike Evans giving a pirate the football? pic.twitter.com/fPmwWCJGwi

— Dave Dameshek (@Dameshek) December 17, 2023

Evans noticed JayBuc right away, handed him the ball and dapped him up. The second JayBuc slapped skin with Evans, a Packers security guard grabbed JayBuc and tried to rip the ball away.

JayBuc held onto the ball like Mike Alstott plunging up the gut.

Mike Evans’ touchdown ball from Green Bay win.

The security guard screamed at JayBuc that he was in the wrong, going past the gate, even if it was an accident. And the security guard claimed the ball was NFL property and JayBuc had to give it up.

(JayBuc told Joe he learned the hard way the Packers have a policy that any football that ends up in the stands the Packers take back — unless a player or coach or Packers staffer gives a fan a ball.)

A heads-up cop quickly intervened. The cop told the security guard JayBuc was allowed to keep the ball because a player gave it to him, and that he saw Evans give JayBuc the ball.

Despite this, JayBuc admitted he was shook by the incident for some 15-20 minutes as he was scared he was going to get thrown out. To this day, JayBuc is convinced if Packers fans sitting around him didn’t come to his defense and tell the cops and the security guard that JayBuc didn’t do anything wrong, he may have still been thrown out.

“Packers fans are absolutely amazing,” JayBuc said. “An amazing fanbase. An amazing, historic organization. Yes, the Packers fans in Section 101 and 102, they stuck up for me.

“Shout out to the Packers fans. A lot of them came down and took a photo with me and with the ball.”

JayBuc said he finally began to relax when cops told him he was good and to enjoy the game.

“In the defense of the security guard, he was just doing his job,” JayBuc said. “He was doing what he is supposed to do.”

The cops did have to write up an incident report because the gate popped open and JayBuc skinned his knees while falling. So yeah, you could say JayBuc has some skin in the game when it comes to the Bucs.

JayBuc said Warren Sapp was always his favorite Bucs player. Now, his favorite player is Evans (JayBuc said Evans was his favorite Bucs offensive player, second overall only to Sapp).

“[Sapp] is still the ‘QB Killer,'” JayBuc said. “Mike is now by far my No. 1 favorite Buccaneer player.”

JayBuc said he had “never” come close to getting a ball in a game before.

“Even though it was always a dream of mine to get a game ball from a Mike Evans or Chris Godwin or Gronk, I never imagined it would actually happen. Let alone, in Lambeau. Lambeau Field?”

(Neat background: The ball has the Bucs logo on it with No. 54 — JayBuc said that’s special because his favorite current defensive player on the Bucs is Lavonte David, No. 54.)

The memorable week for JayBuc ended as he got to meet Evans as the future Hall of Fame receiver signed JayBuc’s ball.

“A dream literally came true,” JayBuc said.

A happy ending, indeed.

It's all good! Peace and Love ✌🏿 #gobucs ….. Thank You @MikeEvans13_ pic.twitter.com/dFNuMFomAt

— JayBuc525 aka JayBoogie (@jaybuc525) December 18, 2023

(Thanks to JayBuc for meeting Joe at Hooters on Friday and for posing for photos.)