Jaguars lose again: Mascot Jaxson De Ville finishes near bottom in nationwide 'lovable' survey
What does a mascot have to do to get a little respect?
Jaxson De Ville, the Jacksonville Jaguars' bungee-jumping, fan-taunting, board shorts-wearing mascot, finished 23rd in a survey of 1,000 NFL fans. Jaxson was considered less "lovable" than an 8-foot-tall blue buffalo (Bills), a nightmare-inducing ironworker (Steelers), a horse in a football jersey (Broncos) and two Cleveland Browns mascots (a bulldog and an elf).
Jaxson doesn't speak, so he was unavailable for comment on the survey results. But a Jaguars spokesperson weighed in. "The only rankings that matter to Jaxson are being number one in the hearts of DUUUVAL and leading the league in the coolest cat category as calculated by most radical stunts. He's currently prepping for our home opener and his season debut leap from the light tower, and looks forward to seeing fans at TIAA Bank Field on Sunday."
The survey was conducted by sportshandle.com, a website that covers the sports wagering industry. They surveyed 1,000 NFL fans — half male, half female, average age 40 — and asked them to rate each official NFL mascot on a scale of 1 to 5. Jaxson finished with an average score of 2.63, just above Raider Rusher and just below Freddie Falcon.
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Jaxson did finish above two AFC South rivals, the Tennessee Titans' T-Rac (27th overall) and the Indianapolis Colts' Blue (26th). Toro from the Houston Texans was the division champ, finishing 12th. Jaxson also finished last among Florida teams, behind Captain Fear of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (17th) and the Miami Dolphins' T.D. (18th).
Rampage, the mascot of the Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams, finished first with a score of 3.88. K.C. Wolf of the Kansas City Chiefs finished last with a score of 2.2.
Rowdy, the mascot of the Dallas Cowboys, was named as most obnoxious. Jaxson finished 11th in that poll.
The Los Angeles Chargers, New York Giants, New York Jets and Washington Commanders don't even have mascots, so they weren't included in the survey.
Jaxson De Ville made headlines in the early days of the Jaguars' existence for his on-field antics. During a 1998 Monday night game against Pittsburgh, the mascot dragged a life-sized stuffed doll of Pittsburgh quarterback Kordell Stewart onto the field and began beating and stomping it — only a few feet away from the Steelers' offensive huddle. That caused the league to pass a new rule requiring team mascots to stay behind the 6-foot white border around the field at all times and prohibiting mascots from taunting opposing players, coaches or game officials.
Curtis Dvorak wore the Jaxson suit for the first 19 years of the franchise, retiring in 2015. Team officials say they keep the current Jaxson's true identity a secret.
The mascot has his own Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts and is available for hire for parties, grand openings and events.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars' Jaxson De Ville voted among NFL's least 'lovable' mascots
