Getty Image / Nick Cammett / Diamond Images
The Cleveland Browns came to ball on Week 1 of the new NFL season against their inner-state rivals, Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals. Jake Paul has (had?) been a Cleveland Browns fan his whole life but on the eve of the season he appears to have jinxed Burrow and the Bengals by switching sides.
At this point, we could discuss the many ways fans get trapped by teams. And the taboos about jumping ship for new teams later in life. But that’s entirely a personal decision and I’m not here to pass judgment on someone who no longer lives in the city of the team they are rooting for choosing to move on from that team.
Instead, let’s acknowledge Jake Paul’s words about the Cincinnati Bengals and the score of the Bengals-Browns game in Cleveland on Sunday. Speaking with Fox News Digital in a recent interview, Jake Paul said:
“I’ve been a Browns fan my whole life, but it’s just tough, It’s been 26 years of terror.
I’m sort of transitioning over to maybe be a Cincinnati Bengals fan. Unless the Browns can start to do something here.”
He didn’t fully commit to jumping ship from the Browns to the Bengals. And the only reason he gave is ‘misery’ which honestly, is more than enough. Nobody has been forcing him to remain a Browns fan for 26 years.
Instead of attending the Browns-Bengals game, Jake Paul was at the US Open Men’s Final to watch Novak Djokovic set records. However, Jake did share a picture to his IG Stories of him wearing a Browns jersey, so the door hasn’t been fully slammed yet.
That said, he chose the eve of the 2023/24 NFL season to announce he was hopping on the Cleveland Bengals bandwagon and the Bengals got straight up clowned by the Browns after Jake opened his mouth.
Like all sports fans, my own fandom is deeply superstitious and not at all rooted in reality. I only live in world of peaks and valleys. It is impossible for me, as a superstitious sports fan, to not draw a direct correlation between Jake Paul dumping the Browns for the Bengals and the Browns winning on opening day.
On X/Twitter, at least one Browns fans took notice of Jake Paul jumping ship. They wrote to him saying “Browns do not need Jake Paul. Stick to making YouTube videos for little kids.”
Meanwhile, it’s only been 8 months since the Cleveland Browns ‘signed’ Jake Paul and introduced him before the Saints game in December:
Jake has yet to address the Browns win/Bengals demise. He was too busy shadow boxing with Vivek Ramaswamy after the US Open Men’s Final.
I don’t see any problems whatsoever with Jake going from the Browns to the Bengals. But one has to wonder if Jake is bringing bad luck to Cincinnati.