The Washington Post - USA (2022-02-13)

A8 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 13 , 2022

Brrr’ held this ball, they want to

be close to him and touch that

excitement. It was like a religious

experience.”

The Bengals are quickly emerg-

ing as fan favorites to beat the Los

Angeles Rams on Sunday, even

though the Las Vegas oddsmak-

ers disagree — they have the

Rams as four-point favorites. Af-

ter the Bengals’ unlikely run,

their devoted fan base — which

stuck with them even during the

spite that, the people here in

Cincinnati, in part because of this

team, have so much optimism, so

much joy, so much hope for the

future, that it’s overwhelming.”

The Bengals presented the city

with the game ball from their first

playoff victory in 31 years, against

the Las Vegas Raiders on Jan. 15,

and the mayor has been toting it

around since.

Everywhere he takes it, he says,

“I’m swarmed. The fact that ‘Joey

ne said in a statement announc-

ing the honor. The whole state

will be rooting for them on Sun-

day, he said.

“We’re here in this moment on

the heels of 24 months of a global

pandemic with an economic

downturn that’s disproportional-

ly affecting our Black and Brown

communities; it’s been a really,

really difficult time,” said Cincin-

nati Mayor Aftab Pureval (D),

who took office in January. “De-

the Kansas City Chiefs, earning a
trip to Sunday’s Super Bowl.
The city and state have rallied
behind the team in a big way,
celebrating the Bengals’ “surreal”
journey to Los Angeles with out-
bursts of joy, spontaneous hugs
with strangers and chants of
“Who Dey?” — the team’s rallying
cry. Paul Brown Stadium, one of
the city’s iconic landmarks, is
blazing orange, as are other
buildings across the skyline.
Schools will be closed the day
after the game. And do they dare
even dream of a victory parade?
It still seems hard to believe.
Last season, the Bengals won four
games, the season before, two.
They hadn’t won a playoff game
since 1991. This is the team’s third
trip to the Super Bowl, but the
first in 33 years. Their first two
appearances — after the 1981 and
1988 seasons — ended in losses to
the San Francisco 49ers.
But no one is calling them “the
Bungles” anymore.
“Whenever a team is winning
there is excitement and giddiness
and joy, but what’s different here
is that there’s disbelief,” said Mo
Egger, a local sports radio an-
nouncer and lifelong Bengals fan.
“I’ve heard the word ‘surreal’
used more in the last week than I
have in my life. People can’t be-
lieve the Bengals are in the Super
Bowl.”
This city of 301,000 has had a
rough couple of years, trying to
find its way out of an economic
downturn that hit it hard, and
other parts of Ohio even harder as
the coronavirus pandemic has
stubbornly persisted. The omi-
cron variant sent the state’s hos-
pitalization levels to an all-time
high in December, and Gov. Mike
DeWine (R) sent in the Ohio
National Guard to help over-
whelmed hospitals.
On Monday, DeWine tempo-
rarily renamed three state parks
in honor of the Bengals, including
Burr Oak State Park in southeast-
ern Ohio to “Burrow Oak State
Park” in honor of Burrow, who
grew up in nearby The Plains and
went to Athens High School.
“We are incredibly proud of the
Bengals and everything they have
accomplished this season,” DeWi-

CINCINNATI FROM A

Super Bowl a dream realized for hardscrabble team, town

RICKY CARIOTI/THE WASHINGTON POST

Cold weather during Monday’s pep rally at Paul Brown Stadium didn’t keep away fans, who chanted “Who dey? Who dey? Who dey think gonna beat dem Bengals?”

“There’s a saying: ‘Cincinnati is not a city, it’s

a town.’ People who grow up in Cincinnati

rarely leave, and if we do, we don’t go far. So

it’s a prideful thing.”

Ricardo Grant, entrepreneur and Cincinnati Bengals fan

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