Joe Burrow's parents, Jimmy and Robin, delivered a Cincinnati Bengals postseason game ball to Courtside Pizza on Court Street in Athens, Ohio, minutes away from where Joe grew up in The Plains when he starred at Athens High School while Jimmy was the defensive coordinator for the Ohio University Bobcats.
After introducing himself and Robin at Courtside, Jimmy said, "We really appreciate all the Bengal fans, Athens Bulldogs fans, Bobcat fans - we love all of you. Welcome to the Jungle, right! The tradition (of delivering game balls to bars/restaurants) started over in Cincinnati here last year, and I'm just gonna leave it at that. We're gonna show a little video and I'm gonna pull something out of ... this Joe Cool bag, and we might just get a little Who Dey (chant) going after that."
Jimmy said in a separate video - also on Courtside Pizza's Instagram - that it's the first game ball to be handed out outside of Cincinnati. "It's really cool - there's six of them. That's game ball No. 2. Bengals 24, Ravens 17. And kind of the mantra for now is 'they gotta play us.' And the Bills definitely have to play us this week even though it's in Buffalo. So Joe and Robin and I - we love Athens. We love Ohio. We love the Bengals, and we love all the people - our friends - and people like you guys that show up tonight."
Robin then led a "Who Dey" chant at Courtside.
Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said earlier this week that game balls would be delivered outside Cincinnati for the first time, in addition to the balls delivered to The Blind Pig; Crowley's Irish Pub and Clutch OTR.
In a video shared Thursday via Twitter by @WhoDeyDC1 (described in its Twitter bio as the DC Jungle and The Bottom Line … the ONLY Cincinnati Bengals bar in the greater Washington, DC area), Taylor said a game ball was headed to the Washington, D.C. establishment:
And Bengals.com shared video of Taylor announcing that Phebe's Tavern - a Bengals-friendly bar in New York City's East Village - would receive the other out-of-town game ball.
LOVE SPORTS? [ Subscribe now for unlimited access to Cincinnati.com ]
