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- Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals are headed to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1989.
- During a recent interview, defensive end Sam Hubbard said they’re hoping to win the big game in honor of Cincinnati legend Harambe.
- Harambe the Gorilla lived at the Cincinnati Zoo prior to his death in 2016 and has become an internet legend in the years since.
For the first time since the George H.W. Bush administration, the Cincinnati Bengals are headed to the Super Bowl, which will take place at SoFi Stadium in California on Sunday, February 13.
Naturally, the city of Cincinnati has been on Cloud 9 since the victory, and will likely remain there when they hear that the team is hoping to win the big game for one of the city’s most beloved legends… Harambe the gorilla.
In case this is your first time ever using the internet — if so, welcome to the party — Harambe was a 17-year-old western lowland gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo that was shot and killed back in 2016 after a three-year-old boy made his way into his enclosure. In the six years (6!!!) since, Harambe has become an internet legend to such an extent that some memes suggest his death is the moment our world started to unravel.
“Sweet Prince, I mean, that’s our guy. That’s our hero,” defensive end Sam Hubbard said of Harambe while on the Pardon My Take podcast this weekk. “I think that’s known, kind of goes without saying. You know, we’re doing this for him.”
Thanks to their upset win over the defending AFC champion Chiefs in the divisional round, Joe Cool and the Bengals will take on Sean McVay, Matt Stafford, and the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium on Sunday, February 13. The LA Rams have opened as four-point favorites over the upstart Bengals. Cincinnati likely won’t mind, though, as they’ve been the underdogs in their last two wins over the Chiefs and Titans.
That said, considering how much the football world seems to be rooting for Joe Burrow and the Bengals, that line will probably become a bit tighter in the coming days and weeks as more gamblers place bets on Cincinnati.