Win or lose, Joe Burrow already champion in Ohio

What Giants' Daniel Jones needs to do against the Cowboys

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INGLEWOOD, Calif. — For the people of Southeast Ohio, where poverty lives among them, the wait to watch their Joey Burrow in Super Bowl 2022 felt interminable. 

“I talked to so many fans today that were like, ‘Man, I’m gonna have to find some nerve pills,’ or I’m gonna double down on my blood pressure medicine tomorrow,” a man named Travis Brand was saying on Saturday evening. 

“I mean, we’re on pins and needles down here.” 

Brand has been the owner of Gigi’s Country in Plains, Ohio, since Nov. 1, 2011, where the customers have been arriving in No. 9 jerseys and chanting Who Dey or ordering the $7.99 Burrow omelet. 

Joey Burrow: Just a kid from Athens … Just a kid from Southeast Ohio. There wasn’t a dry eye in any house in Athens or in Southeast Ohio when Joey Burrow gave his name unforgettable Heisman speech, a speech that uplifted so many and has helped fill the local food pantries with much-needed contributions. 

So no matter what happened on Super Sunday Night, as much pleading as they were doing to the football gods, their Joey Burrow was a champion whether or not he lifted the Bengals to their first championship over the Rams. 

“The other thing that he’s accomplished by his accomplishment,” Brand said. “is taking small-town kids and turning them into [wanting] to be Joe Burrow. When you know that a legend or, in my mind, already one of the greats has come from three doors down from where you live, or two streets over, or say in the same math classroom that you’re in, I mean if that doesn’t inspire you as a kid to try harder and to push for things. 

Joe Burrow
Joe Burrow looks on prior to the Super Bowl.
Getty Images

“I think in small-town USA it’s too easy to feel forgotten about. Let’s just go to something simple like the electric grid, if the whole entire state of Ohio loses power, I’m pretty sure Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and all those vicinities are gonna be prioritized, and we all kinda know that we’re the armpit of the world down here. To know that a kid in your little hometown has made it big, I can’t imagine growing up thinking, ‘Man I wonder if Joey sat in this seat. I betcha if I play my hardest this weekend I’ll get noticed and maybe I’ll get college scholarships.’ ” 


Get the latest updates from Super Bowl 2022 with live coverage from the New York Post.


Gigi’s opened at 8 a.m. on Super Sunday and closed at 2 p.m., same as always, and then Brand watched the Burrow Bowl from his home. 

Joe Burrow delivers his Heisman Tyophy acceptance speech.
Joe Burrow delivers his Heisman Trophy acceptance speech.
UPI

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