The heated rivalry between the Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs has boiled over to City Hall. Yes, you read that right.
Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval declared Sunday ‘They Gotta Play Us Day’ ahead of the Bengals’ second consecutive AFC Championship game against the Chiefs. And Pureval didn’t miss the opportunity to throw a jab at Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
“Joseph Lee Burrow, who’s 3-0 against Mahomes, has been asked by officials to take a paternity test confirming whether or not he’s his father,” Pureval said in an official declaration shared across Twitter and Facebook.
The diss caught the eye of Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas and Mahomes’ wife, Brittany Mahomes, who called Pureval’s attempt at lighthearted fun “weak” and “embarrassing.”
Lucas agreed with Brittany Mahomes and said he’ll let the Chiefs do the talking on the football field this weekend. “No need to respond. KC’s got class. Cincinnati has Jerry Springer and no rings. See them Sunday,” Lucas tweeted.
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Pureval didn’t just take shots at Mahomes. He referred to Arrowhead Stadium as “Burrowhead Stadium,” the Bengals nickname for the Chiefs’ stadium.
“Kansas City is named after its neighboring state which is, you know, just kind of weird,” Pureval said in his proclamation, although he is not correct. Kansas City was incorporated in 1853, eight years before Kansas became a state. The city was initially called the City of Kansas and later became Kansas City in 1889, Fox4 in Kansas City reported.
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Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has previously addressed the nickname.
“We are the loudest stadium in the world, on record … 142 decibels. … I don’t know, I don’t know,” Kelce said during his “New Heights” podcast with his brother, Philadelphia Eagles lineman Jason Kelce. “Maybe we’re gonna have to break it this week because a lot of Cincinnati Bengals fans are calling it ‘Burrowhead’ instead of Arrowhead. They’re throwing a lot of bulletin-board material out there.”
The Cincinnati mayor’s comments certainly fall under bulletin-board material.
In fact, he walked it back a little later in the day.
“Bengals nation, Lol. I hear you,” he tweeted. “My competitive juices and love for cincy got the best of me. My bad. Staying hungry and humble. See you Sunday. Who Dey baby!”
The Bengals are 3-0 against the Chiefs with Burrow at the helm, including a 27-24 overtime win in last year’s AFC championship game at Arrowhead Stadium. Burrow has nine touchdowns to one interception in the three matchups.
Contributing: Quinlan Bentley, The Cincinnati Enquirer
Story Credit: usatoday.com