CINCINNATI (WKRC) - Bengals fans have shown that their passion extends beyond Cincinnati, reaching an elementary school classroom in Miami.
Mary Crippen, a third-grade teacher at Miami-Dade County Public Schools, uses football to engage her students in learning. Throughout the season, she shares her students' progress with her more than 200,000 TikTok followers, many of whom are Bengals fans.
"I didn’t realize the Bengals Nation—I apologize because I was not familiar with your game; I was not familiar with the fandom because it runs deep in Cincinnati," said Crippen.
Crippen's students wrote to various NFL teams, and all responded except the Bengals. Determined to get a response for her student Zoey, Crippen turned to social media. On Super Bowl Sunday, she tweeted:
"Who Dey Nation, I need your help!"
She was now asking Bengals fans to send Zoey a video about what makes the team special.
"What's going on? Mike Gesicki here. I spent the last season playing for the Bengals, and it was an unbelievable experience," said Mike Gesicki.
Crippen was overwhelmed by the response they received.
"It was so cool to see the response—I spent hours just like, because some of the people sent like eight-second clips and others sent like three minutes of them just sharing with Zoey their passion for the Bengals and what makes the Bengals so great, and the organization, and the city," Crippen said.
Zoey received videos from Bengals fans across the country and finally got a package from the Bengals.
"I'm not going to read all that. It looks like an essay," said Zoey.
-1739893558-q80.webp "Exciting Flyers Prospect Sets New Record With OHL Team")
