KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Make no mistake, the Cincinnati Bengals play with skill and precision born in hard work. But fans like to believe in their own skin in the game, and that’s where personal good luck charms come into play.
WCPO 9 anchor Julie O’Neill has her lucky tiger necklace, reporter Whitney Miller has a lucky sweatshirt she made and yours truly has a Charlie Harper hoodie that hasn't been washed since the wild card game. But have you ever heard of the lucky Bengals oven mitt?
“Here’s the lucky mitt,” Bengals fan Kelley Burt said.
Though she lives deep in the heart of Missouri, Burt was born in the Tri-State and has been a Bengals fan her whole life. So when Cincinnati played Kansas City — her hubby’s team — in the AFC championship, she had to be there. There was just one problem.
“I didn’t have a ton of Bengals gear anymore,” Burt said. “I just had a beanie and a sweatshirt I had grown out of. I couldn’t find anything around here.”
Her mom, Linda Hess of West Chester, came to the rescue with some online shopping.
“And I just kept scrolling and scrolling, and all of a sudden there were really cool looking...foam fingers," Hess said. "So I ordered two — one for each hand."
When the spirit gear arrived, it wasn’t quite what Burt thought it would be.
“And I said, ‘Mom, I got the finger. It was really, really cute, but did you know it’s an oven mitt?’” she said.
Hess couldn’t believe it, but her daughter said it wasn't an issue. Burt wore her oven mitt proudly when the Bengals played, and beat, the Chiefs.
“My husband was probably pretty annoyed with me," Burt said. "Every time they were doing cheers and chants, I would try to find a way to involve my oven mitt.”
She flashed that oven mitt finger in all its black and orange glory until Bengal Evan McPherson sealed the deal with a game-winning kick. That's why Burt and her family gave the now lucky charm a name: Oven MittPherson.
“I love the name! I love it,” Hess said.
Their goal is to get the oven mitt to the Super Bowl so its powers can bring the Bengals another win.
It just so happens, they are not the only ones with a lucky Bengals oven mitt. WCPO 9 reporter and forecaster Taylor Nimmo sent pictures of themselves with their lucky oven mitt. Who knew?
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