Joe Burrow finally captured that elusive title.
No, not the Lombardi Trophy.
The Bengals quarterback was recently named the "Best Cincinnatian" for the first time as part of the Cincinnati CityBeat's 27th annual Best of Cincinnati awards.
Who exactly had been beating out the star football player for that honor in previous years? None other than Fiona the hippo from the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden. Fiona earned the title in each of the previous five years, with Burrow finishing second to her in 2022.
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The two flipped spots this year, followed by mixologist Molly Wellmann, U.S. women's national team member Rose Lavelle and Reds legend Pete Rose to round out the top five.
As put by the Cincinnati Zoo's website, Fiona is "famous for surviving." She was born six weeks premature in 2017 and weighed a record-low 29 pounds at birth, making her too small to stand and nurse from her mother.
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But she became a sensation around the globe as the zoo's care team shared daily updates on her for nearly two years. (For some perspective on how popular she is, a YouTube video of Fiona getting a dental check as a 3-month-old has 74 million views.)
Fiona became a big sister in August 2022 when her brother Fritz was born, and she celebrated her sixth birthday this past January.
Cincinnati had been Fiona's town for the past five years, but now she passes the torch to Burrow. It may take a Lombardi Trophy for Burrow to fend off Fiona again next year, though.
