TacoCat Is Real, and He Wears #9
Joe Burrow tacocat spelled backwards is tacocat has been bouncing around in my brain ever since I saw a Bengals fan wearing a shirt with that exact phrase at a tailgate last October. The image stuck with me. Joe Burrow’s deadpan stare printed next to a rainbow cartoon cat shaped like a taco? It shouldn’t make sense, and yet it makes all the sense in the world if you know anything about the chaotic joy of being a Bengals fan lately. Maybe it was the cheap beer or maybe it was the ridiculous genius of the shirt, but I remember laughing too loud, like I needed that laugh more than I realized. I think what hit me most was how Joe Burrow tacocat spelled backwards is tacocat was more than just a dumb palindrome or a meme waiting to die. It felt like a weird little summary of what Joe Burrow brings to Cincinnati: cool under pressure, absurdly confident, and somehow both a top-tier athlete and a total meme. We’ve never had someone quite like him in this city. He wears Cartier glasses and thr...