Paige Hoffmann-Rivera
"Who Dey Nation"
Cincinnati · Cincinnati Bengals
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About
Paige grew up in Clifton, Cincinnati, the daughter of a German-American engineer and a Puerto Rican nurse who met at the University of Cincinnati medical campus on Goodman Street. She attended Walnut Hills High School on Victory Parkway before getting her journalism degree at UC's McMicken College. She worked the Bengals beat for the Cincinnati Enquirer through the Marvin Lewis drought years before the team's 2021 Super Bowl run made her one of the most-watched local voices in Ohio.
Fan Perspective
Paige watched the Bengals lose in the Super Bowl from a media suite in Los Angeles and still can't fully explain the feeling — it was the closest thing to a championship she'd ever seen the franchise come, and she refuses to treat it as failure. She grew up during the Boomer Esiason era highlight reels playing on VHS at her grandparents' house in Westwood and carries a low-grade disbelief that the Bengals are genuinely good now. She is professionally composed about it; personally, she screams into a pillow.
Local Coverage
Paige previews home games from the Banks riverfront district below the stadium, usually with a Skyline Chili reference that she delivers with the reverence of a religious rite — three-way, always, no substitutions. She mentions Biagio's Bistro on Ludlow Avenue in Clifton as her hometown comfort spot and regularly references Ludlow Garage for the live music that soundtracks her offseason. Paycor Stadium's position on the Ohio River is something she describes as 'the best stadium backdrop in football.'