How did you become a Bengals fan?

[BengalHawk62]

Early on, in my formative years, the local high school had a great football team back in 1984.  In fact they won the state championship that year.  They were called the Tigers, they had black helmets with the orange Clemson paw on the side.  I fell in love with the colors.  One weekend, on Sunday, I was at my G'ma's house (god bless her), and was watching an "orange" team on TV.  But their nickname was the Browns.  I liked the colors, but I hated the name.  Didn't understand what the color orange had to do with the color Brown?  Still don't know to this day actually.  But the very next weekend, I saw football on tv again, but this time, the team on TV had the coolest helmets I've ever seen.  They were orange and black, just like the local high school, and they were striped!  It was love at first sight, and I've been a fan ever since. I still think they have the best helmet in the league.