How did you become a Bengals fan?

[BengalFanInNJ]

Let's see. Well, I was born and raised in Central New Jersey in the heart of New York Giants land (with a sprinkle of New York Jets fans). My family are Giants fans although my father is a Giant AND Jet guy. He was off the boat from Ireland so he picked both the local teams as his favorites, but, I think he was more of a Giant fan then Jet. Anyway, before I was born he started coaching recreational football for 8-10 year olds in our town. He was asked what team he wanted to be and chose the Bills (that was his  name). There was something about the helmets he couldn't do or they couldn't get the uniform so they asked him to pick another team. He picked the Bengals since he thought he could stencil the BENGALS on the orange helmets he would get. I was born a few years later (1973) and would be the "mascot" of the team until I played football myself. Since I got a bunch of Bengals shirts as a mascot, I became hooked. Back then, they were not that good but that didn't stop me. I loved football and became a loyal and militant fan. If I wasn't a Bengals fan, I would be a Giants fan. I kind of root for them anyway.

In 1981, when they changed their helmets, my brother informed my father that the Bengals were changing their helmets to the stripes. My father had already done the stenciling for all the helmets. It was funny that all the kids on the team wanted to change the helmets to the stripes so my father said they could do it if they wanted to. You should have seen all the variations that were done. One guy totally nailed it. Most were a bit off but still funny. The team picture that year had the helmets on the ground and none were the same. Pretty funny.

People from High School, whom I haven't seen in a while, always tell me that even today when they see a Bengals score they think of me.