The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Who Dey nation

It’s orange-and-black world for these fans

John Robinson sits inside his custom-designed “Who Dey Hero Bus” on Friday, Nov. 6, in Hamilton. Robinson tailgates with a group of fellow orange-and-black fanatics called the “Bengal Bomb Squad” before every home game at Paul Brown Stadium in Lot 1.

Staff photo by Nick Daggy John Robinson sits inside his custom-designed “Who Dey Hero Bus” on Friday, Nov. 6, in Hamilton. Robinson tailgates with a group of fellow orange-and-black fanatics called the “Bengal Bomb Squad” before every home game at Paul Brown Stadium in Lot 1.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Photos: Bengals fan photos

State jobless rate jumps to 10.5 percent
3:14 p.m.
Checkpoint tonight
2:04 p.m.
Man allegedly stabs self after fight with girlfriend
12:58 p.m.
Animal clinic collecting food to feed hungry family pets
12:37 p.m.
Holiday tree lighting tonight
12:25 p.m.
> More headlines

By Rick McCrabb, Columnist Updated 12:01 PM Sunday, November 8, 2009

There are casual Cincinnati Bengals fans and there are paint-everything-I-own-orange-and-black Bengals fans.

There are fans who only watch when the team is winning, and there are fans whose Sunday afternoons revolve around the Bengals regardless of their record.

And with the Bengals 5-2 — their best start since the 2005 season when they finished 11-5 and lost in the first round of the playoffs — before they face the 4-3 Baltimore Ravens today, Nov. 8, at Paul Brown Stadium, fans are more enthusiastic than ever.

They have turned their basements into Bengal shrines, purchased vans and converted them into mobile tailgate parties, and fooled their families into believing a three-hour football game is an all-day experience.

Welcome to the Jungle.

'I've been in heaven'

John Robinson, of Hamilton, remembers sitting on his father’s lap when he was 6 years old watching Super Bowl XVI in 1982.

When the Bengals couldn’t score near the goal line and lost 26-21, Robinson cried.

“I was crushed,” he said.

But not defeated. Robinson and his girlfriend have been season-ticket holders for several years, and for them, it’s as much about the tailgate party as the game.

The Bengals kick off at 1 p.m. Robinson kicks off at 5:30 a.m.

“It lasts all day,” he said.

This summer, Robinson and his girlfriend spent their free time and weekends working on a Bengal bus, which is dubbed the “Who Dey Heroes Bus.” They bought the bus for $3,000 from a guy in Eaton.

Robinson said the tailgate group is known as the Bengal Bomb Squad, which maintains a Web site www.BengalBomb Squad.com.

Four hours before kickoff — about the time the rest of us are getting out of bed — Robinson and the bus pull into Lot 1. He blows his horn, which plays the first few chords from “Welcome to the Jungle.”

He unloads the Bengals bar, the blenders, the public address system, and fills five tables with food.

Then, Robinson said, “the explosion begins.”

When asked about being raised a Bengals fan, Robinson said, “It never really stopped. I’ve been in heaven.”

With the team from the beginning

Phyllis Scales has been there since the beginning.

The 72-year-old Fairfield resident has been a “Bengal crazed fan” since 1968, when the team was founded. Before that, she followed the Cleveland Browns.

She refuses to even mention what she calls “the P-word that ends in burg.”

She added with a laugh: “That’d be like cursing.”

She attended the famous “Freezer Bowl,” the AFC Championship game between the Bengals and San Diego Chargers that was played in minus-37-degree windchill in Riverfront Stadium, Super Bowl XXIII in 1989 in Miami, Fla., and attended “Football 101” two years ago that was taught by Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis.

Why has she remained loyal for the last 41 years?

“I’m a real fan,” she said. “I don’t understand them people who are only a fan when their team is winning. I’ll stay with them.”

They ‘bleed  orange and black’

Kristen Snyder, 26, a multiple-disabilities special-education teacher at Hamilton High School, said in her classroom the students and teachers “bleed orange and black.”

She said the students have weekly Bengal dress-up days and the classroom is decorated in everything Bengals to show their spirit.

Even the class rabbit is named “Who Dey Hopper.”

Snyder, a lifetime Bengals fan, admitted she has “brainwashed” her students into following them. But for her students, it’s more than watching football.

“It gives them something to follow along and talk to others about,” said Snyder, in her fifth year. “It’s interesting to watch their knowledge grow.”

Check out my plates

Larry Anderson isn’t afraid to show his support for the Bengals.

Both of his cars have personalized license plates, “BNGLS1” and “BNGLS2,” which may sound like a good idea now that the team is playing well.

He has passed that passion down to his children.

For instance, during the dreadful 2002 season when the Bengals finished 2-14, Anderson’s daughter, Jill Irwin, and her husband, John, of Liberty Twp., were driving to the game trying to decide whether to put a Bengals flag on the car.

“We displayed it at every game, but it got to the point where we were just tired of people laughing and pointing at us like we were huge idiots for showing our affection for our team,” Jill Irwin said.

They pulled over, put up the flag, and a few miles down the road, saw another car with a Bengal flag.

“We said, ‘Oh good, we are not the only ones who still love our Bengals,’ ” she said.

But inside the car were her father and brother, Greg Anderson.

“It was really funny because it was at a time when the entire city was turned against the Bengals and it seemed that only our family still loved them enough to show that type of support,” she said.

Now, she said, “It’s refreshing to see them winning.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2842 or rmccrabb@coxohio.com.

Share this article

ADD COMMENT

Comments feed

bengal fans are the biggest front runners on the face of the earth, next to the uc fans, enjoy your 15 minutes of fame, you losers, you'll be back to your bottom feeding ways before you can say ...duck duck goose goose.

Buckeye Man
5:50 PM, 11/9/2009

REPORT ABUSE

Like property values are low enough around this hilljack town, to have people ruining their houses with bandwagon fan propaganda. You people will never get rid of Mike Brown until you stop having an orgasm every time you win a couple of games...get a grip

Haywoode Jablome
6:21 AM, 11/9/2009

REPORT ABUSE

There is only one solid football team in Ohio. The Cincinnati Bearcats! Everyone else tries and tries but won't live up to what UC has done and will continue to do. BTW... Ohio State fans need to stay up North where they belong! I'm so sick of their arrogance. The Bengals will choke like they always do...you'll see.

Jon
5:58 AM, 11/9/2009

REPORT ABUSE

bill black, our education system robbed you blind. do you not have spell check?{see oragne} Americans don't deserve, nor should we permit idiots like you to espouse your ignorance and poison our beautiful country with it. freedom of speech.... except for you.also that stupid game makes more millions than you could count in fifteen lifetimes. you must be a closet browns fan. jerk. btw WHO DEY!

muddie
11:37 PM, 11/8/2009

REPORT ABUSE

To Billblack, You do not like the game but many people do.
You sound like a very angry person.
We all choose our own entertainment what ever form it may be.
yehaw...

who dey
7:56 PM, 11/8/2009

REPORT ABUSE

There is 1 additional comment

SHOW ALL

We welcome your comments. Please remember this is a public forum and behave appropriately. Your comments must conform to our visitor's agreement.