Meet JB

Ever roll your eyes in irritation when someone goes full-fledged drama queen with the "you're not a real fan" precondition? It's one step higher on the maturity scale than "dad can beat up your dad."

In only my best "demean those that do something and then do the exact same thing" impression, here's one for you.

If you don't know James Brown, then you're not a true fan. We're not referring to the James Brown the singer or the CBS talking head head during the NFL pregame show.

Most fans, players and coaches know him as JB or Jimmie.

JB is a clubhouse assistant who has been a fan of the Bengals since the beginning. He's led the Bengals who dey cheer after victory, at Marvin Lewis' insistence because he's seen Brown in videos dating back to the team's Super Bowl season in 1988.

You have fans that say that they live Bengals football. You might be partially right, but JB eats and breaths it.

This is Brown on the sidelines.

___________________ (write appropriate JB > Marvin at time management joke)

And leading the Bengals in a postgame chant following their 30-0 win over the Cleveland Browns.

JB.

And look at how serious Ken Zampese takes this. Respect, man. Respect.

This is a guy that Domata Peko spotted during recordings of the Super Bowl in '88, writes Bengals.com earlier this year.

While taking a break from his rigorous training regimen at Ignition gym in Blue Ash on the outer edges of Cincinnati, Peko watched a replay of one of the Bengals’ Super Bowls and saw James Brown standing on the sidelines next to head coach Sam Wyche exhorting the action with a towel.

At that point Peko realized how long the inimitable "J.B.," has been around his beloved Bengals and Peko, as he has been known to do, had T-Shirts promptly made for all his teammates with a photo of J.B. on the front along with his signature expression, "Got to have it." On the back Peko directed they put the cheer J.B. leads the Bengals in the locker room after every win: "Who-Dey. Who-Dey think going to beat them Bengals?"

As for Peko, he's always up for a random view of the Super Bowl. My kind of guy.