EYE OF THE TIGER: Cincinnati Bengals in action; (below) the team’s mascot Who Dey

Who is a Bengali, sports orange and black stripes, rides a scooter for exercise and has a double degree in entertainment from Bengal University?

Don’t scratch your heads, for the answer lies in the question.

It is Who, Who Dey, the Royal Bengal tiger that is the mascot and more for the professional American football team, Cincinnati Bengals.

The jolly big cat’s journey from the Ganga delta to the Ohio plains is as intriguing as its name. “Bengals was selected as the nickname for the team when it originated in 1937 because the city of Cincinnati had a zoo famous for having the rare Bengal tiger in captivity. It was something very uncommon in the US during that time,” said Andy Ware, the manager (website and new media) of the Ohio-based team, in an email chat with Metro.

Cincinnati Bengals, one of the 12 to have made the elite NFL playoffs this season, has never set foot in Bengal but in keeping with the theme, Who’s hobbies are as Bengali as his surname. Other than riding his scooter, he likes to read and listen to music.

And Who’s influence extends beyond the sidelines to Ben-Gals, the official pom pom girls, who rouse the team and its supporters in tiger-themed blouses and short skirts. They are learnt to do a better job than the Kolkata Knight Riders cheerleaders at Eden Gardens.

The mascot is not the only part of the team bearing the tiger touch. An orange helmet with six black tiger stripes and jerseys with orange and white stripes on each sleeve defined the early look. The first logo was a caricature of a tiger running with a football under its right arm.

Flying off the tiger’s head was a white helmet with another tiger’s head painted on its side. The logo is still used at times.

A more aggressive looking orange tiger with black stripes became the team logo in 2004, when the Bengals’s uniform underwent a redesign.

As part of the change, the team introduced a new orange “B” logo with three bold black tiger stripes. The distinctive tiger stripes on the uniform have also survived several redesigns through the decades.

Bengals played in various incarnations of older American football leagues till 1941 before it was revived 26 years later when professional football returned to Cincinnati. “Paul Brown, a pro football hall of famer who founded and coached the Cleveland Browns, headed a group that landed an expansion franchise in the modern-era American football league. He picked the name Bengals for the new team to give it a link with past professional football in Cincinnati,” said Ware.

When asked about the team’s “weaknesses”, Ware picked “inconsistent passing game and lack of big plays on offence”. He was talking about Cincinnati Bengals and not Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s Bengal.