The Bengals are in the Super Bowl but their owner remains reviled

Cincinnati are on the way to their first Super Bowl in 33 years. Few fans give Mike Brown any credit for getting them there

CBS host Jim Nantz looks on as former Cincinnati Bengals player Icky Woods hands Bengals owner Mike Brown the Lamar Hunt Trophy after the Bengals defeated the Kansas City Chiefs to win the AFC Championship at Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri, last month. Picture: Jamie Squire/Getty Images

An elderly gentleman wearing a raincoat and a crumpled tan golf cap ambled across a makeshift stage at dusk in Kansas City to accept a trophy that many fans of his team believe had taken far too long to win. Then the wiseguys on social media let him have it.

Twitter and Facebook did not exist the last time his Cincinnati Bengals won the AFC title and earned a trip to the Super Bowl, but 86-year-old Mike Brown has been a target for years, for running his football team on the cheap.