The Cincinnati Bengals, as they've so rarely been in the team's history, are very good right now. Naturally, this has people in Ohio excited.

One eighth-grade lad named Dustin Reader was so excited, in fact, that the got his hair cut to resemble a Cincinnati Bengals helmet. And why not? That's the kind of thing that seems like a good idea when you're an eighth-grader or Ron Artest. As you can see, he's got the helmet stripes shaved in there, and the Bengals "B" logo carved into the back of his head. It's everything you could ever want from a Bengals haircut.

When he got to school Monday to show it off, though, school authorities didn't think too highly of the 'do. They actually suspended him for it. From Richard O. Jones of the Dayton Daily News:

Because it’s a discipline issue, school officials would not talk about it, but confirmed the suspension was for violating the school’s code of conduct, which prohibits “unnaturally colored hair, extreme/distracting makeup, haircuts and hairstyles.”

The code of conduct is reviewed and revised every year, said assistant superintendent Kathy Leist, who said a suspension “would be a building-level decision based on the code of conduct.”

Even worse, it was an in-school suspension, where the kid has to show up to school and do work; he's just isolated from the other kids all day. It's not even one of those cool suspensions where you get to stay home and play Madden.

The school must be wonderful, though. I'm assuming that all the children there get straight A's, all the kids hold and hands and sing Mary Poppins songs while walking through the hallways, and the only graffiti on school grounds came when the Science Club spray-painted the periodic table in all the bathroom stalls.

I'm assuming all that is happening because otherwise, it would seem pretty silly to spend time worrying a "B" shaved into a kid's noggin.

School officials say that the boy will remain in isolation until the hair grows out, or the haircut is changed, which I guess would require shaving his entire head. His parents remain on their child's side and say they won't force him to change the haircut. I guess if parents are going to argue with a school, at least it's over a really worthwhile issue, you know, like a haircut that isn't rude or offensive in any way.

Way to go, adults.

Related: Cincinnati Bengals, NFL Oddness