You have probably seen the posters sporting the faceless green-clad crazies. Are you still wondering who they are?
On Thursday, Jan. 26, the Portland State men’s basketball team played against Montana State. This time, the Green Man Group had the honor of kicking off the game, making their first appearance as Portland State’s new cheering section.
You have probably seen the posters sporting the faceless green-clad crazies. Are you still wondering who they are?
On Thursday, Jan. 26, the Portland State men’s basketball team played against Montana State. This time, the Green Man Group had the honor of kicking off the game, making their first appearance as Portland State’s new cheering section.
The opening of the game involved six green forms rolling over on the floor in a synchronized fashion while a seventh literally surfed over them, as the Beach Boys’ “Surfin’ USA” served as the upbeat background music that matched the theme of the act.
All seven people were clad in green suits that covered them from head to toe, not allowing even their faces to be seen.
You may be reminded of the similarly-named Blue Man Group, an off-Broadway show featuring a trio of men clad in black with blue-painted faces. The Green Man Group seems to be taking some inspiration from them in performing mimed acts of great amusement.
After all, what could be more fun for the spectators of a game than a green man surfing across the stadium? What will the group do at the next game? Climb walls? Play drums full of paint?
Anything that this group of green people can come up with will seem much more exciting than a swarm of screaming, green-clad fans or a team of dancing cheerleaders. Portland State definitely made the right decision in recruiting as different and nontraditional a cheering section as this small team of students.
A small student cheering section is more ideal for the small venue in which Portland State hosts its basketball games. As such, the Green Man Group fits the atmosphere, and surely has much to contribute to sporting events.
Because the Horde, Portland State’s former cheering section, has been losing popularity in the past few years, the athletics department hatched a new plan. Implementing the green suits that some fans had been wearing into an idea for a new cheering section, they thought, should motivate more people to come to games, encouraging the entire Portland State community to attend.
The idea behind the Green Man Group is to make the student fans feel as if they can play a more significant role in cheering the team on, creating an atmosphere in which the home team never loses. Such enthusiastic support for Portland State’s teams, in the form of the Green Man Group, might make it hard for the visiting teams to play.
And the vivacious performances of the Green Man Group will surely show visiting teams how much support the home team has, as well as show the home team that they can win.
As a commuter school, Portland State does not have an abundance of students attending its games. Many campus-wide events may be overlooked by a lot of students, particularly commuters, and sporting events are no exception. The presence of a unique entity such as the Green Man Group will hopefully encourage students to attend more sporting events.
If the Green Man Group contributes to an atmosphere that provides the Vikings with constant encouragement and gives the opposing team a hard time, it may be better for the Vikings and for Portland State.
Sporting events are part of the typical college experience. But, like anything else, they will lose popularity if nothing new and exciting happens. Students need to be provided with as many reasons as possible to attend games in order for these events to gain popularity, and the Green Man Group certainly has the potential to get this job done.
With the Green Man Group, Portland State’s athletics department is putting their own spin on things and giving the teams as a whole a unique personality.
After forming the group from scratch in a short time, the Green Man Group did a wonderful job with their performance at the game last week. The surfing routine was a very clever and well-executed idea for something done without a ton of time to plan.
There can only be more where that came from, and it will be interesting to see what the Green Man Group will have in store for us next time.
Watch out, visiting teams! Here comes the Green Man Group!
