The giant 325 square foot (13'X25') Viking Vision screen in the Stott Center gym isn't the only change confronting Portland State University sports fans.
    
Starting Thursday, the Viking Horde has been officially sent off to Valhalla to be replaced by the Green Man Group, which Associate Athletic Director Zack Wallace and Sports Marketing Director Kenny Dow hope will make Stott Center among the most inhospitable places for visiting teams to play in the Big Sky Conference.
   
The Green Man Group will be officially kicked off Thursday before the men's basketball game against third place Montana State with a Viking Mixer, 5:30-7 p.m. in the Stott Center entry.  There will be a tent covering the outdoor plaza and free food from longtime Viking supporter The Old Spaghetti Factory.   Adult beverages will be for sale and the first 300 students who show up will get a free Green Man Group tee shirt.
      
The idea to form a loud, raucous student section led by students in green (and, at least in one case, black) fan suits developed from students who began showing up in them at volleyball matches and basketball games a couple of years ago, said Wallace.
       
“The main goal is to energize our student fans, get them to show some rowdy enthusiasm,” said Dow.  “We want to create an atmosphere where our team never loses at home, an atmosphere where other teams find it very difficult to play here and that starts with our student section.”
         
Wallace and Dow expect the number of students in fan suits to grow, judging from the eight or nine who have indicated an interest. “This year we even got University Pointe (the newest on-campus housing facility) to sponsor them.
         
Together with Viking Vision, which has been up and for only a few games, Wallace and Dow are trying to create a fun experience for all fans, but especially for students.
      
“We want our student to feel they can help our team win, that they're sort of the sixth man on the floor at all times,” said Dow.
       
He and Wallace will be promoting the antics of the Green Man Group as well as the new Viking Hand V (Oregon has it's “O”, PSU has it's “V”) on Viking Vision and plan to add different elements to the in-your-face graphic presentation which was originally for an outdoor venue (the old PGE Park).
      
“This season, we're trying to do something different each game.  We're trying to find what fans like and what they don't so that we can be ready to go next season,” said Wallace.
         
In addition to following the game live and doing fan shots, Viking Vision has intro videos for the men's and women's basketball teams produced by Dow in conjunction with Quarter 4 Sports.  Quarter 4's documentary clips for the 2011 football team proved extremely popular.
    
“We'd obviously like to get to the point we can do replays (so far limited by equipment and hard drive space), but our overall goal is for our fans to see the game in a different way.  On that giant screen in our small space, for fans to see themselves on the screen is quite impressive.  It's just another way for fans to have fun,” said Wallace.
       
Feedback so far from fans, coaches and athletes has been good, even though its size left only one spot where it could be placed, making it a bit awkward for people on the season ticket holder side of the gym.  We're still trying to figure out how to make it most effective in terms of fan interaction,” Wallace said.
       
Experimenting also is giving Dow and Wallace a chance to see what PSU athletes like.
    
“We're doing brief pre-taped interviews with some of our players and may even be able to drop in athletes from other sports, like tennis and track,” Dow said.