Mean Lou Green : Special-Teams Player Is a Crowd Favorite at CSUN

It’s midway through the fourth quarter and Cal State Northridge has just scored to take a 34-0 lead over Portland State. So why is the North Campus Stadium crowd booing?

They’re not. They’re Lou-ing.

Loooouuuu. Loooouuuu. Loooouuuu, they chant.

The object of their call is pacing in a circle near the 30-yard line, preparing for what he does best: run full speed down field and throw his 6-3, 205-pound body at the person who catches the ball.

The fact that this person may have about a half-ton of blocking backs wedged in front of him makes no difference to No. 29, Lou Green, who doesn’t have a towel bearing a skull and crossbones tucked into his uniform for nothing.

He lines up behind the other Northridge players who are set for the kickoff. When Mike Doan’s toe reaches the ball, Green is near full speed. He slaloms downfield through blockers, and by the time the Portland deep man catches the ball, Green is within striking distance.

This time, however, the runner wins. He fakes with his head, and Green--who is running too fast to adjust--falls for it. Loooouuuu dives at the runner, but catches only air and grass. The crowd moans. The runner is soon tackled, but that is of little solace to Green, who jumps up angrily. He is not used to missing.

Green has become a Northridge crowd favorite simply by doing what he loves best. Hitting people.

He has a simple explanation for what he does on a kickoff: “I mainly just go down as fast as I can and look for someone to hit,” he said.

Green has taped his face mask in two places along the bar and drawn a skull and bones on each mark because, he said, “when I hit guys, they look up and the tape looks like two big white eyes staring at them.”

Two collisions--both on kickoffs--are particularly memorable.

Against St. Mary’s three weeks ago, Green decided he might not be able to get to the runner, so he threw a body block on the three players forming a wedge in front of the player.

“Even when he doesn’t make the tackle, he usually causes it, or at least helps,” said Northridge Coach Bob Burt. “Lou gets pretty intense.” Uh-huh. And Carl Lewis is “kind of fast” and John McEnroe complains “a little.”

Two weeks ago, Green was told that No. 10 of UC Davis, Tim Harrington, had been assigned to take care of him on kickoffs.

The warning induced Green to pick out No. 10 on his radar screen his first time down the field and hit Harrington so hard that he almost banked him into the ballcarrier.

When the play was over, Harrington pulled himself up and wearily headed off the field. The only problem was, he was headed to the Northridge side. Teammates helped him turn around and get to the Davis sideline. When he got there, he collapsed.

Even Green came off the field wobbly after the hit. “I got up after that one and said, ‘Woooo,’ “ he said.

No, what he probably heard was “Loooouuuu. “