Canucks: Catching up with Adam Forsythe of the Green Men
The Canuck Way catches up with Adam Forsythe of the Green Men to talk anything and everything related to the Vancouver Canucks past and present!
It’s been five long years since the Vancouver Canucks‘ fan-favorite Green Men hung up their famous suits, but to this day they still remain as one of the most talked-about mascots across all major sports. Luckily enough, The Canuck Way had the opportunity to lock down one half of the Green Men for an interview. Adam Forsythe joined me to chat everything Canucks related! Past, present, future. It’s all here.
1. How did you come up with the Green Men idea?
The initial idea came from the show “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia”. There is an episode in which Charlie Day’s character takes acid and gets into a green spandex suit and tailgates at a Philadelphia Eagles practice. Sully and I bonded over our love of the show, and over beers one night we discussed how funny it would be to get a pair of suits and wear them at a (Seattle) Seahawks game. We had tickets and were going to Seattle with a bunch of friends to sit in the nosebleeds. The idea was simple… draw attention to ourselves for the sole purpose of embarrassing our friends. Sully’s green suit got delayed in the mail and we had to scrap the plan. Sully wanted to make it up to me, so he suggested once his suit arrived we attend a Canucks game and sit in his dad’s company’s seats by the penalty box. It was supposed to be a one-time event, and suddenly we turned it into a cultural craze!
2. Would you ever return for a playoff special? Or are you officially retired?
It’s been five years since we attended a Canucks game, and I would be lying if I said we hadn’t thought about it. I wouldn’t say we are officially retired because we really like going to events and hanging out with fans. Since our last NHL game, we have gone to plenty of minor league games and charity events because it is always a blast to hang out with fans. Chatting with an excited fan, posing for a goofy photo, and then signing an autograph was also a major highlight of wearing the green suit.
I still would have to check to see if the green suit fits! The last time we suited up was last fall when we were asked to be in a Save On Foods commercial. It was really fun stepping back into the suit but involved us standing in the milk fridge, wearing nothing but a thin layer of green spandex, for several hours. It was freezing! Totally worth it though.
3. From throwing waffles to the Vince Vaughn poster, what’s your favorite moment?
There are too many moments to count. In the early days of Greenmen, I really love looking back at the 2010 Olympics. The Greenmen craze was in its early days, and suddenly it was thrust into the international spotlight. Several media outlets asked us to head downtown for interviews and to lead some fan rallies. Over a six-hour span, we chatted with CBC, Sportsnet, TSN, BBC, NBC, and just about every other major worldwide outlet. It was pure chaos. In between the interviews, we took hundreds, if not thousands of photos with fans. We wrapped things up by getting escorted to the front of the line to zip line over the thousands of people packed into Robson Square. We couldn’t see a thing, but could just feel the wind whipping past us and everyone chanting “Greenmen! Greenmen, Greenmen!”
The next day at the Olympics we were asked by Molson to come down to the Molson Hockey House, set up across the street from Rogers Arena. Every night they hosted a massive party, and that night they were honoring Wayne Gretzky and he was going to be in attendance. Molson was going to count down Gretzky’s top moments of his career, and we were asked to come up on stage and introduce Gretzky to the crowd. We had only started Greenmen two months prior, and suddenly we were on stage with the greatest hockey player of all time. I still can’t wrap my head around that!
My favorite in-game moment was during the 2011 Stanley Cup run. We had causal relationships with a handful of Canucks players, but we never had any interaction with Roberto Luongo. We had heard rumblings he was a big fan of ours and he even filmed a skit with TSN where he mentioned us by name, but we had never really chatted with him. In the West Final, Kevin Bieksa scored the OT winner to send the Canucks to the Stanley Cup. Confetti was raining down and all the Canucks were celebrating at center ice. Suddenly, Luongo broke free from his teammates, skated over to us, and started banging the glass and cheering. He gave us a thumbs up and then went back to his teammates. That one moment justified everything we had ever done in the green suit. Luongo had just accomplished a lifelong goal of reaching the finals, and he took the time out of his own celebration to come over and embrace us. It was surreal and a moment I will never forget.
4. GreenMen Radio is a blast to listen to. What’s the plan after COVID?
Thanks! We really appreciate it. We really hope Greenmen Radio gets a chance to continue on Sportsnet650 when life gets back to normal. We still have one episode left on our contract. So the show was originally intended to be an apology tour from us to former players we tormented in the penalty box. We wanted to reach out and chat with them about what it was like to be heckled by two idiots in green suits. We would love to continue down that path, but Sully and I quickly discovered we were having a lot more fun reaching out to some of our favorite random players over the years and chatting with them instead. We didn’t want the superstar players, we wanted the random cult heroes of the Canucks and the NHL. One of my favorite interviews was our chat with Shawn Antoski. He was the nicest guy ever, had great stories, and had zero egos when it came to discussing how his entire career was a grind. Those are the stories I want to hear.
Part 2
5. Were there any behind the scenes stories with guys who took penalties?
There were three different types of players in the penalty box. The majority never looked over, never acknowledged us, and never said a word, no matter what we said. Another type featured the player on a horrible team well out of the playoff race, who just wanted his season to end and would joke around with us. Mike Cammalleri, Drew Doughty, Mike Komisarek, and Paul Stastny were among the players who were willing to have a laugh with us. They realized the absurdity of having a dude only wearing green spandex dancing just two feet away. The final type of player was the chirp talker. They were heated after taking a penalty and furious they might have just cost their team a goal. Duncan Keith was ruthless to us during the 2010 playoffs. He called us every name in the book. I still take pride in that because he was focused on us, instead of focusing on helping his team win.
My favorite player interaction was with Milan Lucic during the 2011 final. He took a penalty and we had a prop prepared for him. We wanted to poke fun at how big his nose was, so we bought these two huge plastic witch noses from a dollar store. He immediately started laughing and even joked saying “you guys my nose is even bigger than that”. When he said that he made the gesture with his fingers indicating how big his nose was. When the game ended, we checked our social media and we were flooded with messages making fun of us because the incident was shown on TV and everyone thought when Lucic made the finger gesture he was talking about our “packages”!
6. Did the Canucks players like you as much as the fans did? Did you get to meet them?
The Canucks players kept their distance for the first little bit of our Greenmen tenure, but near the start of the 2010 playoffs, the Canucks staff asked us to film some pump-up videos with Fin, and once we were seen around the dressing room, I think they warmed up to us a little bit. A lot of the Canucks would hold autograph signings around Vancouver, and we had a company reach out to us about coming to the signings and entertaining the crowd while they waited in line. It gave us the opportunity to become acquaintances with Bieksa, Ryan Kesler, and Trevor Linden. They all took a liking to us, and anytime they had an event we would be there. Bieksa even discussed hiring us for his son’s birthday party, but that eventually fell thru. When we told the Canucks we were going to retire from attending their games, Bieksa immediately agreed to be part of our retirement video which we really appreciated.
The oddest encounter we had was during the 2011 Cup run. Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson declared a day “Canucks Day in Vancouver” and asked us to come down for the press conference. We went down to city hall and were brought in to the Mayor’s office where we were in a room alone with Robinson, Mike Gillis, and Francesco Aquilini. Gillis and Aquilini clearly weren’t told we were going to be there so there were some awkward handshakes and hellos!
7. Who is your favorite Canucks player of the past, present, and future? Why?
Growing up my favorite player was Pavel Bure. It’s a super generic and obvious answer, but he was truly one of the most impressive hockey players I’ve ever witnessed. He could FLY around the rink. My childhood bedroom was essentially a shrine to the Russian Rocket. My favorite current Canucks player is probably Quinn Hughes. Switching from being a fan to working in the media, you kind of get a peek behind the curtain on the hockey world and it gets easy to become jaded on the sport. Watching Hughes this season has sparked my love of the sport again. It has been very rare a player has made me stop what I am doing and simply focus on his every move. I can’t wait to see what he brings to the Canucks as he gets further into his career. Looking to the future, I am excited about a lot of Canucks, but I really like Mikey Dipietro. I could care less about his talents (which I think he plenty of), but he might honestly be the nicest and most well-spoken person I’ve ever met. He is extremely mature and very self-aware. He has all the traits you would hope to see in a hockey player.
8. What are your thoughts on the Canucks team this year? Think they got what it takes?
I personally don’t think the NHL resumes this season. There is just too much risk involved. If the playoffs somehow get held, I like the Canucks chances against the Wild, but I think their summer experience will be a short one because there is a minimal chance they are able to get through Vegas, St Louis, or Colorado.
9. The Green Men versus Gritty. Who’s more popular? Who wins in a fight?
Hmmm… tough question. Full credit to that Orange freak of nature. The dude has skills. I think he has surpassed us in popularity, but it is definitely thanks to social media. When we launched, Twitter was just starting and Facebook fan pages weren’t even a thing. He was able to amass a massive following because EVERYONE has a social media account now. So… while he is more popular than us, we would CRUSH him in a fight. He’s got the size, but we have the numbers. I would serve as the distraction and Sully would use his agility to end things quickly! Come at us Gritty! You don’t want this heat!
Final thoughts
Next. Canucks: How to move on from Judd Brackett. dark
Mr. Forsythe had plenty to say about the Green Men, the Canucks of the past, and the Canucks of today! You can keep an eye out for him on GreenMen Radio! Thanks again for being one of the world’s most beloved sports fans!