Once a year, our son Mike invites me to a Packers game at Lambeau Field. Most years, another son, Chris, goes with us, but this year, Mike’s son Nolan went along. It was a great night, and even though the Pack got outplayed, they managed to win the game when rookie cornerback Demarious Randall knocked away a pass that would have sent the game into overtime.
There was a record crowd at Lambeau that night, and among the thousands of “crazies” who dress up in outlandish costumes and makeup was one guy who’s been there every time I’ve ever been at the stadium. Mike says he’s at every game, and he roams the south end zone stands dispensing his own brand of Packermania, leading chants of “Go, Pack, go!”
He calls himself “Mean Gene the Dancing Machine,” and he’s a beauty! His number 52 jersey doesn’t have “Mathews” on the back; it says “Mean Gene.” He wears a big foam cheesehead hat with a giant foam finger printed with “#1 Fan” fastened to it and a number of other embellishments, including a common denigration of “da Bears” and a gold fan towel hanging down his back. He has green and gold beads around his neck, a big Packer ring and big gold sunglasses. Even his shoes are green and gold. He’s a sight!
I took his picture when he stopped in front of me, and he high-fived me and slapped me on the back. He’s quite a character, and I was curious about him, so I Googled him. There are several articles, YouTubes and pictures of him on the Internet. But in many of them, he’s pictured wearing jersey number 4, Brett Favre’s number, and there’s a story there, too.
His name is Gene Greening (appropriate, huh?), and he’s been a regular at Lambeau since 1990. He’s 70 years old, from Menasha, and he has been quoted as saying: “I wear green and gold 365 days a year. Hey, if I’m at a funeral I’ll even have a Packers tie on.” He’s been a finalist for the Packers Fan Hall of Fame. He’s been on billboards, in commercials and, I read, in USA Today. The newspaper called Gene one of the greatest Packer fans. I also read that Gene lends his peculiar fame to charity events in his hometown and at the stadium. Not so “mean,” I guess.
Mean Gene probably took his name from a character “Gene Gene the Dancing Machine” on the old Chuck Barris “Gong Show,” which ran for a couple of seasons on NBC and then for a dozen more years in syndication. The Gong Show was a sort of comic version of American Idol; it showcased amateur entertainers who could be “gonged” if Chuck Barris didn’t like them. “Gene Gene” danced to “Jumpin’ at the Woodside” during commercial breaks.
In the beginning, audiences were led to believe that Gene Gene’s appearances on the show were spontaneous, but they were actually scripted, and he proved so popular that he soon became a recurring act, an occasional judge and eventually the regular closing act for the show with the credits rolling over his enthusiastic dancing.
So why does Mean Gene no longer wear Favre’s number? The 70-year-old season ticket holder says he has loved the team since he was teenager. He was also a Favre fan. “I liked the way he played instantly. I was excited about him,” Greening said. “His excitement, his emotion, it just caught on. He acted like a kid. In my heart I felt it. I just always loved everything that Brett Favre did.”
He said it was heartbreaking to witness how Favre’s legacy was tarnished and the rift it caused among fans. Mean Gene said he will never be OK with Favre’s criticism of the Packers and his defection to the hated Vikings. But he says he has set it aside and forgiven Favre. Greening says he thinks Favre’s motives for coming back and making peace with Packer Nation are sincere.
Gene said, “I’m doing what I should do. I should hold no grudges. It’s a human thing that happened and those were the things you have to put aside, but they’re kind of always there.” But he switched to Rodgers’s number 12, and then recently to Mathews’s number 52. Mean Gene says he’ll put on his Favre jersey and watch the quarterback’s Hall of Fame induction and the retirement of No. 4.
“I’m so happy that we’ve come to this point, this has to be. He deserves his number retired. … There should be no one booing him,” Greening said. “I’m choked up about it right now. My love for him will never go away. It’s beyond words. You either feel it in your heart or you don’t.”
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