August 7, 2024 • 33 mins
Brian Sinkoff interviews his uncle Mark Favermann, who designed the look of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and has been a design consultant for the Boston Red Sox for the past 23 seasons. Mark shares his experience of being selected to design the look of the Atlanta Olympics and the challenges he faced during the process.
He also discusses the importance of the look in creating a unique identity for the Olympics and how it helps to connect all the venues and events. They break down the Paris 2024 Olympics and how the logo connects back to the City.
Mark also talks about the future of the Olympics and the changing ways in which people consume sports content.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And hello and welcome everybody to Sound Off with
Sync Off.
I am Brian Sync Off.
Of course, sound Off issponsored by the Sync Off Realty
Group, a full service realestate brokerage right here in
the capital region of New York.
Well, I am honored today tohave a special guest on Sound
Off with Sync Off.
(00:20):
We're smack dab in the middleof the Summer Olympic Games in
Paris, and who better to talkabout these Olympics than my
uncle you remember him as UncleFenway back in the day Mark
Faverman here with us on SoundOff.
Mark, welcome to the podcast,thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I'm honored to be here with you.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Of course many remember Uncle Fenway, uncle
Mark, back in the sound off days, back with us.
Mark runs Favorman Design andI'll let you tell everyone a
little bit about it.
Mark, located in Boston, youhave a very big sports
background.
Not only are you a sports fan,but your firm does a lot of work
(01:02):
in the sports field.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Well, we started off in the early 90s working on the
World University Games inBuffalo and in Southern Ontario,
and I did that work because Iwas really interested in working
on the Olympics that werecoming up in 1996 in Atlanta.
I'll get back to that in amoment.
We also have worked on NCAAFinal Fours, the 1999 Rotter Cup
(01:32):
bowl games in Florida, theCommonwealth Games in Manchester
, England, and for the past 23seasons we have been a design
consultant to the Boston Red Sox.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
That's how I became Uncle Fenway.
So, Mark, when you say workingon the games, tell everybody a
little bit about what you'rereferring to.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
I'm trained as an urban designer, so I look at
things visually from the topdown, things visually from the
top down, unlike a graphicdesigner who looks from small
things up.
So my purview or my perspectiveis somewhat unique and that's
(02:18):
why I was selected to design thelook, as they call it, of
various sports projects.
Now in 1993, projects Now in1993, my then wife was at lunch
with her mother and a formerneighbor of ours said that she
(02:38):
had just received a letter fromthe Atlanta Organizing Committee
to submit her work.
She was a graphic designer, butshe said that wasn't her thing
and it was more my thing.
And let me let me, you know,let her send.
At the time she faxed over theletter.
I don't, I don't, I haven'tused a fax in what 25 years
anyway?
Um.
(02:59):
So I got the letter, I read it,um, and it asked for submission
by Monday.
And it was a Friday when I gotthe letter.
I read it and it asked for asubmission by Monday, and it was
a Friday when I got it.
In those days we would FedExeverything to make sure it could
get there overnight.
So I wrote out my backgroundand I sent it to them and then
(03:20):
about two or three weeks later Igot another letter from them
and it said you made the top 25from the 481 firms that had
applied.
Wow, and so that was quitestartling.
That was quite, you know,startling.
(03:42):
And then a little bit later Igot another letter that said
you're in the top 15 because mybackground fit what they wanted.
So they invited me to come toAtlanta for an interview.
So I had never done a project ofthat scale.
I didn't really know what to do.
(04:02):
Scale.
I didn't really know what to do.
So I asked a friend of mine whohad worked in a large
architectural firm if he had anysuggestions of people I could
meet who had taken on bigprojects and they could advise
me.
So I went to about fivearchitects and I got nowhere.
They were jealous that I hadbeen invited to this.
(04:23):
And the sixth one I went to,however, had a really good idea.
For the previous 10 years or so,our firm had been designing
shopping mall interiors, and sowe did a lot of banners and, as
you can see, at the Olympicsthere are banners.
So he said to me do you haveany?
(04:45):
We had done, I don't know, 80,you know shopping centers and
shopping malls.
Rather, they were enclosed.
And he said do you have anysamples of these banners?
And I said, yeah, we save onefrom every project.
And he says, well, take 25 ofthem with you when you go to
Orlando and unroll them Nobody'sgoing to do that and show you
(05:09):
what you've done.
And then he also said yourslides are good, tighten them up
.
And then I left out something.
There was a fledgling cablesports company that worked on
the World University Games in1993.
And I called them up inConnecticut and I asked them
(05:30):
what it would cost to get thevideo, because they used my
designs as segues between sportsRight, they said something like
six or seven hundred dollars.
I couldn't afford that.
So I was complaining to yourmother, brian, about that.
And she says, oh, there's noproblem, I have it all on
(05:50):
Betamax.
So your mother sent me thevideo.
So when I went to Atlanta, Iwalked into this room and the
room looked like the Nurembergtrials.
Nobody smiled.
I didn't know.
They didn't introducethemselves.
I didn't know who the hell Iwas talking to, right?
So I start presenting.
So the first thing, I showed myslides of the all the shopping
(06:11):
mall work that we had done, andthen I, then I unfurled the
banners and I had a videoshowing our segues from from um,
the, the cable, uh, religioncable channel that was, by the
way, named ESPN.
Yeah, and I walked out and therewas this really nice lady who
(06:32):
had escorted me in and out ofthe room and she turns to me and
she says Mr Feverman, you'regoing to be called back.
Maybe she made the decision, Idon't know.
I mean, I hadn't.
They said nothing, they didn'tapplaud nothing.
So, yeah, a couple of weekslater, I hear nothing.
(06:55):
A month later, I hear nothing.
So my ex-wife was certainly anegative person, so she kept
hounding me You're not going toget it, you haven't heard.
And she went away to New Yorkfor a few days and picked her up
at the airport and she said,well, I guess you didn't hear
anything.
And I said, no, I did hearsomething.
(07:17):
They invited me back.
Wow.
So I get rather emotional whenI talk about it.
So we were one of five firmsfrom all over the United States
who were chosen to design theAtlanta Olympics and it was the
largest contract I had up untilthat time and and it was one of
(07:38):
the best and worst experiencesof my professional life.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
And why do you say that Well?
Speaker 2 (07:46):
let's let's look at some of the slide.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Let's look at some of the stuff here.
You got it on your screen here,right?
Yes, I see it.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
All right.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
So why was it?
This is so.
This is the stuff you did,right?
Were we looking at all of that?
Yeah, so those out therewatching again, it's SoundOff
with SyncOff.
We're with Mark Faberman here.
He is Faberman Design in Boston, designed the look of the
Olympics in 1996.
We're going to talk about theParis Games here in 2024.
(08:15):
But what I why I wanted tobring Mark on was because not
only just how the whole processand the in-depth process of the
Olympics it's obviously bigpreparation, from choosing the
city to transportation, tohotels, to accommodations but
also the look, because everyOlympics I think it's fair to
(08:36):
say, mark, when you think ofOlympics I think you and I
talked about this before thispodcast Unlike anything else
when I mention you know 1996,atlanta, I think of the Leaf, la
.
You know 1980, lake Placid, Ithink of like that bear right,
(08:57):
that's sort of whatever the heckthat I'm always thinking of the
look of the games.
When I hear the Olympics and Idon't think you can say that
about any other sporting eventAll the logos of every event
sort of looks the same, but theOlympics have their own
individual look, fair to say.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
But the Olympics have their own individual look Fair
to say yes, and they alsoinclude the name of the host
city and the date, so that ifthere's a sports event that they
photograph, it is very uniqueto that event and that time and
this is where I'm circling isreally what you know I remember
(09:34):
most about those games, thatAtlanta 1996.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
So what was hard?
Speaker 2 (09:40):
is.
We had to collaborate with fivefirms, so you can imagine all
the egos in the room.
And then the Atlanta peoplefelt like they should have it
alone and so they did everythingthey could to not necessarily
help me in my group, but it'sthat type of thing but it was
exhilarating.
(10:00):
It also gave me a greatconfidence to take on any sports
event afterwards, and I'm sureour long work with the Boston
Red Sox was is a function ofhaving worked on the Olympics in
96.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
So, mark, let's look at some other things from the
Atlantic Games.
Here, you know, you talkedabout sort of when there's the
sporting event and you talkedabout how people you know
remember the event.
And here you go in the screenhere with the cycling and you
can see right here you can sortof see the look in the
(10:39):
background.
You know, everywhere you goit's let's face it it's your
imprint.
Mark, how, how, how cool isthat, looking back now, at all
these years later, that peoplestill remember that look and
that you were a big part of it?
Speaker 2 (10:52):
people still remember that look, and that you were a
big part of it.
Well, brian, I've thought ofthis as kind of macabre, but
when I won this, I can sayOlympic designer on my tombstone
.
So that's how cool it is.
I mean, it's part of myprofessional life and me as a
(11:13):
person.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Now, here is Well, we'll go back, mark.
Before we end the Atlanta games, I want to talk a little bit
about sort of your inspiration,for where did you come up with
this look?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
I mean, it's an iconic look, if you go back to
an earlier slide, or the firstone.
Yeah, this one, that one.
Yeah, the right side, and youcan see the green pattern of it.
I actually hand drew that andthen it was interpreted into
color.
The idea is how this one righthere yeah, it's called the quilt
(11:50):
of leaves Wow, the one at thetop in the middle.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Okay, okay, this one.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Yeah, and the idea of it is that Atlanta is very lush
and very verdant.
There's a lot of trees andgrass.
In fact it was joked about thatDallas was Atlanta without any
trees at one point, but anyway.
So we had that in mind.
(12:18):
We also were on the edge ofAppalachia, and so quilts were a
major craft of Appalachianwomen, and so we sort of
connected the two to thesouthern Appalachians and to the
green and flowers of Atlanta inthe South.
So that's where it came from.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
How many versions of that did you have to do before
the Olympic Committee said, OK,we like it?
Speaker 2 (12:44):
They liked it right away, the first sketch.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Really yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
I mean, everybody was sat in a room and we said
sketch out something.
And mine won and everybody tookcredit for it.
But that's okay, I did that andI have the black and white
version on my wall behind me.
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Yeah, that's awesome.
All right, mark, how you love.
I mean, you're just a sportsfan, you love the Olympics and I
know you love watching thesegames, but how do you sort of
correlate a look with theOlympics just because you're in
it so deep?
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Well, I think some of them are quite bad and I write
about them in articles.
Paris is an exquisitelybeautiful city.
Period.
Whatever you do to it it's notgoing to hurt it, but in this
case they did a rather nice jobwith the colors and the design.
(13:51):
A few other things are not sogood, like the pictograms and
the actual logo.
These are all based onarchitecture or monuments in and
around Paris, and so they haveapplied these graphics to each
of the venues, all the sportsvenues.
(14:13):
But that's another reason theydo a look.
Is they thematically connectall venues to each other, right?
And on the metal, you go back tothe metal.
They did something reallyclever.
They took a piece of the EiffelTower and that's in the middle
(14:34):
of these medals and the EiffelTower piece is from repairs to
the Eiffel Tower Over the years.
They happened to keep the medalthat they took down.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Wow, isn't that cool.
That is really cool.
That is cool.
So here are some shots as youmore, of the city.
This is Marseille.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
And so it's a seaside town and this is a, I guess, to
get out of the heat, and it'spretty cool.
That's a mirrored surfacebecause the design is on the
ground and that's reflected up.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Oh wow, that is so cool.
Yeah, there's a just a lookkind of on the sand river.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Yeah, and, and they.
They put it as much as possible.
As you know, at the openingceremonies all the athletes came
down on boats and barges, soyou could see that behind the
athletes.
Pretty cool.
That was cool and here's just astreet here.
(15:42):
You know better than me.
Well, this is, I think, wherethe cycling and the marathon
were.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
You like this?
Look though this.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Paris, look, I think it's pretty good.
I mean, I think it's nice.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
There's the diving, yep, diving, diving.
You could see there right theuh, you can see the name very
strong.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
So, if you see, have a picture of it, that's in there
mark now what I don'tunderstand.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
you talked about how um you you always notice, you
know the, the city and the year,but there's nothing on this
backdrop that screams that'sdiving right.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Oh, you know, behind the diver there would be on the
outside, the exterior of thevenue, there would be a
pictogram.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Well, they're large.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
I see, and then this is track, track, track.
I got it behind you here withthe look sort of this would have
been like your, you know, your,your leaf sort of branding,
yeah okay, and then there's yourgymnastics right behind you,
sort of that same.
Look, yeah, paris 24.
(16:53):
They really really put it outthere everywhere to see, don't
they?
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Yeah, you know, I think they did a rather nice job
with the venues and they didn'thave to build much because
Paris has so many beautifulstructures already.
So LA is not going to buildmuch either, by the way, that's
in 2028, and they didn't buildmuch in 1984 either.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
That was the sort of a big impact of visual
application for the first timemark how, and I know you, uh,
you know we, we talk about thelook and we talk about, uh sort
of the venues and the brandingof the cities.
How tough is it.
One thing that fascinates me ishow these cities bid.
They bid on the Olympics.
(17:42):
It's such a process.
We know it's a little bitcorrupt and crooked.
In the years past it'scertainly been.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
It's not a moneymaker either.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
No, it's not.
They lose money, especially thecities that have to create
things from scratch, correct?
Yeah, how tough is it to get abid?
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Sochi spent like $50 billion or something ridiculous
$70 billion.
It's gotten to the point, brian, that only one or two cities
are even bidding on it per gamesnow.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Really.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Yeah, I mean, it's that expensive and that
commitment.
Boston had won it somehow Idon't know how, but somehow and
their ideas were so the peoplein charge were so off the rails
that they lost it.
The state wouldn't fund it andthe city wouldn't fund it, and
(18:41):
they weren't secure enough toknow that the corporations would
come in and help them, but theywanted to focus it only on the
city of Boston, so they wouldn'treach out to say Providence or
even Albany or other places,because the smart Olympics
spread it out.
It's all over France, it's notjust in Paris, right, and in
(19:02):
Tahiti even they're doingsurfing.
Right.
La has already said that somestuff is going to happen in
Oklahoma City.
They're not going to have itall in LA, right so.
But Boston knew everything Itried to volunteer.
They didn't let me.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
So when was when were they?
Bidding which they were goingto win this one.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Oh wow, yeah, the summer of twenty four.
Yeah, one 2024.
Oh wow yeah, the summer of 24.
They, yeah, the cities lose somuch money and a lot of it is
just because of theinfrastructure.
They have.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Atlanta didn't lose any money, and and some of them
don't, la won't lose any money,and and paris, I don't think
spent a huge amount either, butparis is the number one tourist
attraction in the world.
I don't know if you knew thatmore people go there than any
place else.
So because it's so beautiful,um, but anyway it it's.
It's interesting andcomplicated.
(19:56):
The world cup is the otherthing.
That is um somewhat like thisin terms of bidding by by cities
and countries, so that'sanother aspect of it how do you
think um, the future of theolympics are going to go mark,
do you?
Speaker 1 (20:12):
do you think it's going to be?
You know what it's always been,do you?
I mean it's?
It still gets crazy good tvratings.
I mean, everybody's talkingabout it, everybody seems to be
watching it.
They're not going away anytimesoon are they?
Speaker 2 (20:28):
No I don't think so.
Part of the issue or theproblem is that the next
generation doesn't necessarilywatch things on television
anymore.
Right, they have gotten muchmore clever about how they're
going to, um, how they've hadbeen presenting things, how how
(20:52):
they have been showing what'sgoing on there on different
forms.
You know so.
So you can go to Facebook orTik TOK or um YouTube and you
can see, you know almostimmediately, things that have
happened at the various Olympicvenues.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Mark, it is very interesting, I find it.
And you brought me to my nextpoint, and that is in the
Olympics.
You know, even going back tothe 90s and the 2000s, these,
you know, like Paris are, arefive, six hours ahead of us.
Right, right, it's five, is itfive hours?
Speaker 2 (21:29):
six, six and six, so you know the swimming and the
gymnastics happens in theafternoon.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
They show it on prime time at night.
I've been finding that you wekind of already know who won.
It's almost impossible toignore it.
I think for me, maybe theolympics have lost a little bit
of luster, because I feel likeat prime time I already know
what's happened and I thinkthat's hard to hide from.
(21:55):
So I don't know how an Olympicsport like this, unless it's
held in the United States, whichit will be in a few years, how
it remains fresh, because itjust doesn't feel fresh to me.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Right, well, it's even worse when it was in Tokyo,
right.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
I mean 18 hours ahead , right 20,.
What was it 18 hours ahead?
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Something like that.
I mean it was crazy so.
So in Sochi it was seven oreight hours ahead in Russia when
they did the Winter OlympicsRight, right, yeah, I mean no,
it's a problem.
But on the other hand, the moreobscure sports that people
don't ever see, like Greco-Romanwrestling, for instance, or
(22:43):
speed climbing, or ping pong,ping pong, right, right, or
badminton, or ping pong, pingpong, right Right, or badminton,
or fencing, I mean it's kind ofcool to see that stuff.
So you know there is going tobe something they can market
Track and field and swimming,are you know?
And basketball and volleyball.
And gymnastics and gymnastics.
(23:04):
Those are sort of the meat andpotatoes.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Well, personally, thelympics are my favorite.
I did a podcast about a weekago and I said it seems as if
the winter olympics were.
Those sports were created on adare you know, I mean your
mother?
Speaker 2 (23:21):
dare you to say something really funny years ago
.
She said the winter olympicsare sports that most people
would never dare to do.
Right, I mean, they would befrightened to even think about
it.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
It's a dare.
Yeah, I mean a bobsled going ona luge mogul skiing Like I dare
you to do this.
All right, let's create anOlympic sport.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
A slalom going as fast as you can on a mountain,
right through the mountain.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Right Through through , you know, through the gates.
I just think the summer gamessounds corny.
Maybe they're a little pure andI I think one of the reasons
why most people of any athleticlevel can relate to the summer
games because, let's face it,we've all been in a pool.
We've all, you know, most of usknow how to swim.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
We've at least swam, We've run right.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
I mean I may not have thrown a javelin, but it's
probably a lot easier toidentify with that than mogul
skiing.
I mean, I wrestled, youwrestled.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
I've never fenced, but most of the other sports,
they're kind of simple and pure,right.
I mean, in terms of the summergames, yeah, they're clean to a
certain extent, yeah, yeah, yeah, the track and field.
To me in swimming, what you seeis what you get.
I mean, there's nothing otherthan what they do, and I like
(24:38):
those a lot to watch.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
All right, mark, before we let you go, you
mentioned you did a lot of workwith the Red Sox.
We want to show everybody yourwork because, whether you're a
baseball fan, we got a lot ofred socks fans here in the
capital region, really all overa lot of yankee fans, and let's
let's just face it, uh, fenway'san iconic ballpark, but let's
talk a little bit about, uh,what it is you do with the Red
(25:04):
Sox, so go ahead.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
I got a phone call from a guy named Sam who, in the
end of 2021, and he said you'renearby, are you capable of
doing this and this and this?
And I said, yeah, we can doanything.
We did the Olympics in 1996.
What year was this?
This is 2001.
(25:27):
Oh, okay.
He was part of the new groupthat just bought Fenway and the
Red Sox.
Today he's Sam Kennedy and he'sthe CEO of the Red Sox.
At the time he was a youngerguy, anyway.
So we over time started showingthem how they could use the
(25:54):
pads behind the batter that'salways on television and the
pads between the two dugouts,the two dugouts.
And part of what we did was usesome of the things we learned
at the Olympics that when wewere asked to sort of do
(26:20):
corporate sponsorship things ina group, we would make sure that
they all were the same colorand the color we would use is
white on a darker background.
So we started to introduce themto the idea that we'll take
Dick's Sporting Goods or we'lltake National Car Rental and
we'll not use their logo colors,but we'll put them white on
Fenway Green.
(26:40):
Fenway Green is what FenwayPark is painted in.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
This is what we're talking about right here.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
We used a mock-up to show our clients at Red Sox what
it could look like on one ofthe temporary pads.
Then eventually it was adoptedand we did it in the dugouts and
we did it in special areaswhere there's special seating,
and this is what we've done for23 seasons, and I have a crew
(27:12):
that works part-time for meduring the summer and they take
care of all the changes and allthe upgrades.
About halfway through thesummer we have to repaint a lot
of stuff because it's abused byballs or kicks or whatever so,
and so the major project that Iwas called about initially was
(27:35):
to celebrate in some way ormemorialize the um 9-11 tragedy,
and so what we came up with wasand you can show a picture of
it the United States flag on theGreen Monster.
But it couldn't be a normalflag and it couldn't be in the
normal shape of a flag.
(27:55):
We had to use the dimensionsthat it had.
So it's 200 feet long and 37feet tall, and it's unfurled at
opening day, all the holidays,Memorial Day, Labor Day,
whatever July 4th if they're intown, and then during World
(28:19):
Series or playoffs it's alsounfurled.
So that's in baseball historybooks and it's in the history of
the game.
We also have stuff like that wehad done.
(28:41):
Oh, that's a nice picture of it.
We also did the tribute to, to,uh, ted williams and we used
the green monster and peoplewould walk by it and I don't
know, pray for ted's body andcryovac, or whatever it is in he
froze his body right um, let'sshow a little bit more here,
(29:05):
mark, because I I just find ituh truly fascinating some of the
stuff you've done, um, just atfenway and um, and things of
that nature.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
So let's pull this up here for a sec.
Um and mark, we get back tothis now.
How often are you like you said?
You guys are over there.
Are you over there?
Are you over there like once ahomestand?
Are you over there?
(29:37):
You know every other homestandLike, what is the?
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Several times during a homestand.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
And sponsorships change nightly.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
They could.
Sometimes they're up two days,one day there we go.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
There's in uh dugout right.
So this is all yours, themerrill at the top.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Oh yeah, and we change that to Bank of America
twice a summer and Merrill is asubsidiary of theirs.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
And what about the MLB?
Do you do that too?
Speaker 2 (30:15):
and the Ford yes, and then there's Xfinity on the
padding, yeah, and the Xfinityon the railings, and you know a
lot of the details that we do.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
So, Mark, how are you doing this?
You have a stencil that someonephysically paints this.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Yeah, it's physically painted.
Wow, I have a lot of people whocan do it, yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
That's got to be kind of labor-intensive, huh.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Yeah, I mean it ain't cheap to do it.
I mean it's not a greatfundraiser for me, but I got to
get it done for them.
And oh, by the way, like theOlympics, it's not like you can
do it tomorrow.
If you miss today, it ain'thappening.
You got to get it done so.
So if there's a mistake, wehave to go out there an hour or
(31:04):
half an hour before a game andcorrect it.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Here's Franklin, a mock-up for franklin right the
batting gloves and mark thisredsoxcom.
Is you as well?
Correct yes and the 99?
These things are just rotatingbillboards so that's not
necessarily you guys.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
we have permanent ones that we do at the beginning
of the year that are bigger,and then the smaller ones are
the changing ones.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
So, mark, that's gotta be fun for you, though, no
, I mean how cool is that?
Speaker 2 (31:32):
I work on it almost daily.
I can't tell you how much timeI put into it, but it's a daily
activity and I um send to thebosses, um, uh, pictures of
everything as they're done.
Yesterday I sent images of.
(31:53):
I hope I haven't lost you, areyou there?
Speaker 1 (31:59):
No, I'm here.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Okay, I sent pictures of stuff that we had repainted
to them and to the advertisingagency for Bank of America so
they could all see it together.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
And I'm sure they loved it.
What's not to love?
Speaker 2 (32:23):
I'm thanked all the time about it.
What's not to love?
I'm thanked, you know, all thetime about it.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Well, awesome, mark.
This is a first on my podcasthaving a member of my family,
but well-deserved.
Everybody knows Uncle Fenwayfrom back in the Sound Office
Sync Off radio days.
And now he joins us back in theSound Office here in the Sound
Office Sync Off podcast moment.
So, mark, thanks for joining us.
We appreciate it.
Always a pleasure.
(32:48):
Love talking Olympics and theRed Sox with you.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
Always enjoy speaking about sports with Mr Sinkoff.
All right, thank you.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
That's going to do it for this edition of SoundOff
with Sinkoff.
Make sure you check me out onYouTube, Spotify, all your
places you can get podcasts.
Give me a like, give me asubscribe and until next time,
everybody, have a great day.
And hello and welcome everybody to Sound Off with
Sync Off.
I am Brian Sync Off.
Of course, sound Off issponsored by the Sync Off Realty
Group, a full service realestate brokerage right here in
the capital region of New York.
Well, I am honored today tohave a special guest on Sound
Off with Sync Off.
(00:20):
We're smack dab in the middleof the Summer Olympic Games in
Paris, and who better to talkabout these Olympics than my
uncle you remember him as UncleFenway back in the day Mark
Faverman here with us on SoundOff.
Mark, welcome to the podcast,thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I'm honored to be here with you.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Of course many remember Uncle Fenway, uncle
Mark, back in the sound off days, back with us.
Mark runs Favorman Design andI'll let you tell everyone a
little bit about it.
Mark, located in Boston, youhave a very big sports
background.
Not only are you a sports fan,but your firm does a lot of work
(01:02):
in the sports field.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Well, we started off in the early 90s working on the
World University Games inBuffalo and in Southern Ontario,
and I did that work because Iwas really interested in working
on the Olympics that werecoming up in 1996 in Atlanta.
I'll get back to that in amoment.
We also have worked on NCAAFinal Fours, the 1999 Rotter Cup
(01:32):
bowl games in Florida, theCommonwealth Games in Manchester
, England, and for the past 23seasons we have been a design
consultant to the Boston Red Sox.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
That's how I became Uncle Fenway.
So, Mark, when you say workingon the games, tell everybody a
little bit about what you'rereferring to.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
I'm trained as an urban designer, so I look at
things visually from the topdown, things visually from the
top down, unlike a graphicdesigner who looks from small
things up.
So my purview or my perspectiveis somewhat unique and that's
(02:18):
why I was selected to design thelook, as they call it, of
various sports projects.
Now in 1993, projects Now in1993, my then wife was at lunch
with her mother and a formerneighbor of ours said that she
(02:38):
had just received a letter fromthe Atlanta Organizing Committee
to submit her work.
She was a graphic designer, butshe said that wasn't her thing
and it was more my thing.
And let me let me, you know,let her send.
At the time she faxed over theletter.
I don't, I don't, I haven'tused a fax in what 25 years
anyway?
Um.
(02:59):
So I got the letter, I read it,um, and it asked for submission
by Monday.
And it was a Friday when I gotthe letter.
I read it and it asked for asubmission by Monday, and it was
a Friday when I got it.
In those days we would FedExeverything to make sure it could
get there overnight.
So I wrote out my backgroundand I sent it to them and then
(03:20):
about two or three weeks later Igot another letter from them
and it said you made the top 25from the 481 firms that had
applied.
Wow, and so that was quitestartling.
That was quite, you know,startling.
(03:42):
And then a little bit later Igot another letter that said
you're in the top 15 because mybackground fit what they wanted.
So they invited me to come toAtlanta for an interview.
So I had never done a project ofthat scale.
I didn't really know what to do.
(04:02):
Scale.
I didn't really know what to do.
So I asked a friend of mine whohad worked in a large
architectural firm if he had anysuggestions of people I could
meet who had taken on bigprojects and they could advise
me.
So I went to about fivearchitects and I got nowhere.
They were jealous that I hadbeen invited to this.
(04:23):
And the sixth one I went to,however, had a really good idea.
For the previous 10 years or so,our firm had been designing
shopping mall interiors, and sowe did a lot of banners and, as
you can see, at the Olympicsthere are banners.
So he said to me do you haveany?
(04:45):
We had done, I don't know, 80,you know shopping centers and
shopping malls.
Rather, they were enclosed.
And he said do you have anysamples of these banners?
And I said, yeah, we save onefrom every project.
And he says, well, take 25 ofthem with you when you go to
Orlando and unroll them Nobody'sgoing to do that and show you
(05:09):
what you've done.
And then he also said yourslides are good, tighten them up
.
And then I left out something.
There was a fledgling cablesports company that worked on
the World University Games in1993.
And I called them up inConnecticut and I asked them
(05:30):
what it would cost to get thevideo, because they used my
designs as segues between sportsRight, they said something like
six or seven hundred dollars.
I couldn't afford that.
So I was complaining to yourmother, brian, about that.
And she says, oh, there's noproblem, I have it all on
(05:50):
Betamax.
So your mother sent me thevideo.
So when I went to Atlanta, Iwalked into this room and the
room looked like the Nurembergtrials.
Nobody smiled.
I didn't know.
They didn't introducethemselves.
I didn't know who the hell Iwas talking to, right?
So I start presenting.
So the first thing, I showed myslides of the all the shopping
(06:11):
mall work that we had done, andthen I, then I unfurled the
banners and I had a videoshowing our segues from from um,
the, the cable, uh, religioncable channel that was, by the
way, named ESPN.
Yeah, and I walked out and therewas this really nice lady who
(06:32):
had escorted me in and out ofthe room and she turns to me and
she says Mr Feverman, you'regoing to be called back.
Maybe she made the decision, Idon't know.
I mean, I hadn't.
They said nothing, they didn'tapplaud nothing.
So, yeah, a couple of weekslater, I hear nothing.
(06:55):
A month later, I hear nothing.
So my ex-wife was certainly anegative person, so she kept
hounding me You're not going toget it, you haven't heard.
And she went away to New Yorkfor a few days and picked her up
at the airport and she said,well, I guess you didn't hear
anything.
And I said, no, I did hearsomething.
(07:17):
They invited me back.
Wow.
So I get rather emotional whenI talk about it.
So we were one of five firmsfrom all over the United States
who were chosen to design theAtlanta Olympics and it was the
largest contract I had up untilthat time and and it was one of
(07:38):
the best and worst experiencesof my professional life.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
And why do you say that Well?
Speaker 2 (07:46):
let's let's look at some of the slide.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Let's look at some of the stuff here.
You got it on your screen here,right?
Yes, I see it.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
All right.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
So why was it?
This is so.
This is the stuff you did,right?
Were we looking at all of that?
Yeah, so those out therewatching again, it's SoundOff
with SyncOff.
We're with Mark Faberman here.
He is Faberman Design in Boston, designed the look of the
Olympics in 1996.
We're going to talk about theParis Games here in 2024.
(08:15):
But what I why I wanted tobring Mark on was because not
only just how the whole processand the in-depth process of the
Olympics it's obviously bigpreparation, from choosing the
city to transportation, tohotels, to accommodations but
also the look, because everyOlympics I think it's fair to
(08:36):
say, mark, when you think ofOlympics I think you and I
talked about this before thispodcast Unlike anything else
when I mention you know 1996,atlanta, I think of the Leaf, la
.
You know 1980, lake Placid, Ithink of like that bear right,
(08:57):
that's sort of whatever the heckthat I'm always thinking of the
look of the games.
When I hear the Olympics and Idon't think you can say that
about any other sporting eventAll the logos of every event
sort of looks the same, but theOlympics have their own
individual look, fair to say.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
But the Olympics have their own individual look Fair
to say yes, and they alsoinclude the name of the host
city and the date, so that ifthere's a sports event that they
photograph, it is very uniqueto that event and that time and
this is where I'm circling isreally what you know I remember
(09:34):
most about those games, thatAtlanta 1996.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
So what was hard?
Speaker 2 (09:40):
is.
We had to collaborate with fivefirms, so you can imagine all
the egos in the room.
And then the Atlanta peoplefelt like they should have it
alone and so they did everythingthey could to not necessarily
help me in my group, but it'sthat type of thing but it was
exhilarating.
(10:00):
It also gave me a greatconfidence to take on any sports
event afterwards, and I'm sureour long work with the Boston
Red Sox was is a function ofhaving worked on the Olympics in
96.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
So, mark, let's look at some other things from the
Atlantic Games.
Here, you know, you talkedabout sort of when there's the
sporting event and you talkedabout how people you know
remember the event.
And here you go in the screenhere with the cycling and you
can see right here you can sortof see the look in the
(10:39):
background.
You know, everywhere you goit's let's face it it's your
imprint.
Mark, how, how, how cool isthat, looking back now, at all
these years later, that peoplestill remember that look and
that you were a big part of it?
Speaker 2 (10:52):
people still remember that look, and that you were a
big part of it.
Well, brian, I've thought ofthis as kind of macabre, but
when I won this, I can sayOlympic designer on my tombstone
.
So that's how cool it is.
I mean, it's part of myprofessional life and me as a
(11:13):
person.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Now, here is Well, we'll go back, mark.
Before we end the Atlanta games, I want to talk a little bit
about sort of your inspiration,for where did you come up with
this look?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
I mean, it's an iconic look, if you go back to
an earlier slide, or the firstone.
Yeah, this one, that one.
Yeah, the right side, and youcan see the green pattern of it.
I actually hand drew that andthen it was interpreted into
color.
The idea is how this one righthere yeah, it's called the quilt
(11:50):
of leaves Wow, the one at thetop in the middle.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Okay, okay, this one.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Yeah, and the idea of it is that Atlanta is very lush
and very verdant.
There's a lot of trees andgrass.
In fact it was joked about thatDallas was Atlanta without any
trees at one point, but anyway.
So we had that in mind.
(12:18):
We also were on the edge ofAppalachia, and so quilts were a
major craft of Appalachianwomen, and so we sort of
connected the two to thesouthern Appalachians and to the
green and flowers of Atlanta inthe South.
So that's where it came from.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
How many versions of that did you have to do before
the Olympic Committee said, OK,we like it?
Speaker 2 (12:44):
They liked it right away, the first sketch.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Really yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
I mean, everybody was sat in a room and we said
sketch out something.
And mine won and everybody tookcredit for it.
But that's okay, I did that andI have the black and white
version on my wall behind me.
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Yeah, that's awesome.
All right, mark, how you love.
I mean, you're just a sportsfan, you love the Olympics and I
know you love watching thesegames, but how do you sort of
correlate a look with theOlympics just because you're in
it so deep?
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Well, I think some of them are quite bad and I write
about them in articles.
Paris is an exquisitelybeautiful city.
Period.
Whatever you do to it it's notgoing to hurt it, but in this
case they did a rather nice jobwith the colors and the design.
(13:51):
A few other things are not sogood, like the pictograms and
the actual logo.
These are all based onarchitecture or monuments in and
around Paris, and so they haveapplied these graphics to each
of the venues, all the sportsvenues.
(14:13):
But that's another reason theydo a look.
Is they thematically connectall venues to each other, right?
And on the metal, you go back tothe metal.
They did something reallyclever.
They took a piece of the EiffelTower and that's in the middle
(14:34):
of these medals and the EiffelTower piece is from repairs to
the Eiffel Tower Over the years.
They happened to keep the medalthat they took down.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Wow, isn't that cool.
That is really cool.
That is cool.
So here are some shots as youmore, of the city.
This is Marseille.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
And so it's a seaside town and this is a, I guess, to
get out of the heat, and it'spretty cool.
That's a mirrored surfacebecause the design is on the
ground and that's reflected up.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Oh wow, that is so cool.
Yeah, there's a just a lookkind of on the sand river.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Yeah, and, and they.
They put it as much as possible.
As you know, at the openingceremonies all the athletes came
down on boats and barges, soyou could see that behind the
athletes.
Pretty cool.
That was cool and here's just astreet here.
(15:42):
You know better than me.
Well, this is, I think, wherethe cycling and the marathon
were.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
You like this?
Look though this.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Paris, look, I think it's pretty good.
I mean, I think it's nice.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
There's the diving, yep, diving, diving.
You could see there right theuh, you can see the name very
strong.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
So, if you see, have a picture of it, that's in there
mark now what I don'tunderstand.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
you talked about how um you you always notice, you
know the, the city and the year,but there's nothing on this
backdrop that screams that'sdiving right.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Oh, you know, behind the diver there would be on the
outside, the exterior of thevenue, there would be a
pictogram.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Well, they're large.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
I see, and then this is track, track, track.
I got it behind you here withthe look sort of this would have
been like your, you know, your,your leaf sort of branding,
yeah okay, and then there's yourgymnastics right behind you,
sort of that same.
Look, yeah, paris 24.
(16:53):
They really really put it outthere everywhere to see, don't
they?
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Yeah, you know, I think they did a rather nice job
with the venues and they didn'thave to build much because
Paris has so many beautifulstructures already.
So LA is not going to buildmuch either, by the way, that's
in 2028, and they didn't buildmuch in 1984 either.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
That was the sort of a big impact of visual
application for the first timemark how, and I know you, uh,
you know we, we talk about thelook and we talk about, uh sort
of the venues and the brandingof the cities.
How tough is it.
One thing that fascinates me ishow these cities bid.
They bid on the Olympics.
(17:42):
It's such a process.
We know it's a little bitcorrupt and crooked.
In the years past it'scertainly been.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
It's not a moneymaker either.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
No, it's not.
They lose money, especially thecities that have to create
things from scratch, correct?
Yeah, how tough is it to get abid?
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Sochi spent like $50 billion or something ridiculous
$70 billion.
It's gotten to the point, brian, that only one or two cities
are even bidding on it per gamesnow.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Really.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Yeah, I mean, it's that expensive and that
commitment.
Boston had won it somehow Idon't know how, but somehow and
their ideas were so the peoplein charge were so off the rails
that they lost it.
The state wouldn't fund it andthe city wouldn't fund it, and
(18:41):
they weren't secure enough toknow that the corporations would
come in and help them, but theywanted to focus it only on the
city of Boston, so they wouldn'treach out to say Providence or
even Albany or other places,because the smart Olympics
spread it out.
It's all over France, it's notjust in Paris, right, and in
(19:02):
Tahiti even they're doingsurfing.
Right.
La has already said that somestuff is going to happen in
Oklahoma City.
They're not going to have itall in LA, right so.
But Boston knew everything Itried to volunteer.
They didn't let me.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
So when was when were they?
Bidding which they were goingto win this one.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Oh wow, yeah, the summer of twenty four.
Yeah, one 2024.
Oh wow yeah, the summer of 24.
They, yeah, the cities lose somuch money and a lot of it is
just because of theinfrastructure.
They have.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Atlanta didn't lose any money, and and some of them
don't, la won't lose any money,and and paris, I don't think
spent a huge amount either, butparis is the number one tourist
attraction in the world.
I don't know if you knew thatmore people go there than any
place else.
So because it's so beautiful,um, but anyway it it's.
It's interesting andcomplicated.
(19:56):
The world cup is the otherthing.
That is um somewhat like thisin terms of bidding by by cities
and countries, so that'sanother aspect of it how do you
think um, the future of theolympics are going to go mark,
do you?
Speaker 1 (20:12):
do you think it's going to be?
You know what it's always been,do you?
I mean it's?
It still gets crazy good tvratings.
I mean, everybody's talkingabout it, everybody seems to be
watching it.
They're not going away anytimesoon are they?
Speaker 2 (20:28):
No I don't think so.
Part of the issue or theproblem is that the next
generation doesn't necessarilywatch things on television
anymore.
Right, they have gotten muchmore clever about how they're
going to, um, how they've hadbeen presenting things, how how
(20:52):
they have been showing what'sgoing on there on different
forms.
You know so.
So you can go to Facebook orTik TOK or um YouTube and you
can see, you know almostimmediately, things that have
happened at the various Olympicvenues.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Mark, it is very interesting, I find it.
And you brought me to my nextpoint, and that is in the
Olympics.
You know, even going back tothe 90s and the 2000s, these,
you know, like Paris are, arefive, six hours ahead of us.
Right, right, it's five, is itfive hours?
Speaker 2 (21:29):
six, six and six, so you know the swimming and the
gymnastics happens in theafternoon.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
They show it on prime time at night.
I've been finding that you wekind of already know who won.
It's almost impossible toignore it.
I think for me, maybe theolympics have lost a little bit
of luster, because I feel likeat prime time I already know
what's happened and I thinkthat's hard to hide from.
(21:55):
So I don't know how an Olympicsport like this, unless it's
held in the United States, whichit will be in a few years, how
it remains fresh, because itjust doesn't feel fresh to me.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Right, well, it's even worse when it was in Tokyo,
right.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
I mean 18 hours ahead , right 20,.
What was it 18 hours ahead?
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Something like that.
I mean it was crazy so.
So in Sochi it was seven oreight hours ahead in Russia when
they did the Winter OlympicsRight, right, yeah, I mean no,
it's a problem.
But on the other hand, the moreobscure sports that people
don't ever see, like Greco-Romanwrestling, for instance, or
(22:43):
speed climbing, or ping pong,ping pong, right, right, or
badminton, or ping pong, pingpong, right Right, or badminton,
or fencing, I mean it's kind ofcool to see that stuff.
So you know there is going tobe something they can market
Track and field and swimming,are you know?
And basketball and volleyball.
And gymnastics and gymnastics.
(23:04):
Those are sort of the meat andpotatoes.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Well, personally, thelympics are my favorite.
I did a podcast about a weekago and I said it seems as if
the winter olympics were.
Those sports were created on adare you know, I mean your
mother?
Speaker 2 (23:21):
dare you to say something really funny years ago
.
She said the winter olympicsare sports that most people
would never dare to do.
Right, I mean, they would befrightened to even think about
it.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
It's a dare.
Yeah, I mean a bobsled going ona luge mogul skiing Like I dare
you to do this.
All right, let's create anOlympic sport.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
A slalom going as fast as you can on a mountain,
right through the mountain.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Right Through through , you know, through the gates.
I just think the summer gamessounds corny.
Maybe they're a little pure andI I think one of the reasons
why most people of any athleticlevel can relate to the summer
games because, let's face it,we've all been in a pool.
We've all, you know, most of usknow how to swim.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
We've at least swam, We've run right.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
I mean I may not have thrown a javelin, but it's
probably a lot easier toidentify with that than mogul
skiing.
I mean, I wrestled, youwrestled.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
I've never fenced, but most of the other sports,
they're kind of simple and pure,right.
I mean, in terms of the summergames, yeah, they're clean to a
certain extent, yeah, yeah, yeah, the track and field.
To me in swimming, what you seeis what you get.
I mean, there's nothing otherthan what they do, and I like
(24:38):
those a lot to watch.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
All right, mark, before we let you go, you
mentioned you did a lot of workwith the Red Sox.
We want to show everybody yourwork because, whether you're a
baseball fan, we got a lot ofred socks fans here in the
capital region, really all overa lot of yankee fans, and let's
let's just face it, uh, fenway'san iconic ballpark, but let's
talk a little bit about, uh,what it is you do with the Red
(25:04):
Sox, so go ahead.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
I got a phone call from a guy named Sam who, in the
end of 2021, and he said you'renearby, are you capable of
doing this and this and this?
And I said, yeah, we can doanything.
We did the Olympics in 1996.
What year was this?
This is 2001.
(25:27):
Oh, okay.
He was part of the new groupthat just bought Fenway and the
Red Sox.
Today he's Sam Kennedy and he'sthe CEO of the Red Sox.
At the time he was a youngerguy, anyway.
So we over time started showingthem how they could use the
(25:54):
pads behind the batter that'salways on television and the
pads between the two dugouts,the two dugouts.
And part of what we did was usesome of the things we learned
at the Olympics that when wewere asked to sort of do
(26:20):
corporate sponsorship things ina group, we would make sure that
they all were the same colorand the color we would use is
white on a darker background.
So we started to introduce themto the idea that we'll take
Dick's Sporting Goods or we'lltake National Car Rental and
we'll not use their logo colors,but we'll put them white on
Fenway Green.
(26:40):
Fenway Green is what FenwayPark is painted in.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
This is what we're talking about right here.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
We used a mock-up to show our clients at Red Sox what
it could look like on one ofthe temporary pads.
Then eventually it was adoptedand we did it in the dugouts and
we did it in special areaswhere there's special seating,
and this is what we've done for23 seasons, and I have a crew
(27:12):
that works part-time for meduring the summer and they take
care of all the changes and allthe upgrades.
About halfway through thesummer we have to repaint a lot
of stuff because it's abused byballs or kicks or whatever so,
and so the major project that Iwas called about initially was
(27:35):
to celebrate in some way ormemorialize the um 9-11 tragedy,
and so what we came up with wasand you can show a picture of
it the United States flag on theGreen Monster.
But it couldn't be a normalflag and it couldn't be in the
normal shape of a flag.
(27:55):
We had to use the dimensionsthat it had.
So it's 200 feet long and 37feet tall, and it's unfurled at
opening day, all the holidays,Memorial Day, Labor Day,
whatever July 4th if they're intown, and then during World
(28:19):
Series or playoffs it's alsounfurled.
So that's in baseball historybooks and it's in the history of
the game.
We also have stuff like that wehad done.
(28:41):
Oh, that's a nice picture of it.
We also did the tribute to, to,uh, ted williams and we used
the green monster and peoplewould walk by it and I don't
know, pray for ted's body andcryovac, or whatever it is in he
froze his body right um, let'sshow a little bit more here,
(29:05):
mark, because I I just find ituh truly fascinating some of the
stuff you've done, um, just atfenway and um, and things of
that nature.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
So let's pull this up here for a sec.
Um and mark, we get back tothis now.
How often are you like you said?
You guys are over there.
Are you over there?
Are you over there like once ahomestand?
Are you over there?
(29:37):
You know every other homestandLike, what is the?
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Several times during a homestand.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
And sponsorships change nightly.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
They could.
Sometimes they're up two days,one day there we go.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
There's in uh dugout right.
So this is all yours, themerrill at the top.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Oh yeah, and we change that to Bank of America
twice a summer and Merrill is asubsidiary of theirs.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
And what about the MLB?
Do you do that too?
Speaker 2 (30:15):
and the Ford yes, and then there's Xfinity on the
padding, yeah, and the Xfinityon the railings, and you know a
lot of the details that we do.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
So, Mark, how are you doing this?
You have a stencil that someonephysically paints this.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Yeah, it's physically painted.
Wow, I have a lot of people whocan do it, yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
That's got to be kind of labor-intensive, huh.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Yeah, I mean it ain't cheap to do it.
I mean it's not a greatfundraiser for me, but I got to
get it done for them.
And oh, by the way, like theOlympics, it's not like you can
do it tomorrow.
If you miss today, it ain'thappening.
You got to get it done so.
So if there's a mistake, wehave to go out there an hour or
(31:04):
half an hour before a game andcorrect it.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Here's Franklin, a mock-up for franklin right the
batting gloves and mark thisredsoxcom.
Is you as well?
Correct yes and the 99?
These things are just rotatingbillboards so that's not
necessarily you guys.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
we have permanent ones that we do at the beginning
of the year that are bigger,and then the smaller ones are
the changing ones.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
So, mark, that's gotta be fun for you, though, no
, I mean how cool is that?
Speaker 2 (31:32):
I work on it almost daily.
I can't tell you how much timeI put into it, but it's a daily
activity and I um send to thebosses, um, uh, pictures of
everything as they're done.
Yesterday I sent images of.
(31:53):
I hope I haven't lost you, areyou there?
Speaker 1 (31:59):
No, I'm here.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Okay, I sent pictures of stuff that we had repainted
to them and to the advertisingagency for Bank of America so
they could all see it together.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
And I'm sure they loved it.
What's not to love?
Speaker 2 (32:23):
I'm thanked all the time about it.
What's not to love?
I'm thanked, you know, all thetime about it.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Well, awesome, mark.
This is a first on my podcasthaving a member of my family,
but well-deserved.
Everybody knows Uncle Fenwayfrom back in the Sound Office
Sync Off radio days.
And now he joins us back in theSound Office here in the Sound
Office Sync Off podcast moment.
So, mark, thanks for joining us.
We appreciate it.
Always a pleasure.
(32:48):
Love talking Olympics and theRed Sox with you.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
Always enjoy speaking about sports with Mr Sinkoff.
All right, thank you.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
That's going to do it for this edition of SoundOff
with Sinkoff.
Make sure you check me out onYouTube, Spotify, all your
places you can get podcasts.
Give me a like, give me asubscribe and until next time,
everybody, have a great day.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Ridiculous History
History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.