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Interview with the blokes in the Fanatics logo

You would have seen it beamed across your TV screens during the Superbowl, splashed across the side of buses in major cities worldwide & stuck next to the '18 year old masseur from Bayswater' post card in every telephone booth in London, so who are the two men in the Fanatics logo.

Who are these two men that have become a worldwide phenomena not seen since Cabbage Patch Kids or Culture Club?

Chris Black is one of these men on every ones lips & thankfully we tracked him down on the east coast of North America. (Blackie is on the right of the logo)



Well Blackie, what an honour to be featured on the newly refurbished Fanatics logo, how do you feel about it?

Absolutely stoked, & like you said what an honour. I would never have guessed I'd be lucky enough to be featured on the Fanatics page, better still a logo!! Something to write home to the folks about. Do I get free tickets?


C'mon mate, not so fast, but we'll see what we can do. Can you give me a bit of a run down on where the photo was taken, who was the bloke next to you & what was with the get up?

It is from the 2000 Barcelona Davis Cup Final day 2. Myself and "Big Head", otherwise known as "The Head", were down the front row cheering on the Ozzie boys, who were having a great deal of trouble putting away the Spaniards to get the Cup. We wanted to work with the rest of the supporters to give the Ozzie's something to make them feel at home. The Spanish crowd was like nothing I have ever seen or heard before, so loud and they just would not stop, especially when we were about to serve!

If we couldn't be as loud in voice at least we could make it clear who we were visually! We started out Yellow from Head to toe on Day 1, and then ran low on body paint, so I went for the full green Day 2, and there was just enough yellow left for Big Head to get lathered up.

We couldn't reaply though, those bastard Spaniard cops took my paint from me as I was going to clean up a few patches, I tried to fight back, but I had nowhere to hide if they decided to chase, stood out like a beacon, so I had to give in.......


Fair enough, mate I now you had a few run ins with the cops for performing a reverse mugging on a mugger on the streets of barcelona, what happened there?

Well we were sick of being mugged the night before so we sent out a few dummies to be mugged by the Morrocans who hung about Las Ramblas. Sure enough they went about attacking our decoys but they were suprised to see another 100 odd Aussies come out of the side streets to reverse the roles. Very Funny!


Where are you residing at the moment & do you find yourself getting chatted up at bars after seeing your image go global?

Well mate, unless I paint myself green and start screaming "Go you Ozzie's" wildly I don't think it will be easy to recognize, but in saying that you might hear stories down the track of Blacky's new pickup lines, like "Hey baby, do you know who I am..........yeah that's right, the big green monster from the Fanatics logo!".

I expect that should work about 1 in 2..........what do you think?! My current residence in (Metropolitan NYC) is a little quiet for my liking, but hoping to migrate to Manhattan around the end of September.


Is it just the chics or do you find the same reaction at the gay bars in NYC's Greenwich Village neighborhood?

To be honest I am getting more attention from the boys right now, since I just dyed my hair blonde I cant think why, but it is certainly a surprise to get a pinch on the arse here and there, only to turn around with my best "how you doin" smile, and see a bloody manchild standing there behind me sucking on his Cosmopolitan! The ratios are still good though, any guy who has lived in NYC would know how good it is to have an Ozzie accent and a few bucks in the pocket for a hotel room, if you know what I mean.


Do you think the people of NY would have a greater appreciation for the artistic existentialism of the logo than say the people of your home town of Macksville on NSW's mid north coast?

What does artistic existentialism mean?


Nevermind. Many modern marketing gurus explain that a logo is the most important part of branding yet most blokes when confronted at a bar will tell you it's a bit of a toss, what do you think?

That's a little like the "bacon bits or croutons" question if you ask me. Everyone has their own opinion on that, but I believe the logo to be critically important, which is even evident with some companies that use their company name in special print as their logo as well (lets use Reebok or Microsoft as an example). I can't think how the likes of Nike, or Adidas may have faired in this day and age without an effective logo!


Tell us about NY, do you get to see much live sport?

NYC is great to party in, and I am taking a liking to getting live Baseball games in!

I haven't yet been to a basketball game, but that will come, I am definitely going to get some NFL in this season though. I don't live in Manhattan right now, but I pretty much spend most weekends and some nights during the week there, going to different bars and clubs, and playing golf and a little tennis, but coming into the rugby season I will be looking to NY Sports Clubs to find a decent team to play for.

It only takes me 30minutes to get to Grand Central from my apartment, not such a bad place to start a night out, and I don't think I could go to all the bars in NYC in my lifetime, so there is plenty of variety!


Your mates tell me you have tendency to start blues on the rugby field & have a habit of performing "no-shows" on nights out in the city. What do you think this says about your character?

I try not to initiate blues on the Rugby field, I more see someone that I don't like, doing something they shouldn't be doing, and would like to teach them a subtle lesson. Sometimes it turns out that words aren't enough, and I need to massage their face into the dirt, or tackle them with much gusto..........late and high.

I think we generally find the players and fans often appreciate me "telling" them on the field, instead of having to wait until later when we have a beer in hand.

The no shows are something I am trying to phase out of my character, but at times have been caused by confusion over party locations.

As a young Australian I think my character is still evolving, I hope one day to be the complete package.


Thanks Blackie, see you at the US Open. Next week we talk to the other bloke on the logo: Big Head.
Tue 22/03/2005 Warren Livingstone 48 views

1 Comments about this article

  • Blackie. Enjoy NYC and the US Open. The seppo's wont know whats hit them out at Flushing in the next few weeks. Try the TRASH CAN at Brother Jimmys..NIFTY

    Posted by Nifty Neville fowler Wed Aug 21, 2002 09:08pm AEST

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