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State Fair of Texas: 5 guesses for new voice of Big Tex

As part of an ongoing remodel, the State Fair of Texas has officially hired someone to do the voice of Big Tex, confirmed spokeswoman Sue Gooding. Exactly who, they will not reveal — not until September 27, when the 2013 fair begins.

Big Tex burned down in October 2012. The fair is turning his reconstruction into the PR opportunity of all PR opportunities, trumpeting every trivial development such as the YouTube video of his hand issued in February.

The hiring of a new person to do the voice follows the marble-hearted dismissal in March of Bill Bragg, who'd been the voice of Big Tex for 11 years. Bragg was so heartbroken that he posted an update on his Facebook page, asking Mayor Mike Rawlings for help.

"I love the State Fair and I love Dallas; can you please help resolve this matter?" he asked.

A pool of 111 people applied to replace Bragg. Fair organizers narrowed it down to four finalists, before settling on the candidate who sounded the most like what a large 55-foot-tall metal sculpture wrapped in fabric might sound. Gooding told NBCDFW that they chose a male who is a longtime North Texan and is approximately the same age as Big Tex himself — i.e., someone who sounds like Bragg.

It seems like they're missing an opportunity here. Why not take this moment to reinvent Big Tex's profile? If all they're doing is finding someone who sounds like Bragg but is not Bragg, why not just go with something altogether different? Here's our favorite suggestions for whom they should have hired to do Big Tex's voice:

George Takei. His tone is so warm and mellifluous, you might lose track of the rides and booths.
Gilbert Gottfried. Admittedly, his range is limited, but it definitely stops you in your tracks.
Pee Wee Herman. Comes with Big Top experience!
Howard Stern. Notorious "shock jock" has a classic radio voice.
Cyndi Lauper. Big Tessa?

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Cowboys news

Mike McCarthy reportedly out as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys

Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images

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Mike McCarthy is not returning as coach of the Dallas Cowboys, who are going on three decades since their last Super Bowl title, a person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press on Monday, January 13.

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because a decision hasn’t been announced. They said Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and McCarthy agreed to part ways.

The coach’s contract expired following a 7-10 season. Dallas was 12-5 each of the three years before that, but still hasn’t been past the divisional round of the NFC playoffs since its last Super Bowl at the end of the 1995 season.

McCarthy’s contract expired January 8 and the Cowboys have an exclusive negotiation window through Tuesday, but the parties have decided to split ahead of the deadline.

At least one other NFL team asked during that time about talking to the 61-year-old coach who won a Super Bowl with Green Bay.

Next season will be the 30th for the Cowboys since winning the last of their five Super Bowl titles during the 1995 season. They haven’t even been past the divisional round of the NFC playoffs since then.

Before taking the Dallas job after a full season out of coaching, McCarthy was with the Packers for 13 seasons and had a 125-77-2 record from 2006-18. He was 10-8 in the playoffs and led Green Bay to a Super Bowl title won at AT&T Stadium, the home of the Cowboys, 14 years ago.

There were also three other NFC championship games for McCarthy in Green Bay, and that is what Jones envisioned — and more — when he hired the coach in 2020 after Jason Garrett never got that far in his 10 years.

Jerry Jones at the Cardinals game Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is on the hunt for a winning head coach. Photo courtesy of Dallas Cowboys

McCarthy finished with a 50-38 record in Dallas, including a 1-3 mark in the playoffs. That included last season, when the Cowboys were NFC East champions and had won 16 consecutive home games before trailing by 32 points in the fourth quarter of a 48-32 wild-card loss to the seventh-seeded Packers.

Dallas played the final nine games this season without franchise quarterback Dak Prescott because of a torn hamstring. Top receiver CeeDee Lamb, seven-time Pro Bowl guard Zack Martin, cornerback Trevon Diggs and rushing defending DeMarcus Lawrence also finished the season on injured reserve.

Garrett had the franchise’s second-longest coaching tenure. Hall of Fame coach Tom Landry was the coach for the Cowboys’ first 29 seasons, the same number of seasons they have now gone since winning a Super Bowl. Jones fired two-time Super Bowl winner Landry when he bought the Cowboys before the 1989 season.

Only 12 NFL coaches have more career regular-season wins than McCarthy’s 174, which is still far behind Don Shula’s record 328. The only active coaches with more wins than McCarthy are Andy Reid (302 wins over 29 seasons) and Mike Tomlin (183 wins in 18 seasons).

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