St. Louis Cardinals defeat San Francisco Giants

Unbelievable.It was a wonderful

Read further at the site 

ST. LOUIS — They are one win from their second straight trip to the World Series and could be the first National League team to win back-to-back World Series since the Cincinnati Reds in 1975-76.

“I don’t think we’ve really thought about that,” said ace Chris Carpenter following an 8-3 win over the Giants Thursday night that gave the Cardinals a commanding 3-1 lead in the National League Championship Series. “We have to take care of business. The Giants are capable of winning three straight games. They did it against Cincinnati [in the Division Series] to get here, so we can’t let our guard down.”

The Cardinals defeated two-time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum, and Adam Wainwright allowed just one run and four hits over seven innings, handing it over to the bullpen to finish it off. The Cardinals scored two runs in the first, fifth, sixth, and seventh innings to complete the shellacking of the Giants, who turn to lefthander Barry Zito in Game 5 Friday to save their season.

Matt Holliday, Jon Jay, and Yadier Molina drove in two runs apiece to pace the Cardinals’ attack.

This was a series many thought would go seven games, pitting the last two World Series champions (the Giants won in 2010). The winner will face the Detroit Tigers, who swept the Yankees in four games in the ALCS.

The Cardinals are made up of players developed from the farm system, a smattering of veterans, and a notable leader in Carpenter. Even with the departure of manager Tony La Russa, the free agent fleeing of Albert Pujols, and the loss of Carpenter for most of the season and Lance Berkman for a good chunk of it, the Cardinals seem to find a way.

The Cardinals started Game 4 without Carlos Beltran, who has a strained left knee. Manager Mike Matheny shifted personnel, inserting rookie Matt Carpenter, who won Game 3 with a two-run homer in place of Beltran, at first base. Carpenter reached base three times Thursday night, while Allen Craig took Beltran’s spot in right field.

“We don’t look past the Giants tomorrow at all,” Matheny said. ”I’ve been commending these guys for the fight they have. They just don’t go away. They have character. It’s in their nature.”

Lincecum is a shadow of his once prominent self. He used to throw 96 miles per hour and is now at 92. If he makes a mistake, he’s not so extraordinary. He had the highest ERA (5.18) of qualified starters in the National League.

By the time the fifth inning rolled around, Giants manager Bruce Bochy came out to take the ball from his hand after the Cardinals seized a 4-1 lead.

Lincecum had pitched well this postseason in relief, unable to crack the starting rotation until Game 4. He was 1-0 with a 1.08 ERA in three outings and earned his start.

But he had difficulty with this pesky Cardinals’ lineup from the start.

Lincecum, who led the major leagues by allowing 28 first-inning runs, gave up a 2-0 lead in the first when the first three Cardinals batters reached. Jay singled, Carpenter walked, and Holliday singled home the first run. Craig’s sacrifice fly got the second run across.

The Giants cut the gap when Hunter Pence crushed a 451-foot homer to left field against Wainwright in the second.

Lincecum settled down, got out of a jam in the second, got the next six outs, but the fifth was his undoing.

With one out, the pesky Carpenter doubled to center and scored on Holliday’s single up the middle. Then Molina knocked in a run with a single and that was the end of Lincecum’s night, at 91 pitches.

Wainwright, who missed all of 2011 and the Cardinals’ World Series run because of Tommy John surgery, has rebounded. in a big way.

He had a great curveball and wasn’t going to be denied.

Wainwright helped himself with the bat in the sixth. He put down a sacrifice bunt to advance runners into scoring position after Daniel Descalso and Pete Kozma had singled.

Jay delivered a two-run double off lefty reliever Jose Mijares to open the game up, 6-1. The Cardinals added two runs in the seventh and Pablo Sandoval hit a two-run homer in the ninth for the Giants, but it was far too late.

The Cardinals are on the brink of something special, but the Giants have responded from this position before.

Nick Cafardo can be reached at cafardo@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickcafardo.

© Copyright 2012 Globe Newspaper Company.

49ers get out alive and that's enough

WONDERFUL FOR THE FANS
Reader at the original site

SAN FRANCISCO -- I know what you’re thinking, San Francisco 49ers fans.

You’ll take your team’s 13-6 victory over the Seattle Seahawks at Candlestick Park on Thursday night. You're thrilled Frank Gore ran all over the Seahawks' second-ranked rush defense. You loved watching Seattle's receivers and tight ends drop passes all over the Candlestick turf. But you’re worried about the quarterback.

You’ve seen enough from Alex Smith over the past two weeks -- the four picks, the pre-2011 indecisiveness -- to affirm what you secretly feared all along. Smith’s progress under coach Jim Harbaugh was a carefully orchestrated mirage, a product of superior coaching, a strong ground game and a punishing defense.

The old feelings about Smith surfaced during that three-pick defeat to the New York Giants last week. They washed over you in waves Thursday night when Smith ran around and threw that killer pick to Seahawks cornerback Brandon Browner in the red zone.

Week 7 Coverage

• Sando: Survival just fine by 49ers
• Double Coverage: Ravens-Texans
• Brandt: NFL's concussion conundrum
• Week 7 scoreboard
• Monday Night HQ

The championship optimism that pervaded your thinking only a couple weeks ago has vanished into the Candlestick night. You're having a tough time envisioning how the 49ers will reach that next step, the Super Bowl, with this relapsed No. 11 behind center.

You might be right in the end. Smith’s recent play is concerning, for sure. But the 49ers won an NFC West slugfest against a formidable opponent, and that should be enough for right now. The victories can't all be pretty. The other quarterback, Russell Wilson, completed 9 of 23 passes, none in the third quarter.

"That is the NFL -- it's the ups and downs," Smith said after the 49ers took over first place in the NFC West with a 5-2 record. "You’ve got to be able to ride them out."

That will be much easier for the 49ers if their offensive line is going to open running lanes the way it did Thursday night. The Seahawks can feel the same way. Both teams produced 100-yard rushers against defenses that almost never allow them.

Gore went for 131 yards on 16 carries, charging into the Seattle secondary time and again. Marshawn Lynch carried Seattle with 103 yards on 19 rushes, running over defenders as though they were traffic cones on the freeway. It's tough to fault 49ers safety Dashon Goldson for going after Lynch and drawing a penalty. He couldn't let another man run over him along the sideline, as Lynch had done, without firing back.

Neither team is going to face defenses as tough as these outside the NFC West.

"We've got one of those divisions that is a defensive-driven division right now," said Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman, who stared down Tom Brady a week ago and won. "A lot of the defenses are playing well. It's just a battle right now. Every game with every team is a heavyweight bout."

None of these heavyweights are winning on points.

"It wasn't going to be pretty," Smith said. "It wasn't going to be a stat game. It was going to be do-whatever-it-takes. Turn on both of our games from last year and it was like this."

Seattle has scored only 35 points in its three NFC West games -- all defeats, all on the road. But the Seahawks' divisional opponents have managed only 52 points against them, 17.3 per game. Seattle's seven-point margin of defeat against San Francisco was the widest yet for the Seahawks in any of their losses.

The St. Louis Rams have 36 points in two division games. The Arizona Cardinals have 23 in two. The 49ers have 13 in their lone NFC West game.

Smith wasn't pretty Thursday night. There will be a right time to evaluate quarterback play in the bigger picture. That time is not now. Not after a game like this.

"Really, within the building, the locker room, you can’t have the drastic ups and downs," Smith said. "You guys like to write about them and make a big deal about it, but really you’ve got to move on to the next opponent and get ready.

"You break records [621 yards against Buffalo] and then last week it wasn’t good at all offensively. Today, we ran the ball really well. It wasn’t pretty necessarily in the pass game but we got it done."

The pick Smith threw from the Seattle 7-yard line begs for some explanation. The 49ers faced third-and-goal. They led 10-6 and had to get points, even if it meant settling for a field goal.

Smith rolled left and spotted Randy Moss in the back of the end zone. The play had departed from its script, however, and defenders lurked in places where Smith couldn't immediately find them.

"We had a zone coverage there and he tried to squeeze one in there and I happened to be in the right place at the right time," Browner said.

Harbaugh rode to his quarterback's rescue, as usual. He kept a straight face while saying Smith was "fantastic for us all night." He suggested Smith had played a perfect game at the line of scrimmage, and the results in the run game back up that contention. Smith has the authority to make run checks at the line. His decision making very likely helped the 49ers find weaknesses in a previously impenetrable defense.

That won't undo the interception, of course.

"Randy is running in the back of the end zone, Browner is occupied with Frank or Kendall (Hunter) on that play in the front corner," Smith recounted. "He steps into it and you're not seeing everything."

Smith's four interceptions over the past two games are only one short of his total for the 2011 season. The 49ers' downfield passing game had been gaining momentum until last week. In retrospect, the 49ers might have drifted just a bit from their established identity as a power running team. They got back to basics against Seattle, largely abandoning the Wildcat looks and other oddities that appear creative in victory and gimmicky in defeat.

Gore had gotten zero second-half carries in the 26-3 loss to the Giants last week.

"We always try to pound the ball with Frank," 49ers tight end Delanie Walker said. "Sometimes we go away from it in different games, but when it's a tough game like this one, we try to get Frank the ball because he's great at finding holes."

The 49ers have 11 days to recover and self-scout before facing the Cardinals in a Monday night game at University of Phoenix Stadium. Arizona hasn't allowed more than 21 points in a game this season. The nation might see another NFC West slugfest. The goal, then as now, will be to get out alive.

The big-picture stuff can wait.

Sylvia Kristel 60 Dies Starred in Emmanuelle

Sylvia Kristel is gone soon.
Read further
Sylvia Kristel, a Dutch actress who became an international sex star after she played the title role in the 1974 erotic film “Emmanuelle,” died on Wednesday in the Netherlands. She died at 60.

The cause was cancer, her agency, Features Creative Management said in a statement on its Web site, without saying where she died. AVN, a trade publication for the sex film industry, reported that she died at home in The Hague.

Ms. Kristel was a willowy, dark-haired model and beauty contest winner in her early 20s with scant acting experience when she was cast by the French director Just Jaeckin as Emmanuelle, the wife of a French diplomat in Bangkok who seeks solace for her boredom in a variety of sexual encounters.

With its simulated sex scenes shot largely in soft focus, an exotic locale and a sentimental pop score, the film became an avatar of soft-core pornography. An immediate hit in France — it stayed at the same theater in Paris for several years — and later in Japan, where it was perceived as a triumph of feminism (mostly, Ms. Kristel pointed out, for one scene in which Emmanuelle climbs on top of her husband during sex), it was distributed in the United States by a major studio, Columbia Pictures, a relatively respectable alternative to the scandalous hits of two years earlier, “Deep Throat” and “Behind the Green Door.”

Ms. Kristel went on to appear in several Emmanuelle feature films and made-for-television movies.

According to AVN, ”Emmanuelle” is said to have earned more than $100 million. Ms. Kristel was ambivalent about her experience making the films; they allowed her to travel and opened doors for her as an actress, she said, and it was hard not to be proud of a film that so many people had seen. But the career that grew out of them was not what she had planned or hoped for.

She did act in mainstream films, working with renowned European directors including Alain Robbe-Grillet (“Playing With Fire,” 1975) and Claude Chabrol (“Alice or the Last Escapade,” 1977), starring in Mr. Jaeckin’s adaptation of “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” (1981) and spending several years in Hollywood, where she appeared in the action-adventure film “The Fifth Musketeer” (1979); “The Nude Bomb” (1980, a reprise of the 1960s television series “Get Smart,” starring Don Adams); and the racy, very successful comedy “Private Lessons” (1981), in which she played an immigrant maid who seduces a teenager. But she was nearly always cast in sexually suggestive parts, and her performances drew considerably less attention than her face and figure.

In her 2006 autobiography, “Undressing Emmanuelle,” she wrote that she was “disappointed and a little hurt” that her more serious work went unappreciated. “I was dressed but people preferred me naked,” she wrote.

Ms. Kristel was born in Utrecht, the Netherlands, on Sept. 28, 1952, and grew up in a hotel owned by her parents, who separated when she was 16. She worked as a secretary before becoming a model, and when she was 20 she won the Miss TV Holland and the Miss TV Europe beauty contests.

In later years Ms. Kristel pursued a career as a painter. She directed a short animated film, “Topor et Moi,” that was shown at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2006.

She was married and divorced twice. In Hollywood, she had a volatile relationship with the British actor Ian McShane, whom she met while making “The Fifth Musketeer,” and she acknowledged that during that time she had problems with alcohol and cocaine. She also acknowledged romantic liaisons with Gérard Depardieu, Roger Vadim and Warren Beatty.

Her survivors include a son, Arthur Kristel, whose father was Hugo Claus, a Belgian artist and writer who died in 2008.

In interviews in recent years, Ms. Kristel spoke about her time as Emmanuelle with appreciative dispassion. “The series allowed me to paint for a year and live in peace,” she said in 2009. “And I think that justifies the means.”

A version of this article appeared in print on October 19, 2012, on page A22 of the New York edition with the headline: Sylvia Kristel, 60, Dies; Starred in ‘Emmanuelle’.

Analysts cut Google price targets but see mobile ad growth

This is a nine for wise investors and forecaster to wisely analysis the trend in the market front.

Read further for best understanding
 - At least seven brokerages cut their price targets on Google Inc's shares after the company missed Wall Street earnings expectations, but analysts said growing mobile advertising revenue points to better times ahead.


The earnings report, released hours ahead of schedule due to an error on Thursday, revealed slowing sales in Google's core Internet advertising business.
The quarterly earnings missed expectations for the second time in a year but analysts said the decline was a short-term trade-off as mobile advertising revenue becomes a bigger part of its business.
Chief Executive Larry Page, speaking on an earnings call, said that Google's mobile business, which includes app sales and advertising, was now generating revenue at an annualized run rate of $8 billion, up from about $2.5 billion last year.






"This run-rate ... speaks to how GOOG has positioned itself to win regardless of platform," Nomura Equity Research's Brian Nowak wrote in a note, although he cut his price target on the stock to $840 from $900 because of the short-term outlook.
Google shares closed down 8 percent at $694.37 on Thursday. The stock was up 1 percent at $700 in premarket trading on Friday.
Piper Jaffray & Co, RBC Capital Markets, Raymond James, Robert W. Baird & Co, Susquehanna Financial Group, BMO Capital Markets and Evercore Partners also lowered their outlook on the Google stock by an average of $44.14.
Analysts at Barclays Capital, however, raised their price target by 4 percent to $780.
In a note titled "3Q Results Disappointing but Not Alarming," Barclays analyst Anthony DiClemente said Google's revenue missed on slowing click volume growth, but also blamed the negative impact of foreign exchange rates.
"We believe dislocation in shares creates a buying opportunity, and we like GOOG into 4Q, as we believe the company can benefit from ecommerce tailwinds and moderation in CPC (cost per click) declines on easier (comparables)."
For the fourth consecutive quarter, Google reported a decline in average CPC, a critical metric that measures the price advertisers pay the company.
Advertisers on Google's network pay a smaller fee for mobile display ads compared to a similar ad on PCs.
Net revenue growth at Google's main Internet business increased 17 percent year-over-year -- the first time growth in that business has fallen below 20 percent since 2009.


Google finance chief Patrick Pichette stressed on the conference call that the revenue growth rate would have been higher if the impact of currency rates had been backed out.
"We are incrementally more positive following the call given our belief that despite any near-term fluctuations from mobile monetization and FX, Google's franchise is intact and remains one of the most reliable growth stories on the Internet," Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster said.
MOTOROLA - DEAL GONE BAD?
Persistent losses at Google's recently acquired cellphone business, Motorola Mobility, were further exacerbated by a faster-than-anticipated fall in revenue for that unit.
RBC analyst Sean Kim said margins were likely impacted by Google's Nexus 7 tablet and higher-than-expected losses at Motorola Mobility Inc (MMI).
"Going forward, we continue to expect somewhat elevated level of losses at MMI and some margin degradation due to Nexus 7," Kim said.
Google launched Nexus 7, its first tablet, earlier this year to take on Amazon.com Inc's Kindle Fire and Apple Inc's iPad, but the low $199 price tag and related marketing costs weighed on margins.
"Marketing was higher primarily due to increased advertising for the Nexus 7 tablet," Raymond James' Aaron Kessler said.


(Reporting by Himank Sharma in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel)
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Check for restrictions at: http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp

Justin Timberlake, Jessica Biel wed in star-studded ceremony in southern Italy

This is the wonderful moment for this couple of the Hollywood; enjoying

Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake are now husband and wife.

Two of Hollywood’s hottest stars have said arrivederci to the single life.

After five years together, Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel tied the knot Friday in a top-secret ceremony at a posh seaside resort in the southern Italian city of Fasano.

“It’s great to be married, the ceremony was beautiful and it was so special to be surrounded by our family and friends,” the couple told People magazine.
Celebrity VIPs reportedly included “Saturday Night Live” comic Andy Samberg, late-night host Jimmy Fallon, rapper Timbaland and Biel’s “7th Heaven” on-screen sister Beverly Mitchell.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/justin-timberlake-jessica-biel-married-article-1.1187675#ixzz1roW5lxiB

Bruno Mars hosts tonight's Saturday Night Live Talk about it here!

Wao this great  and you need to know every thing. Just read and watch out
If Bruno Mars is as goofy and versatile as his winning mug — seriously, he’s like a live-action Muppet — SNL this week should be a fun ride. At least, provided you’re a fan of comedy set to a jaunty tune. Last week, actress and Broadway vet Christina Applegate impressed with a series of all-singing, all-dancing sketches… but after her performance, plus Joseph Gordon Levitt’s striptease, plus Seth MacFarlane’s tuneful monologue, I could understand if some viewers are feeling musical fatigue. But hey — as long as every sketch doesn’t have an instrumental element, the device hopefully won’t get too tired.
Of course, Mars will have to worry about more than simply staying on pitch. Serving as both host and musical guest is no small feat, especially considering the big names who have done it in the past. Mick Jagger performed double duty just last May, following Elton John’s double threat performance in 2011. And then there’s newlywed Justin Timberlake, whose three host/musical guest stints have passed into SNL legend. Can Mars hang with these big boys?

Judging purely from his “Lazy Song” video, I think the Grammy winner definitely has potential. The clip’s absurd sense of humor is very encouraging, and it also suggests that Mars doesn’t take himself too seriously — an essential quality for any successful host.
What else might show up in tonight’s episode? Another debate sketch is a given; I also wouldn’t be surprised to see something playing off of the “binders full of women” meme, especially given the cast’s strong female contingent. And last week’s insanely random Usain Bolt cameo means that anyone could appear tonight; could this finally be the week that Honey Boo Boo makes it to Studio 8H?
What are you hoping to see on this week’s SNL? Discuss that — as well as the episode itself — below, and check back in the morning for our full recap.
Read more:
‘Saturday Night Live’: Lorne Michaels talks Kristen Wiig’s departure, the new cast members, and Jason Sudeikis’ future — EXCLUSIVE
Bruno Mars hits the right notes in ‘SNL’ promos — VIDEO
Bruno Mars on hosting ‘SNL’: ‘I’m not going to be funny’ — EXCLUSIVE VIDEO

Orionid meteor shower peaks tonight; NASA is live-streaming video

This is amazon fact of the day which every body here should know of and it is fantastic

The live feed is being filmed at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Officials have warned the shower will be hard to see in urban areas because of light pollution.
The shower, which occurs each October and will be at peak visibility from after midnight Saturday night to dawn Sunday morning, is the result of dust from Halley's Comet hitting Earth's atmosphere as the planet travels through space in its orbit around the sun. At peak time, 20 or so meteors are expected to flash across the sky each hour.
Every year around mid-October, debris from the comet hits the edge of Earth's atmosphere. The debris is moving really fast -- roughly 148,000 mph -- and burns up when it hits the atmosphere, causing the flash of light we see.

Q&A: Orionid meteor show explained
Heavy cloud cover is expected overnight in much of the Los Angeles area, but for people in clear spots: Experts said the most important advice to those hoping to see the meteor shower is to get away from bright city lights.

"My first advice for seeing it in L.A. would be to get out of L.A.," Bill Cooke, who runs NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, joked during an interview Friday. He said those watching from downtown and other heavily illuminated areas might be able to see some meteors but would miss most of them.
"If you are near bright city lights, you'll only be able to see the brightest meteors," he said.

The best bet for L.A.-area residents is to head out of the urban areas and into the hills, said Laura Danly, curator at the Griffith Observatory.

"One good bet would be Mulholland Drive," Danly said Friday. "If you're a little more ambitious, you could get a great view by going up to Mt. Wilson or Mt. Baldy." People who would rather watch from home, Danly said, should turn off all house lights and try to get their neighbors to engage in a blackout as well. "Anywhere that's removed from artificial lights should lend [itself] to a good view," she said.

And how to watch it? Cook says the best way to see the shower is to lay flat on your back and look straight up. Use just your eyes -- you don’t need binoculars or a telescope -- because the meteors can appear anywhere in the sky, so you need a broad view. It usually takes about three minutes for a person's eyes to "dark adapt," so if you want to see the shower, you need to commit to spending a good hour outside.
ALSO:
Orionids meteor shower starts lighting up the sky
Restaurateur denies poisoning his pregnant girlfriend
Boy Scouts' "perversion files": released: "The secrets are out"
-- Wesley Lowery

Meteor shower created by Halley’s Comet peaks tonight Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/science/2012/10/20/meteor-shower-halleys-comet-peaks/#ixzz1rogCMjQp

This is the one of the most powerful events happen now. as we can see in a glance.
 
A meteor shower spawned by history’s most famous comet will peak this weekend, and the show could be dazzling for observers with clear skies, experts say.
The Orionid meteor shower will reach its zenith overnight from Saturday to Sunday (Oct. 20-21) as Earth plows through debris shed by Halley’s Comet on its path around the sun. The most impressive display should come a few hours before dawn Sunday, when our planet hits the densest patch of Halley’s detritus.
"Flakes of comet dust hitting the atmosphere should give us dozens of meteors per hour," Bill Cooke, head of the Meteoroid Environment Office at NASA’s Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., said in a statement.

'Flakes of comet dust hitting the atmosphere should give us dozens of meteors per hour.'

- Bill Cooke, head of the NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office

The moon will be just five days removed from its new phase on Saturday night, and it won’t show up in the pre-dawn skies early Sunday. So bright moonlight shouldn’t drown out many streaking meteors this weekend, researchers said.
The Orionids — so named because they appear to originate near Betelgeuse, the second-brightest star in the constellation Orion (The Hunter) — have historically produced about 20 meteors per hour during their peak. However, the shower has been especially impressive in the last half-decade or so, Cooke said.
"Since 2006, the Orionids have been one of the best showers of the year, with counts of 60 or more meteors per hour," he said.
Skywatchers who want to learn more about the Orionids and how to observe them this weekend can join Cooke and his team in a live web chat overnight Saturday, from 11:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. EDT (0300 to 0700 GMT Sunday). Go to this web page at the appointed time to participate.
The Orionids are one of two annual meteor showers produced by icy pieces of Halley’s Comet. The other shower, called the Eta Aquarids, peaks each year in early May.
Halley’s Comet returns to the inner solar system every 75 or 76 years, and it's bright enough to be seen by the naked eye. The comet’s last appearance in our skies came in 1986, and the next is due in 2061.
In 1705, English astronomer Edmond Halley suggested that a comet spotted 1682 was the same one that lit up the sky in both 1531 and 1607. He further predicted it would be back in 1758. When this last appearance did in fact come to pass, the comet was given Halley’s name.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/science/2012/10/20/meteor-shower-halleys-comet-peaks/#ixzz1rogCMjQp

Big Tex shrine has it all, from corny dogs to Jesus

When R.J. Haayden was born in September, his parents planned to use Big Tex to track his growth.
The idea was this: Take their child to the State Fair of Texas every year and snap his picture in front of the 52-foot-tall cowboy.
This year’s trip was scheduled for the fair’s last Saturday. It would be R.J.’s second time away from his Dallas home. But on Friday, R.J.’s mother, Lisa Haayden, watched in surprise as news videos showed the iconic cowboy destroyed by fire.
All she could do was text her husband, Richard Haayden, a short message: “O.M.G. Did you see the news?”
The Haaydens, like thousands of others, still made the trip to the fair Saturday. And, even though there was no giant waving cowboy and no sound of “Howdy, folks” in an amplified Southern drawl, Big Tex’s presence was felt.
Dozens of people left memorials in the circle where the cowboy had stood. A votive candle with the image of Jesus had been placed on a rock. In front of that was a banner that said, “Big Tex 1952-2012: Lost But Not Forgotten.”
The employees of Bert’s Burgers and Fries left a hamburger sprouting out of a yellow tissue paper flower. And there were dozens of bouquets, including one with flowers and 10 corny dogs packed inside an upside-down cowboy hat.
There were also mementos to buy, but those were selling fast. At a Big Tex merchandise stand, vendor Debra Williams had pulled Big Tex bobble heads out of storage from 2009 to meet demand. Lapel pins Tex’s head had sold out by lunchtime.
“Anything with Big Tex is selling,” she said.
Austin resident Glenda Parks bought Williams’ last T-shirt commemorating Big Tex’s 60th birthday.
“Since he died yesterday, this is the shirt you have to have,” Parks said.
State Fair officials may disagree that Big Tex is dead. Within minutes of the fire, they had proclaimed he’d be back “bigger and better” next year.
Meanwhile, his remains are being stored in a warehouse on the fairgrounds. Fire officials and fair workers will inspect the damage to determine an official cause. Although they originally suspected the fire started in Big Tex’s right boot, they now believe an electrical outlet near his feet is to blame.
Once the fair is over, Big Tex’s steel frame will be evaluated to see whether it can be salvaged. Go to this address
But for its last weekend of the year, the fair had to go on without its most iconic figure. A steady stream of visitors walked by the makeshift memorials and snapped pictures. Others posed in front of the empty air where Big Tex had stood.
There were some sad faces but also laughter.
Lisa and Richard Haayden couldn’t help but grin as they held their 4-week-old baby for the first of many planned pictures. This one may be the most memorable they take.
“I believe they are going to rebuild him, and I think it is going to be hysterical to see this picture,” Lisa Haayden said
Go to address.