The Official Heckler Handbook

Any sports fan can yell offensive and stupid things at anyone else. But only the best are true hecklers, game-changers as valuable in their way as LeBron James is to the Cavaliers or Tom Brady to the Patriots. The Official Heckler Handbook reveals the characteristics, strategies, and techniques of the all-time greats, the master mental manipulators motivated above all by the desire to make a difference, to be “a factor,” as sports analysts say—to affect the outcome of the contest so that their team, their beloved team, emerges victorious and the opponent walks away in defeat.

With more than 50 illustrations of great sports hecklers and their craft, The Official Heckler Handbook offers a field guide to the different species of hecklers in various sports; heckling rulebooks and cheat sheets; the tried and true methods of choosing one’s target; the most annoying and yips-producing lines of attack; the pros and cons of group heckling and solo heckling; the fine distinctions between heckling a player versus a coach, an umpire/referee, or the opposing fans; verbal and non-verbal heckling; and even a fascinating history lesson in the greatest heckling in sports history.

So, turn around and read this book with your good eye! – and learn how to be among the best in the boo-bird business.



Kevin Nelson is the award-winning author of 19 books, including Baseball’s Greatest Quotes, Baseball’s Greatest Insults, Baseball’s Even Greater Insults, Football’s Greatest Insults, Trash Talkin’: Basketball’s Greatest Insults, Slap Shots: Hockey’s Greatest Insults, and The Greatest Golf Shot Ever Made (many humorous anecdotes). Nelson is also the author of The Golden Game: The Story of California Baseball, his award-winning history on the origins of baseball in California, which received glowing reviews from the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Publishers Weekly and Sports Illustrated. It was one of only three books nationally to be named a finalist for SABR’s best baseball book of the year. Nelson lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his family.

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