Book summary

In this collection of columns written for the ESPN website, the late gonzo journalist Hunter Thompson writes ostensibly on sports, but also finds plenty of room for comments on politics and American life. Often, he writes on all three at once, while throwing in sex and gambling, too. Thompson would improve baseball by getting rid of the pitcher; quarterbacks, on the other hand, are an endangered species in the NFL, the "obvious target" of "steroid crazed" monsters "weighing 388 pounds...desperate to hurt people." Always eminently fair, Thompson is critical of both sides of the political fence. He says the 2000 presidential election was "rigged and fixed from the start," and he names Al Gore "Swine of the Week" for losing the way he did. His main topic might just be human stupidity in its many manifestations, and he is always quotable. Longtime fans of Thompson's writing will find his '60s-paranoia style intact, and many will agree that it seems to fit what Hunter more than once calls the "weird times" we live in. HEY RUBE was first published prior to Thompson's 2005 suicide, and includes columns dated into 2003.