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The Juju Rules: Or, How to Win Ballgames from Your Couch: A Memoir of a Fan Obsessed
From an award-winning humorist, a touching memoir and manifesto that reveals the deep secrets of fan jinxes, hexes, and charms
Did you know there is a secret to winning ballgames? It’s not the players, managers, money, or luck. It’s juju, and no one knows it better than Hart Seely. Seely has spent a lifetime practicing the art of juju from his living room. And winning ballgames for the New York Yankees . He paces floors. He yells at defenseless TVs. He rallies the team like Churchill addressing the collective British soul. But what he is really doing is harnessing juju energy to influence the outcome of games. And it works .
In this uproarious, unforgettable fan confessional, Seely shares the basics of juju for the beginner—“Setting the Table,” asking for a called strike instead of a walk-off homer—to advanced juju—“Bringing the Neg,” predicting bad events to keep them from actually happening—to the deepest, darkest formulas of this age-old art. Along the way readers come to know Hart and his hilarious band of fellow juju practitioners, a secret club of friends whose fandom bonds them across decades, not to mention won/loss columns.
Nostalgic, heartwarming, and laugh-out-loud funny, The Juju Rules is a memoir of a life well-lived in service to one’s team that shows how love can be a powerful passion in the best way.
Did you know there is a secret to winning ballgames? It’s not the players, managers, money, or luck. It’s juju, and no one knows it better than Hart Seely. Seely has spent a lifetime practicing the art of juju from his living room. And winning ballgames for the New York Yankees . He paces floors. He yells at defenseless TVs. He rallies the team like Churchill addressing the collective British soul. But what he is really doing is harnessing juju energy to influence the outcome of games. And it works .
In this uproarious, unforgettable fan confessional, Seely shares the basics of juju for the beginner—“Setting the Table,” asking for a called strike instead of a walk-off homer—to advanced juju—“Bringing the Neg,” predicting bad events to keep them from actually happening—to the deepest, darkest formulas of this age-old art. Along the way readers come to know Hart and his hilarious band of fellow juju practitioners, a secret club of friends whose fandom bonds them across decades, not to mention won/loss columns.
Nostalgic, heartwarming, and laugh-out-loud funny, The Juju Rules is a memoir of a life well-lived in service to one’s team that shows how love can be a powerful passion in the best way.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2012
2 people are currently reading
14 people want to read
About the author
Hart Seely
9 books3 followersHart Seely is an award-winning reporter for the Post-Standard newspaper in Syracuse. His humor pieces have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, National Lampoon, The New Republic, Village Voice, Slate, Spy and NPR. He has written or edited five books, including O Holy Cow: The Selected Verses of Phil Rizzuto and Pieces of Intelligence: The Existential Poetry of Donald Rumsfeld. Seely lives in Syracuse with his wife, Janice, and three children. There, from his living room, he wins baseball games for the New York Yankees.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 24, 2013
A nice read from (truth be told) a friend and former colleague. But, as he would with me, I will add some honest critique here. It is not always an "easy" read - in other words, it takes some thought in different places.
I was a bit overwhelmed at times with some references to Yankee players long (and happily) forgotten.
At times, I think I was only able to follow some of it because I followed the Yanks from as far back as I can remember and that I lived in Syracuse, NY, a longtime home to the Yanks' AAA farm club. The casual fan could lose interest. But like those annoying September rain delays and those outings in which your home team's ace gets ripped in the second inning, hang in there. Rewards will come.
Interestingly, where I find many books present a great first half only to become a disappointment over the final pages, it was the opposite for me with "Juju."
The book is constructed in a somewhat chronological fashion linking Hart's life with the success and failure of his beloved NY Yankees. And it is the last half of the book that, for me, really takes off with a mix of Yankees' ups-and-downs as well as Hart's own life triumphs and heartbreaks. I was (happily) surprised to find many moving, soul-baring segments.
Those who know Hart know that when reading him you will often have a hefty dose of his whacky and wild sense of humor, and there is plenty of that here.
It's a solid memoir, and if you're a longtime Yankees fan, a must read.
I was a bit overwhelmed at times with some references to Yankee players long (and happily) forgotten.
At times, I think I was only able to follow some of it because I followed the Yanks from as far back as I can remember and that I lived in Syracuse, NY, a longtime home to the Yanks' AAA farm club. The casual fan could lose interest. But like those annoying September rain delays and those outings in which your home team's ace gets ripped in the second inning, hang in there. Rewards will come.
Interestingly, where I find many books present a great first half only to become a disappointment over the final pages, it was the opposite for me with "Juju."
The book is constructed in a somewhat chronological fashion linking Hart's life with the success and failure of his beloved NY Yankees. And it is the last half of the book that, for me, really takes off with a mix of Yankees' ups-and-downs as well as Hart's own life triumphs and heartbreaks. I was (happily) surprised to find many moving, soul-baring segments.
Those who know Hart know that when reading him you will often have a hefty dose of his whacky and wild sense of humor, and there is plenty of that here.
It's a solid memoir, and if you're a longtime Yankees fan, a must read.
February 6, 2016
Briefly: A light-hearted memoir
If “Book by Yankee-Obsessed Humorist Hart Seely” has you salivating, then this is the book for you. If you’ve never heard of Hart Seely, well, prepare to know him well—this book is more memoir and personal story collection than anything else. Luckily, Seely is a witty narrator, but unfortunately, he’s a devoted Yankee fan. I admit, Yankee hater that I am, Seely’s sad devotion to that ancient religion is so fanatical that I didn’t want to like this book, but his writing strikes the right mix of humor and sincerity to make him a sympathetic figure. I enjoyed the book in spite of myself.
Sometimes Seely goes overboard, showing the kind of devotion to his team that would leave hairy men with their chests painted in team colors wondering if his fanaticism might be somewhat unhealthy. But for the most part, Seely is self-aware of the level of neurosis he’s exhibiting, and as long as he’s in on the joke, it’s fine to laugh.
The book is fine for what it is, though it doesn’t contribute any greater knowledge or real learning to its reader. It’s simply a playful romp in which the reader doesn’t gain any real insights, but instead picks up a handful of belly laughs.
If “Book by Yankee-Obsessed Humorist Hart Seely” has you salivating, then this is the book for you. If you’ve never heard of Hart Seely, well, prepare to know him well—this book is more memoir and personal story collection than anything else. Luckily, Seely is a witty narrator, but unfortunately, he’s a devoted Yankee fan. I admit, Yankee hater that I am, Seely’s sad devotion to that ancient religion is so fanatical that I didn’t want to like this book, but his writing strikes the right mix of humor and sincerity to make him a sympathetic figure. I enjoyed the book in spite of myself.
Sometimes Seely goes overboard, showing the kind of devotion to his team that would leave hairy men with their chests painted in team colors wondering if his fanaticism might be somewhat unhealthy. But for the most part, Seely is self-aware of the level of neurosis he’s exhibiting, and as long as he’s in on the joke, it’s fine to laugh.
The book is fine for what it is, though it doesn’t contribute any greater knowledge or real learning to its reader. It’s simply a playful romp in which the reader doesn’t gain any real insights, but instead picks up a handful of belly laughs.
May 14, 2012
Reads kind of like a Jean Shepard story, but about a superstitious baseball fan. Got rather long-winded and self-indulgent at times, but was funny at others. While I am not a Yankee fan, I follow many of the Juju Rules the author mentions, and learned of a few I wasn't aware of. I would have preferred more juju rules and fewer personal, un-baseball-related stories.
October 10, 2015
Hart Seely, the author, is one of the funniest writers on the planet. He is also a personal friend and the wildest Yankees fanatic in the universe. This book his Hart's memoir of his life as a fan. It is also an exploration of sports superstition and all of the crazy things people do in support of their team.
July 6, 2013
wanted this to be funnier. some good moments but overall just okay
April 1, 2017
This is the funniest book I have ever read. I really did laugh out loud while reading this masterpiece of a fan's lifelong devotion to his trade of helping his team win games in ways only real fans can comprehend. It is rare to find a book that really gets to the heart of what being a life and death fan is about. Stephen King's book was for the season ticket, memorabilia collecting, jersey wearing kind of fan who often only surfaces in times of plenty. Sure, Hart Seely comes off as a little crazy but what "fanatic" doesn't to the nonbeliever and he is always funny. Though he is a fan of The-Team-That-Cannot-Be-Named, his kind of yelling, screaming, pleading, threatening inanimate objects, mad pacing, lunatic gesturing, scaring children and embarrassing spouses commitment is refreshingly real and a little frightening at the same time. The book is more than about baseball and winning games from your couch, it is also a brutally frank memoir that I'm sure his family is mortified by.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews