Heckler Hype
Heckler Commandments
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The chicken watches on as Tech and USC tangle in Lubbock
The Chicken, circa 1999

At the 2000 UH regional
The Chicken at the Houston Regional, 2000

The Legend of the Chicken

The chicken made its triumphant debut during the Sunday game of Tech/UT series in Lubbock on March 25, 1993. Purchased as an afterthought at a local joke shop, the chicken was introduced to Tech fans on a whim with a game deadlocked at 4 runs apiece. A rope with a hangman's noose was placed around the neck of the chicken (a simple rubber dead chicken), and the chicken was run up the fence for the first time ever. The chicken remained on the fence until the Red Raiders pulled out a 5-4 victory over the hated Longhorns and Cliff Gustafson of the University of Texas. From that point on the chicken had taken on a special meaning. Now the Tech fans look forward to the raising of the chicken at Tech games as a symbol of Tech baseball and the Tech Hecklers. But the chicken does not represent that a Tech rally is imminent, there seems to be no rhyme nor reason to the raising of the chicken. In fact, it is wondered if there is any connection to the raising of the chicken and the game at all.

The chicken, which has almost become as famous as the Tech Hecklers themselves, has been the feature of Television news stories, been featured in newspaper articles, and is a featured member of the group. The chicken nearly got the Hecklers kicked out of the 1999 Big 12 Tournament when Chris Snead, the leader of the Hecklers tossed the chicken over a wire behind home plate. The chicken hung there for about 10 minutes until the OKC police "politely" asked him to lower the chicken or get a nice view of the OKC police jail facilities. At the 1998 Big 12 tournament, Mark Finkner and Ryan Hyatt hung the chicken out the window of the press box while providing radio coverage of  the championship game win over Texas A&M. The chicken has been all over the United States, in fact, the chicken spent a day in the Atlantic Ocean at the beach in Miami when Tech was there in 1998, and in 2000 went to Long Beach, California, for a dip in the Pacific.

Recently, after much ballyhooing, it was felt that there was a need for a change in the meaning of the chicken. At first, the school of thought was that the chicken represented the "Duality of man and his plight against baseball." But after some thought, it was felt that this meaning was outdated and stale. After many conferences and meetings on the issue, it was decided that the chicken no longer represented the duality of man, but now represented "A paradigm shift from Heizenberg's theory of uncertainty, to the ordered harmony of feng shui." Thus, after a year of what we would consider harmony, we once again must wrestle with this query. It may be after much thought is given to the subject, that in reality, a chicken is just a chicken.

The chicken has made many journeys.
In this section, we will chronicle the various stops along his long and storied path.

Boston trip (2002)


The Chicken with Ben Franklin just prior to the discovery of electricity and lightning. Before tying a key to the kite, Ben initially tied the chicken on the string. A little known and seldome reported fact congruent to his discovery that day was that rubber chickens do not conduct elecricity.


The Chicken in deep thought while lounging in Boston Commons.


The Chicken took one of the famous Boston Duck Tours aboard this amphibious World War II vessel.


Nomar soaks in some of the Chicken's greatness.


The Chicken at the famous "Make Way for Ducklings" statue near the Frog Pond in Boston Commons.


The FAO Schwarz bear and the Chicken.


The Chicken hovering about the gates of Harvard.


The Chicken just prior to entering the Harvard Faculty Club for a stirring dinner of chowder and seed.


Admiring the John Harvard statue. Upon closer examination of the statue the Chicken ascertained that the likeness used in this statue is NOT that of John Harvard, for all of the likenesses of old J.Harvard were lost in the fire of 1811. A "model Harvard man" (reportedly Sherman Hoar) was used to create the face for this statue and he was decked in 16th century clothing for the casting. 


Getting a closer look at the Harvard seal. The books are depicted as being closed because techniques at the time of casting (1884) were such that the depiction of an open book with an "A" over the crack of the open book was not possible. Any good chicken knows that...