We are most shaped by the things that we are ashamed of. Ronald “Butcher” Blake is The Man when it comes to high school football in 1988. With the other heroes of the undefeated Mims High School Mustangs he is one of the elite. The untouchable. That is until he takes it upon himself, while showing off for his teammates, to assault and frighten a mentally disabled boy in the hallway at school. Letting the punishment fit the crime, the principal and his coach devise an ingenious way of teaching Butcher a lesson. He won’t be suspended from school or kicked off the team, provided he agrees to one stipulation. Butcher Blake will be the new bodyguard for the boy, Ethan Miles. The rest of the Mustangs, however, don’t like losing their partner in crime to “some retard” and they do all they can to make life even harder on Butcher and his new charge. Led by Derek Skyler and his personal Goon Squad, the remaining members of the team, and even Butcher’s girlfriend, launch an effort to wreck the new arrangement. No longer elite and no longer untouchable, Butcher begins to see that there is more to life than just football. A realization that he fights every step of the way. Picking On Retards is a novel about the hardest lessons we learn. The ones about ourselves.