Mankind | Have a Nice Day! a Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks

The First and the Best... | Have a Nice Day! a Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks | Mick Foley

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	• Have a Nice Day! a Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks Mick Foley Topeka Bindery, 2001 - 748 pages average customer review:based on 687 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Laugh, cry, get blown away with this spellbindingly heartfelt autobiography, with no ghostwriters attached!

Amazing that in a few weeks, Mick Foley poured his life and soul into 760 pages of notebook paper that would make it, lightly cut and without any major edits, onto book, and earn it's New York Times #1 Bestseller's List. If only it weren't for that Oprah! (readers of the book will understand)

Starting from childhood, he makes it quick, but sweet as he tells humorous stories about his friends, and the origin of the name "Cactus Jack", and his time in college, including the inspiration for Dude Love and the start of his wrestling career.

Foley's writing is so personal and engrossing that he easily captures our attention with riveting stories ranging from lying to his parents and almost getting caught skipping a bus to college in order to catch a wrestling show (the famous Madison Square Garden match between Jimmy Snuka and Don Muraco), to gaining the respect and friendship of ex-wrestler and trainer Dominic DeNucci and being taken under his wing, knowing Foley couldn't afford classes, by reducing his fee, and then not charging altogether.

Foley's tales of his independent circuit runs are definitely a grungy, and in some cases heartwrenchingly painful experiences, which his natural humor and goodnatured attitude help liven up and spare us the angst he must have felt, but without completely sugarcoating it.

All along the way, Foley maintains a very brilliantly hidden line between kayfabe and shoot, though focusing more on the shoot aspect (for nonwrestling fans, kayfabe means the "fake" world of wrestling, including storylines and gimmicks, shoot is reality) and readily admits his talent isn't in technical or even very good wrestling, but rather in taking bumps and making the other guy and himself look good.

From hellish stories of being stalked by crazed female fans thinking his real name is "Cactus Jack Manson" to wrestling in Nigeria and almost getting robbed by the corrupt government police, to losing out on a 3,000$ paycheck in Africa after the president of the country he wrestled in (who organized the event) was assassinated and the regime overthrown within weeks of his departure, Foley's wit and charm keep the story of his life so lively, you'd think it has to be fiction.

Moving on to his time in WCW, he recounts the horrors of the backstage mechanics, from Ric Flair's awful booking and the backstage team's failure to recognize great potential talent, and hiring college TV production students to man their editing, to Foley's disillusionment as the feud between he and Vader was played down, a massive bump taken by Foley which the commentators could have brilliantly sold was sardonically mocked with a derogatory statement like "that's got to be excedrin headache #9!!", and Cactus Jack being attempted to be turned into a childishly ridiculous heel that would have ruined Foley's career.

Then came Foley's run on the independent circuit, and shows for ECW, including full transcripts of some of his best, and in my opinion some of the best ever, promos, trying to be anti-hardcore and promoting WCW and trying to get Tommy Dreamer to go to WCW and be the pretty boy wrestler again.

From the independent circuit, to stardom in the WWF, Foley is never sparse on details about stories while on the road, his many friends along the way from Mr. Haiti in Africa, to Steve Austin and Steve (William) Regal, The Undertaker, Sting, Owen Hart, Vader, and of course Terry Funk. Virtually every stop from his career, including the Japanese tours, the King of the Deathmatch, etc, and the evolution from "Mason the Mutilator" to "Mankind the Mutilator" to "Mankind" and the use of all three of his gimmicks in the WWF to eventual WWF Championship gold.

Throughout it all, Foley never loses his charm or wit, or the incessant Al Snow bashing, with plenty of pictures scattered around the text and plenty of personal stories (like the time he shared a house with a junkie, a guy who was having sex with his girlfriend's 16 year old daughter, and the 16 year old trying to flirt with Mick) and stories with friends (like "Vader" Leon White's spendthrifting with hotels, or Owen Hart's penchanse for practical jokes) that his story never gets old or repetitive and when the story finally ends, you feel like you've known Mick his entire life.

This is THE shining example of a great book about a pro wrestler's life, and I hope his other two books are just as great.

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Mankind

Both of my sons and my husband enjoyed this book. A lot of fun to read.

The First and the Best...

Mick Foley's "Have a Nice Day" is his first and his best. It is a whimsical journey in the life of one of the greatest hardcore wrestlers ever. Foley has always had the gift of gab, and it translates very well to the written page. Hysterical, insightful, and heartwarming.

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Amazing insight.

If you are interested in the behind the scenes of wrestling, here's a great place to start. Mick speaks on his rise from childhood fan to wrestling superstar. He even talks breifly about the Boiler Room Brawl and his Cleveland promos! (I wish he would have went more in-depth on these topics, though.)

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A Wrestler's Autobiography

See a different side of wrestling with this autobiographical book. You'll laugh your way through this brilliant work of art and ask yourself how Foley survived.

This Book is Not for the Squeamish

No. This is the autobiography of the Hardcore Legend, Mick Foley. Some wrestling fans claim that "Foley is God." You're about to find out why.

Mick Foley is a nice man. A family man. He loves his son, Dewey, his daughter, Noelle, and his beautiful wife, Colette. He loves amusement parks, eating ice cream in bed, and watching Nickelodeon.

So, how to explain his participation in Japanese Death Matches, which replace the ring ropes with barbed wire, cover the mats with glittering gold thumbtacks, and feature C4 explosives scattered throughout the ring? How to explain the barbed--wire scars that zigzag across his body, the second-degree burn tissue that is a memento of an exploding C4, and the missing ear that was ripped clean off his head during a bout? And how to explain how, after losing his ear, he then continued his match?

Here is an intimate glimpse into Mick Foley's mind, his history, his passions, and what some might call his pathology. No ghostwriter. Not "as told to." Straight from the twisted genius behind Cactus Jack, Dude Love, and Mankind---deciphered from 760 pages of maniacally handwritten notebook paper--comes a tale of blood, sweat, tears, and still more blood.

You'll chuckle at Mick's early back-yard wrestling antics and homemade wrestling movies. You'll be amazed by the inside scoop on legends in the business like Terry Funk, Harley Race, Abdullah the Butcher, and Ric Flair. You'll squirm as Mick describes his incredible risks in the ring and his grisly, mind--numbing injuries. Finally, you will cheer with true admiration as arguably the hardest-working, most dedicated, and most heroic man in sports-entertainment beats all the odds and takes home the prize he had been told all along he would never, ever get: the World Wrestling Federation Championship belt.

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