Mick Foley

OH MY!...The length I will go to in order to complete a challenge. I just can’t stand to leave anything undone. That being said... I went in search of a book that featured "a sport or had a sport in the title"…and found this. Now I know some of you are shaking your heads and muttering under your breath…“You poor delusional soul. You STILL haven’t found a “sport…at least not a REAL sport. This is professional wrestling!” The author…Mick Foley, is the former Commissioner of show more the World Wrestling Federation and one of its biggest Superstars. He also loves amusement parks and is a history buff…so he can’t be all bad:) Right?. In addition he is a talented writer that put a lot of personality into this book…and he really does have a fascinating story to tell. He wrote the book in 1999 when he was first breaking into the business and really had no idea just how big the business was... or was going to be. I grew up going to matches in Tampa with my uncles and cousins. We, as kids, were fascinated with the “glamour” of it and how these grown men got to beat the stuffing’s out of one another and get away with it and actually walk away afterwards. Even if you aren't a dyed in the wool fan of the “sport”…you’ll recognize many of the names. The thing that stayed with me the most was the earnestness this man showed in telling the story of the sport that he has devoted his life to. He knows that it has a somewhat shady reputation. He doesn’t expect everyone to love it as he does...but to just to understand why it appeals to literally millions of seemingly intelligent people. show less

Like poured liquid gold. Best money I have ever spent at a Goodwill. This work functions on so many different levels. First it is a moral tale about the goodness of humanity as told through the auspices of WWE ass-kicking and misbehaving elves. Second is the power of artistry, nothing says class like some solid visible marker lines in your illustrations and this work has them in spades. The final level this works on is impressing other people with your coolness when they see this on the show more coffee table as reading material when visiting, literally hard to put down without finishing. A+ Mick Foley and Jerry Lawler show less

If you ever want to really impress distinguished foreign visitors - Cambridge dons, Japanese business executives, European Union bureaucrats, Indian rajahs, Tibetan lamas, etc. - show them two things: professional wrestling and square-dancing*. They will come away with a whole new perspective on American culture. Assuming, of course, that they don’t go bat-guano crazy right there.


I did not buy these books myself; they were given to me as a gift. I’ve never seen a professional wrestling show more match, either in person or on TV, so I have no idea why somebody thought I might be interested in this. That being said, I found them to be amusing in a sophomoric sort of way. Mick Foley spent years “paying his dues”, driving hundreds of miles and living out of his car for the privilege of going into dingy small town arenas and getting the snot beat out of him so that he could eventually fly first class and stay in nice hotels for the privilege of entering big city venues and getting the snot beat out of him. Mr. Foley, who wrestled under the names Cactus Jack, Dude Love and Mankind, makes an interesting point; professional wrestling is fake as it could be but you have to be a pretty good athlete to be that fake. Several wrestlers have been killed or crippled in matches. And Mr. Foley has had half an ear torn off and sneezed one of his front teeth out his nose, things which are unlikely to happen in many sports considered more legitimate than wrestling - such as, say, golf. (Although golf TV ratings would certainly go up immensely if a player lost an ear now and then. Or if more of them adopted stage names and colorful costumes. Or looked like Chyna.) When you think about it, professional wrestling is really not much different than grand opera or noh plays or Greek tragedies or Elizabethan drama - stylized portrayals of Good versus Evil, Guile versus Credulity, Youth and Enthusiasm versus Age and Treachery. (For that matter, there’s a wrestling scene in As You Like It; I wonder if anyone’s ever staged it with a professional wrestler as Charles? It would be a hoot.)


Of the two, Have a Nice Day is the better; it has more of a plot and tells Foley’s story from the beginning. Foley is Good although still mildly amusing, reads a little more like afterthoughts from the first book. Both of these made the New York Times best seller lists, which says something about the prevalence of professional wrestling fans. And their literacy, I suppose.


These are good enough to buy in an airport bookstore to read on the plane, but not good enough to take home with you; leave them in the seat back pocket for somebody else.


*Someday, an inspired promoter will figure out a way to combine the two activities. show less

[b:Foley is Good: And the Real World is Faker Than Wrestling|218495|Foley is Good And the Real World is Faker Than Wrestling|Mick Foley|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172796558s/218495.jpg|211550] is the follow up to Foley's first autobiography (the book that blazed the trail for the multitude of professional wrestling biographies that would come about in the last 10 years). He basically brings you up to speed on the time since his intial book release, his retirement, his on-screen return show more as WWE Commissioner and his personal life.

While not as good as his previous outing, [b:Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks|340587|Have A Nice Day A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks|Mick Foley|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173889597s/340587.jpg|330972], Foley still manages to be entertaining. Especially when he breaks down the Home Alone movies and what REALLY would have happened to poor Harry and Marv. show less