Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks

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 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 show more 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

Who would have thought that Mick Foley can write? He does a great job illustrating the inner workings of professional wrestling while telling the story of how he made it to the top. I'm still not a pro wrestling fan, but I certainly now respect the wrestlers and all that they go through to entertain.

I would like to make it clear that I am not a fan of professional wrestling in anyway, so I have no bias. With that, i encourage everyone reading this review to give this book a shot. A book from the pen of a wrestler sounds like a disaster in the making, but I assure that this book is an honest, loving, and at times heart-renching novel about his desire to attain his childhood dream. Foley chronicles his rise to the top of wrestling, taking a massive amount of injuries and set-backs along the way. One of the best autobiographies I have ever read.

Open the flood gates! Before 'Have a Nice Day!', wrestling stars were respected for their athleticism and charisma, but intelligence and personality? Since Mick demonstrated that a pro-wrestler can compete not only in the ring, but on the NY Times Bestseller list, we have seen a swarm of biographies released on almost every headliner that the business has seen in the last 20 years. From his ability to take a beating, to his love of amusement parks and kids stuff, Mick easily draws you into the glorious mind of Mankind. Foley, Foley!!

The greatest surprise? It transpires that Mick Foley is actually quite an erudite young man. His autobiographical piece contains enough "Catcher in the Rye" moments about his youth to propel it beyond the subgenre it inhabits, and the tales of his maturing into a professional wrestler-slash-stuntperson are full of character and charm. I'm glad to note how successful he has become outside of the wrestling fraternity.

The first book that showed a professional wrestler could have a witty, intelligent voice. And one of the first book to reflect just how screwed up and real the consequences of a fake sport can be. What is best about this book is that anyone can enjoy it, even people that have not watched wrestling since Hulk Hogan feuded with Big John Studd.

Amazing book! Mick Foley is as great a writer as he is a wrestler. Have a Nice Day!