Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks

I love this book. I had to re buy it because I wore out the spin on my original copy.

I never have an issue writing reviews based on things that are new to me, but old books such as this that have been with me for years prove to be a bit difficult. Expressing how you feel about something that has moved you, made you laugh, cry, and utterly disgusted is a difficult feat. The boundless criticism by the so called "Cultured" does not help, as it compels you to respond with defense and praise, which can be just as bad as never reviewing the book in the first place. A book must be taken with all of it's flaws and positives. What the cultured fail to grasp about this book is that it is not simply a tale of wrestling. Nor is a tale of a man with one ear and missing teeth who listens to too much Christmas music and mocks his buddies. It's just the story of a life, in language accessible to anyone, that was transferred from the pages of notebook paper to become a New York Times Bestseller. It's Foley's honesty, not just to the reader, but to himself that makes this book a compelling read. The simple truth is, some of us are born story tellers. This book could have been the story of one man's rise to glory starting a hot-dog stand, and it would carry the same weight and impact. It is not the life that we pursue page after page, but the writing, in all of it's crude honesty. There is something to be said when you can make beauty. However, there will always be more substance when it can be made from the unlikely places that life brings us to. Japanese death matches and locker rooms seem to be the place farthest connected from the artistic world most of the time, but somehow Foley manages to teach us just how close these two things can be. The story of struggle is one as old as time itself, and reading about it helps us empower ourselves for the long fight ahead. The only thing we can hope for is that we come out on top, like Mick, with our humor and humility still in tact. If we can, then perhaps one day this world will be filled with books as good as this. Buy it, read it, keep it. Read it again in a couple of years and fall in love with it again. Remove the cover if it scares away people from your library. And most of all, recommend it. Pass it on to others who could use a good laugh that can help them along there road. Thank you Mr. Foley for giving me one of my favorite books of all time.

A great read from probably the most interesting and most articulate personality in pro-wrestling history.

One of my favorite autobiographies. I had read this years ago. I even did my senior book report on this year's ago

Quick delivery and only light damage

Mick Foley was better known as Mankind and Cactus Jack, the "hardcore legend" as he calls himself tongue-in-cheek. Have A Nice Day, or as he preferred, Blood and Sweatsocks, was a bestseller in '99 in the middle of the attitude era. Foley was not a typical pro wrestler, if there is such a thing. Most were either muscular, or agile high-flyers, or giant super heavyweights. Foley wasn't the strongest or the most skilled technically, but he was among the toughest, and was able to take punishment, "bumps" or dangerous falls like few others. Many pro wrestlers are bright-Kevin "Diesel" Nash comes to mind, but Foley surprised the world with his literary ability. He not only wrote the book himself, he wrote over 700 pages by hand in a series of notebooks over the course of a couple of months. He was specifically hoping to reach non-fans baffled by this industry, which was popular especially in the '80s and '90s. Apparently he did, but it's amazing for fans of the '80s and '90s, for whom all the old names come back. They begin with Abdullah the Butcher, who in every way seems like ancient history from another era, as well as Terry Funk, Foley's great mentor in the hardcore ways. There is a brief section on childhood and youth, but fairly early on he gets to the business. Other than discussions of his wife Colette and children, most of the book focuses there, while his sequels go on to other topics. He spent years in World Championship Wrestling (WCW, the South) and had tension with Ric Flair despite his unmatched ability. As a booker, Flair was responsible for promoting wrestlers and the storylines. There were legendary battles with Vader, as well as Sting, Ron Simmons, and Steve Austin was also in WCW before going to WWF/E. Then there was Extreme Championship Wrestling (Philadelphia) with Paul Heyman the promoter. Terry Funk was there, along with Sabu, Shane Douglas, Tommy Dreamer, Raven and many others. Also there were bloody battles in Japan. In the 2000s, he later went to TNA. But eventually Foley became known for his work in the WWF/E with promoter Vince McMahon. There's not much on Hogan, other than a reference to his repeating the word "brother" in promos or interviews. But the 90s had Bret and Owen Hart, Shawn Michaels, Undertaker, Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Rock and Triple H. Austin was insanely popular in the mid to late 90s, and Foley is candid about his envy several times. There are also jokes and insults about Al Snow, a performer of some ability who never made it quite as big, but was good at trading roasts. The 80s and 90s developed into the "attitude" era of wrestling. Like that product, this book is at least PG 13 or TV 14. One of the controversies was when wrestling returned from TV 14 to PG. Foley was part of this era but self-critical of it, thinking of its effects on his family with the portrayal of sex and violence. But it was an exciting era. The highlight of the book is my senior year of high school. The most controversial matches in history were Bret vs. Shawn in 11/97, and Mankind vs. Undertaker in 6/98, the weekend that I graduated.

Week after week, he hunger for the violent, insult -laden entertainment of Professional wrestling. For most of us, it provided us with fantasy, testosterone-drenched soap-operaic epics that make the realities of life seem to dissipate. Some of us, take it a bit more seriously, albeit extreme. Mick Foley sacrificed in the name of the "sport" he grew to love so much. He sacrificed his ear, his brain, his skin, his cartiledge and god knows what else. Still people just seem to like him as the lovable "Mankind" complete with "Mr. Socko". That in mind, anyone under 12 should keep that image of Mick Foley perserved. For the rest of us, Foley offers us a glimpse of the Wrestling world-it's heroes and villians, its soaring highs and plumetting lows. Yet he does it in such a brutal, honest way. Capturing happiness in an environment of the kill or be killed. Astonishingly in depth and cohesive, you might think Foley was a former literary major, (he actually was a A/V communications major)but perservers nonetheless. In the end, he gets what he always wanted-recoginition (and money). Remember, while Hulk Hogan was saying his prayerrs and taking his vitamins, Foley was jumping off ring aprons onto his hips, falling from scaffolds and surrounding himself within barbed wire. Foley might've cemented what we always have known-that wrestling matches were fixed, but he convinced us that some of the wrestling acts are not (refer to the King of The Death match chapter, and if you can stomach it, the infamous IWA japanese video of the same title). One must admire a man who sacrificed so much for something he loved so much, it's much more than "putting one over", it's a damn hard technical game and the only way to make it is to become good-and not by muscles or good looks only. Mick writes about the good (Bruiser Brody, a lengthy section on Owen Hart and Steve Austin), the Bad (Ric Flair, Marc Mero and Eric Bishoff and not to be beat-J.J. "F'n" Dillon),the ugly (Deathmatches, Hell in the Cell, ECW wrestling and so forth), and the funny (Abdullah the Butcher, Vader, Diamond Dallas Page, and the hilarious never-ending beration of Al Snow). Foley may not be a literary giant, but he captures the raucous environment that our teens now accept as normal pop culture. He just might have made professional wrestling even respectable. For that alone, God Bless you Mick Foley.

Best wrestling book I’ve read so far. Mr. Foley is a great story teller.

Edizione tascabile del capolavoro di Mick. Se siete fan di wrestling dovete comprarlo, ricordate però che è scritto in inglese.

El producto nunca me llegó

My favorite WWE/F wrestler book! Highly recommend to those who like wrestler books!

Brilliant read

The writing is extremely well and I can only recommend this