Book Review: Mankind Have a Nice Day!

It is no secret that I love the world of professional wrestling. I don't just like to watch it, I enjoy learning about it. From the history to the psychology to the real-life stories. In fact, I enjoy learning about professional wrestling than I do watching it.

I finally finished my book for the quarter and as you can guess, I read a book about professional wrestling and about one wrestler in particular, Mick Foley.

Now I have known about this wrestler (known as Cactus Jack back then) when I first started to watch wrestling back in '89-'90. He was a strange man. He didn't have the physique of a wrestler and he seemed to be a bit unbalanced. But I kinda liked him because he was different (and because he was a heel; and in the professional wrestling world, a heel means a bad guy) and really gave it is all.

This book chronicles his life as a professional wrestler and it was quite entertaining and full of interesting stories and facts. If you still think that professional wrestling is fake, you need to read just one chapter out of this book and it will convince you otherwise. Sure, the results are predetermined, but the match is not and actual fight is much more brutal and real than you think.

Mick Foley (as Mankind) is most famous in the professional wrestling world for this match.



One of his teeth split in half and it might have came through his nose because of the impact. And he talks about this match in depth in the book.

See that white thing below his nose? That was a partial tooth. And yes, those are thumb tacks.

But what made this book engaging is that you get to see the man behind the violent and strange characters he plays. Didja know he married a model? You got to see how he grow up and became a father and strove his hardest to take care of his family.

I do recommend this book. It is not like  the Bret Hart book I read last year, which while still entertaining, I think it appealed more to the hardcore fan of wrestling. This book was more for the casual reader which is why I think anyone would like reading this book. But I will warn you, it is not for the faint of heart. It can get pretty graphic about the brutality of his matches and lifestyle. But it will also make you laugh and you might come away with a little respect to the business of professional wrestling.

Up Next: Belinda Carlisle's Lips Unsealed.

2010 Book Reviews

It has been awhile since I read these books so I hope that this review can still be worthwhile. Last year for one of my New Year's Resolutions I resolved to read at least one book a month (12 for all year) and review them for the blog.

My mom bought me Larry H. Miller's autobiography Driven for my birthday. Now I am not a huge supporter of the man. I do believe that he has done quite a bit for Utah but I did not see eye-to-eye on everything the man did. But I will say that his autobiography was fascinating. Driven is the perfect title for his book. His love of cars and his love of hard work are very apparent. His love of numbers was my favorite part of the book. Even though I do not agree with him all the time, I would love to work for him and I definitely respect the man. The chapters devoted to how the Utah Jazz came to Salt Lake were fantastic. He was also very honest in the book. He often regretted all the time he spent working and he regretted that he didn't spend enough time with his imperfect family. Miller is a man of integrity and I recommend this to any Utahn, any Mormon and any sports fan.





I finished my last book of 2010 reading the autobiography of Carrie Fisher, Wishful Drinking. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Boy is she whacked out! But I still love her. In fact, I love her even more after reading this funny and quirky book. If you are a Star Wars fan, you definitely need to check this out. The whole bras-cannot-exist-in-space thing is absolutely hilarious. One thing that I appreciated while reading this is how upfront she is with all the craziness of being from a celebrity family. And I had no idea that she dated Paul Simon. I definitely learned something reading this book. I recommend this one to Star Wars fans and for those that love train wrecks.

My next books will be the Thomas S. Monson autobiography and then the Belinda Carlisle one.

Book Review: Conversations with Tom Petty

Day 249

I think I am now all caught up with my book reading. I finished Conversations with Tom Petty last night and I am pretty happy that I found this book at the library.

The book is one long interview that takes the reader all through Petty's early life all the way up to 2002. The author splits the book into two sections. One on the main history of Petty and the other section exclusively on his songs and songwriting. And in each section he devoted a chapter to each one of his albums.

His history was rather interesting. From an early age Tom was into music and was heavily influenced by Elvis. His childhood was a bit rough, he was unsure of his relationship with his father. His father did not see eye-to-eye with Tom on a lot of things but when Tom wanted to become a musician, his father accepted it and fully supported it. Tom started playing gigs at the tender age of 14. The best chapter in the book was his involvement in creating the Traveling Wilburys. It was quite interesting to read how they came together and how they created their music. It totally makes me want to break out my bass and start playing.

While I did find his history very interesting, I was more thrilled with the section devoted to his songs. I always thought his lyrics were fantastic and innovative but reading about how passionate Tom is about his music made me appreciate it even more. I had no idea that he wrote Mary Jane's Last Dance years before he released it. He had written everything but couldn't figure out the chorus. I also didn't know that he recorded a song with the Bangles called Waiting for Tonight, and I had to drop everything and get a copy of that song and he is right, it could have been a huge song for him. Reading about the creations of his songs makes me want to give songwriting a try.




If you like Tom Petty, you will love this book. If you like music or are a musician, I recommend this book too.

And of course I highly recommend his music too. Any of his albums are fantastic but if you want a smidgen of it, I would highly recommend Anthology.

Book Review: The Final Season

Day 241

I finally read Bill Parcells biography on his final season with the New York Jets. Being a fan of Bill Parcells and the Jets I have always wanted to read this book. I have read a few chapters here and there while at a library or at a bookstore but I have never read it from cover to cover.

To say that I enjoyed the book is an understatement. But unfortunately it also brought back bad memories. The year before had been one of the best seasons. The Jets were in the AFC Championship only to lose to the eventual Super Bowl Champions, the Denver Broncos. But this season the Jets loaded up and were heavy favorites to win the Super Bowl.

But then tragedy hit. Quarterback Vinny Testeverde was lost for the season. And that was just the beginning of one of the most challenging and difficult seasons the New York Jets had to go through. They lost a respected owner and the team was selling. Injuries mounted and Coach Parcells questioned himself.

Through all the adversity, the Jets did manage to get to 8-8 which is exceptional since they started the season 2-6.

All through the book Coach Parcells is incredibly honest. There are many example of him calling out players for work ethic, admitting he made mistakes and critiquing those around him. But he also takes what he gives out. He was willing to do anything to help the Jets organization and often swallowed his pride to do so.

One of the strangest things to come out of the Jets was when Parcells retired. He was ready to retire but before he did he made sure that the New York Jets organization was taken care of. His then Defensive Coordinator, Bill Belichick was supposed to take over as Head Coach of the New York Jets as soon as Parcells stepped down. Belichick even accepted a million dollar bonus to stay with the Jets for another year while he waited for Parcells to step down but instead he took the owner's money and then stabbed him in the back. When Parcells stepped down, Belichick had a press conference where he announced his resignation. Parcell and the Jets had a contract with him and if he decided to quit, he would not be allowed to coach for the remainder of the contract, which was another 3 years.  Parcells was unhappy with Bill for sure but he swallowed his pride and reached out to his old owner and football team (the New England Patriots wanted Belichick as their coach) and they came to an agreement. Parcells could have told the Jets brass to hold off and Belichick would have been stuck but Parcells did it for the betterment of the NFL.

I guess if Parcells can forgive Belichick and move on, I can too.

Okay, that was my last poke at Belichick

Like him or hate him, you have to admire and respect Parcells. And after reading this book, I have gained even more respect for the man. He knows what he wants and doesn't keep it a secret. Not only does this go over the whole season in terms of wins and losses, you also get his opinion on the state of the NFL. You also get to see how coaching affects him personally.

I you love football, you will love this book. If you are a fan of the New York Jets, this is a must-read.

Now I am off to finish my Tom Petty book.