"I can't believe I lost my fucking ear! Bang bang!"
Have a Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks is professional wrestler Mick Foley's first autobiography, published in 1999. He wrote the entire book himself in longhand. It reached #1 on the New York Times Bestseller list within a month of its publication.
It would be followed by three sequels: Foley is Good: And the Real World is Faker Than Wrestling (2001), The Hardcore Diaries (2007), and Countdown to Lockdown: A Hardcore Journal (2010).
"Tropes and Sweatsocks":
- 10-Minute Retirement: A second edition of the book was released several months after the original, with an additional chapter and epilogue covering his final few months as an active WWF wrestler up to his match at WrestleMania 2000 despite having been "retired" after losing to Triple H the month before. The final paragraph covers the morning after, when Mick leaves his hotel and is apparently approached by a news reporter who calls him out for giving in to do one more match and that Foley "crapped" on his entire career. The reporter then asked, "What are you going to do now?""The answer was simple: 'I'm going to Disneyland!'"
- The Chew Toy: His treatment of his friend Al Snow. He also mocks Test.
- Crazy Is Cool: Invoked. This is Kevin Sullivan's reaction when Jim Cornette tells him that Cactus Jack's Finishing Move is him running off the ring apron and dropping an elbow on the concrete.
- Critical Hit: This is a guy who has been cut, burned, blown up, and had pieces of him removed with ropes. Yet he says the worst injury he ever had was a pinched nerve that caused so much pain it was hard to move.
- Dedication: "For Owen and Brian"
- Dented Iron: Oh yes. Mick documents many injuries, starting with the story of how he lost his ear in a match with Big Van Vader in WCW in Germany in 1994. The back cover of the book jacket is of him in his Mankind gimmick pointing out all of his many injuries.
- Doorstopper: 511 pages, edited down from the 760 Mick had written.
- Everyone Went to School Together: Mick writes about how he, Shane Douglas and Brian Hildebrand all trained at Domenic DeNucci's school in Pittsburgh at the same time.
- Garbage Wrestler: Foley discusses how becoming a serious, violent brawler made his career.
- Kayfabe: Broken nonstop.
- Look on My Works, Ye Mighty, and Despair: Describes then-WCW boss Eric Bischoff this way:"Bischoff had once been quoted as saying, 'I used to really look forward to Tuesday mornings to see the ratings, but lately, we've been kicking their ass so bad that it's just not that fun anymore.' I guess Eric must have never heard that old proverb about counting your chickens before they hatch. Also, if kicking the other company's ass so bad isn't any fun, I feel real sorry for Vince, he must be miserable."
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: When Mick was in college, he invented an alter ego for himself named "Dude Love," who would be a better, cooler version of himself who could get the girls Mick couldn't get as himself. He finally got to wrestle in the persona in 1997, which was turned into a New-Age Retro Hippie. He turned heel and joined Vince McMahon's Corporation in 1998. Mick described this new version as a "disco-dancing corporate hippie."
- Springtime for Hitler: He acknowledges that "Mr. Socko" was supposed to be stupid but succeeded beyond anyone's imagination.
- Stylistic Suck: He writes about how Owen Hart was so talented that he could put on intentionally bad matches in a way that was so subtle that only other wrestlers would be able to tell that he was doing it, since his goal was to entertain them.
- Take a Third Option: He writes about how, at Herb Abrams's UWF's last chance at a supercard, UWF Blackjack Brawl I, September 23, 1994, he, as Cactus Jack, was in a Lumberjack Match against Jimmy Snuka. Herb didn't want Cactus to lose, "and there was no way I was going to let Jimmy lie down for me." So, they did exactly what Lumberjack Matches are designed to prevent: They fought to a double-countout. When the other wrestlers said they couldn't do that, Cactus replied, "Hey, it's Herb's show, we can do anything."
- Take That!: A lot to WCW, particularly Ric Flair and Eric Bischoff. Marc Mero and Sable get ripped a lot too.
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Invoked. Mick rips WCW for squandering his feuds with Vader with a lame amnesia angle in 1993 and after losing his ear.
- You Wanna Get Sued?: Invoked. In discussing his back injury in 1994 WCW, he refers to one of the doctors as Dr. Rosenrosen."The name has been changed to protect my bank account."
- Judging by the lawsuit a WWE doctor filed against both CM Punk and Colt Cabana after the former's shoot interview with the latter, Mick and the book's legal team likely made a very good decision.
