Saturday, April 23, 2011

Literati Not All W-Right-e In The Head - Will Write In Pain For Food

One of the most bizarre wordsmiths there can be today, getting published regularly and being even -somewhat- praised for it, is Mick Foley. Also known as Cactus Jack, Mankind, Dude Love and Lord Knows how many other personae throughout the years he spent in the wrestling/sports entertainment industry, Mick Foley is basically the kind of fun-loving crazy teen that never truly grew up. And that would be why we like him so much too - not to mention the fact that he can still be coherent, in writ as he is before a mic, despite innumerable steel chair-shots to the head and assorted bumps that he has taken for about two decades now.

Mick Foley's Mankind crazed character clearly inspired such odd ones as TNA's Abyss - and his stunts, performed in numerous pay-per-view as well as arena events worldwide, have inspired an entire generation of would-be wrestlers crazy enough to follow that reckless example.

Mick Foley's writing, in comparison, has inspired considerably less people - unless you factor in all of his colleagues from the pro-wrestling industry who either elevate him to the level of a demi-god (the demi-god of bodily beating down and self-destruction, perhaps) or actually despise him for that.

Whether real or not (shoot or scripted in terms of the wrestling industry) the gripes that legitimate consummate professional wrestlers like "Nature Boy" Ric Flair have with Mick Foley over this are very realistic - for the debate is very real indeed. Concussions are a definite and unfortunate part of professional sports, whether it be wrestling, hockey or American "football" (you know which one it is - the sport that stole the rightful name of a far more honorable, time-honored, worldwide sports activity and then left the latter with the term... soccer. But I am digressing right now.)

And to trivialize the bad example given - even going so far as having this author here being sent flying through a table that was presenting his latest published offering, as seen in the video below - is, at best, of extreme poor taste.



But then again, we are talking about a scribe who is unlike any other - he pens more stories with his clenched fists than he does at a keyboard on with an old-fashioned feathered pen; of course.

He is Mick Foley - and he does represent mankind today pretty fittingly, actually...

Fans of the sports entertainment industry will always like his anecdotal style; as it is every fan's desire to get an insider look backstage, behind the scene...

Books and DVDs as well will, therefore, always find an audience. Name-authors are and will always be easier to sell than the unknown wordsmith; the most successful authors either carve a celebrity of their own, branding and copyrighting their name in effect, or they find popular subject matters of perennial interest that cannot fail to attract the reluctant book buyer, even when occasional...

Mick Foley has both a subject of mass appeal (less so than in the mid-80s or late 90s - but still) plus he has that great advantage of being a product from that area himself. On top of that,of course, it being his area and field of expertise, his writing benefits greatly from it overall. It truly is a win-win situation there, one that the wretched WWE has exploited before and, nowadays, one that TNA has associated itself with. The only one that failed to make a dime with this was the poor WCW of old - the promotion who lacked foresight in so many aspects despite having the most ressources of all - what a paradox. But that is left best for some other blog now...

Kudos to Mick for not letting all these chair-shots and assorted blows to the head get to his brain, too much that is... He writes effortlessly, as far as we can tell, and his eloquence as well as higher vocabulary evident during interview time nurtures hope for the masses, surely. It proves that you can be a drop-out, get into physical work and still, somehow, rub shoulders with an intellectual elite. It proves that there is always opportunity out there. It proves that there is HOPE.

To quote the author in question here...
Have a good day.

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