I'll be honest with you. I haven't read every wrestling book out there. I've read some good ones, some bad ones and a bunch of rather average ones. I think we, as a fanbase, are quick to say every book about wrestling is great. That's not always the case. But there's one book I recently read (started and finished in one day) that has been on shelves for years.

Jack Spates wrote Mat Snacks 11 years ago. I never read it until Tuesday, while I was on a plane heading from Colorado Springs to Omaha for the 2010 World Team Trials. I need to give some backstory here, first.

My wife and I were spending last weekend in Colorado Springs, which only makes sense, I live here, we're married, and she's coming here on weekends between time on the road with her job. One of the things she wanted to do last week was go to the library and get a library card. She picked up some books, I trolled the stacks for some wrestling stuff.

There were two books I'd never read, so I checked them out, knowing I'd have time on the plane and the drive back (I'm driving back with one of our events guys, Scott Tischer, after we're done) to read them.

I picked up Mat Snacks and had it halfway done before I even got to Denver. Then read more in the airport, and finished up the book while I was somewhere over Western Nebraska. Mat Snacks might be a bit dated, but the stories in the book are well worth re-reading. Some of wrestling's best names are featured. While I'm somewhat critical of spelling and grammar when it comes to published works, Jack openly admits he's not a techie and wrote the entire book by hand, scribbled on paper and notes.

That isn't the issue, in fact, there is no issue with the book. I encourage everyone to pick up a copy of Mat Snacks. The stories told are timeless and Spates offers words of inspiration and a backstory to a lot of the entries. It's a great, quick read and will help many of us understand the personalities behind the personalities in the sport of wrestling.