Iron Mike to race...Pigeons?
Monday, February 28, 2011 at 5:12 AM 
Mike Tyson is the star of a new six-part reality TV series called "Taking on Tyson," which starts next month and examines the former heavyweight boxing champion's lifelong love of pigeons, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.
The Animal Planet series, which debuts March 6, follows Tyson, who owns some 3,000 birds, as he is introduced to the culture and practice of pigeon racing.
In the series, Tyson and his team of old friends and pigeon compadres prepare their brood for competition against some of the top clubs around New York.
There are more than 700 such clubs nationwide.
In the races, the teams converge on a starting point, sometimes hundreds of miles from their home bases. Rival flocks of pigeons are released at the same time and begin to dash home. Since their coops are at different distances from the starting point, the bird recording the fastest average speed takes the prize.
Tyson, who lives in Las Vegas, said the first thing he ever loved in his life was a pigeon. So, when a neighborhood bully killed one of his beloved creatures and threw it in his face, Tyson threw his first punch.
"I always kept pigeons and know everything about them," Tyson said, "but I never raced them. This is something entirely new for me."
Commenting on the training process, Tyson chuckled, "It's hard. Like boxing. You have to get up early in the morning and drive them out a few miles at a time.
"In boxing you go from four-rounders to six-rounders and up. With pigeons, you start with a mile then increase and keep increasing until you get to maybe 500 miles. The hard part is it takes patience. You lose a bird or two and you have to sit there and wait for them to fly home."
Discussing his role in the show, Tyson said, "I'll be educating people about pigeons."
Read more: Wall Street Journal
Follow The D League Show:
Twitter: @DLeagueShow
Facebook: Facebook.com/DLeagueShow
iTunes: http://itun.es/iFP2w4
http://www.youtube.com/DLeagueShow
The D League Show airs on Wednesday nights at 8p et/5p pt here on TheDLeague.com
Reader Comments (1)