Mike Tyson to star in a new reality TV show about his lifelong love of pigeons

Mike Tyson always seemed to be the perfect subject for a reality TV show. When you think back on his cameos in Black and White and The Hangover, let alone the ramblings of his untamed id in countless interviews, you imagine what might have been: Robin Givens and a cold compress, drunken interactions with white tigers, convoluted disquisitions on Marx and Mao. Like that. Well, it's happening.

Taking on Tyson, a six-episode reality series that begins March 6 on Animal Planet, follows Tyson as he returns to his old stomping grounds of Brownsville and re-connects with his first love: racing pigeons. Tyson will be apprenticed to two men who raise competition racing pigeons, Vinnie Torre and Helder Rodriguez. Iron Mike has always had a close bond with pigeons, whose loyalty and skill he admires. His manager, Mario Costa, said:

"I've seen Mike when he had nothing, literally nothing but his shorts and a shirt. And he'd spend all day with the pigeons. He had nothing but the birds. I'd see him there and he'd tell me he was rich."

So we finally get the long-hoped-for Tyson reality show, and it's about... pigeons? Whatever, if there were a show called "Mike Tyson Reads the Phone Book," I'd be the first one to watch.