In the second episode of Taking On Tyson, Mike and his team/loft, Tyson’s Corner, meet his competitors for the pigeon races – Helder Rodrigues and Joe Green.
In a sign of playful intimidation, Mike gives Helder the once over glance. Its a funny moment if you catch it.
Rodrigues is a 20 year old from New Jersey and one of the youngest racers on the scene. He is a full time “A” student, runs a repair shop, and loves his birds. His loft is named The Motley Crew.
Joe Green, a city maintenance man, who also grew up in the same Brownsville (Brooklyn) neighborhood as Tyson, has been racing pigeons for 25 years. He is a proven winner and is considered the favorite. His loft is named The 3 Amigos.
We also meet Louie ‘The Lip.” He is the Race Secretary and lays out the rules for this competition. There will be 3 lofts (teams), 5 birds racing from each team at an 80 mile distance. One winner.
In this episode we learn what each team/loft feeds its pigeons and the routine that goes into training the birds. Again, this is serious business. Its obviously very time consuming, because someone from each team drives the birds out a certain amount of miles away from the loft, and they are timed on how long it takes them to get back.
The first race takes place, and Tyson’s Corner came in second place. Perhaps they will fair better during next week’s episode.
One of the aspects of this show I enjoy most is the time Tyson spends speaking about his life. This time, another of his oldest friends is introduced. Dave Malone. Malone and Tyson share a pigeon coop in Brooklyn where they house “flight” birds, the type of birds that fly and flip in formation, and the type Tyson grew up raising. Over the years, the coops were and are a sanctuary of sorts for the childhood friends.
In one of the most transparent moments of the episode, Tyson shares the following sentiment, giving us an idea of just how far he has come as a man and as a human being…..
I have no desire to ever think about going back to boxing. I don’t miss boxing, and I think really the best moment of my life was when I retired, because I was too into that character – that “Iron Mike” guy. And, that guy was pretty toxic for me at that particular time. He had overstayed his welcome. He was finished, and I was finished with him.
I had to get away from him, you know? He became his own entity and he became….kinda creepy. So, I had to get away from that. This is just a part of me that I just don’t like and don’t understand, you know?
Speechless.
Taking on Tyson airs on Animal Planet, Sundays at 10 PM E/P.
In related news, this past weekend, Mike Tyson and RockLive, the creators of his new Iphone game, Mike Tyson’s Main Event, were on hand the annual SXSW Interactive show to introduce the new app. RockLive is also responsible for the wildly successful app, Mad Chad, a game created for NFL star receiver Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson.
WebProNews has the scoop on Tyson’s appearance HERE.
