Mike Tyson and pigeons: Who knew?

This is the wonderful thing about covering television...

You just never know the things you'll learn.

This morning, Animal Planet has made the official announcement -  Mike Tyson will indeed host a reality TV show...about pigeons.

PHOTOS: Mike Tyson through the years.

Here's a good chunk of the release. It says it all...

  Animal Planet has announced a new show  with Mike Tyson, currently known as TAKING ON TYSON, where the former heavyweight champion of the world will take audiences inside the intensely competitive and bizarrely fascinating world of pigeon racing. 
Slated to film this spring in New York City and debut in early 2011, the show
will give audiences an insider’s look at pigeon rearing and racing, a sport
that is far from the mainstream.  The novice pigeon racer Tyson goes toe-to-
toe against several individuals in hopes of being crowned a champ all over
again.   Tyson has a deep passion for the birds and raised pigeons all his
life.  In fact his first-ever fight as a child was in defense of his birds. 
But this show will follow his first foray into racing them competitively.  So
for the first time in years, Tyson enters a sport as an underdog.

       “Tyson’s passion for his pigeons takes my breath away,” marvels
Marjorie Kaplan, president and general manager of Animal Planet Media.  “For
years, he has been inspired by these birds that he feels have the ‘biggest
heart’ in the animal kingdom.  TAKING ON TYSON peels back new layers of the
remarkable persona and deep humanity of Mike Tyson while also showing us a
whole world we never knew existed right on the rooftops of New York City.”

       “I’m honored to be a part of this monumental show on Animal Planet,”
said Tyson. “I feel a great pride acting as an official representative for all
the pigeon fancier’s out there.  I want people to see why we love these birds.
 It feels good returning to the rooftops of the city where it all started for
me – New York.”

PHOTOS:

Mike Tyson through the years.