An insightful glimpse into the world of Mike Tyson, by fellow Northfielder Gordon Morino, in Sunday’s New York Times Magazine. There’s another side to Tyson that’s not seen by the press. It took an ex-boxer philosophy professor to both see the pattern that was preventing it, and to coax it out. Who woulda thunk: a bear hug and a love of homing pigeons.
It became clear to me that Tyson is an intelligent and complex individual who, on the one hand, is terribly wounded by his public image as a golem and yet, on the other, cannot restrain himself from acting the part. He seems almost compelled to make the offensive remarks — e.g., ”I want to eat your kids” to Lennox Lewis — that provoke the very reaction that troubles him. The press is all too willing to play an antagonist’s role in this ugly drama. At one point in our conversation, I mustered the nerve to suggest to Tyson that many of his remarks were disingenuously self-degrading. Tyson sheepishly agreed but then told me what he tells himself all the time, namely, that he needs to act like a bone-crazy thug in order to sell tickets.