New Seattle defensive back Mike Tyson has heard all your jokes

Jay Busbee
· Senior writer


When you go through life with a name like “Mike Tyson,” you get used to hearing the jokes. All the jokes. Over and over and over again. But when you’re good enough to get drafted in the NFL, well, the jokes aren’t so much of a problem.

Newly minted Seattle Seahawks defensive back Mike Tyson met the media this week and noted that, yes, whatever quip you can come up with about his name, he’s heard it before.

“If I meet anybody new, that is one of the first questions they ask me,” he said, according to ESPN. “Am I related to Mike Tyson? Can I fight like Mike Tyson? Or who is the real Mike Tyson? When they ask me who is the real Mike Tyson, I tell them that both are real. It’s just that he boxes, and I play football. We play two different sports, but we have the same name.” The football Tyson notes that he’s the third in a line of Mike Tysons, with his son also carrying the name forward.

Mike Tyson (5), the football player, not the boxer. (Getty)
Mike Tyson (5), the football player, not the boxer. (Getty)

Tyson, who along with Jake Butt and Weston Steelhammer made Shutdown Corner’s NFL Draft All-Name Team, has a long way to go to carve out his own claim on the Tyson name. But playing cornerback for the Seahawks — where Tyson is expected to compete — is a good place to start. Richard Sherman has one half of the field locked down, but the other side is wide open, and it’s that spot that Tyson is eyeing. We’ll see soon enough if Tyson is ready to take a bite out of opposing offenses. (Sorry. So sorry.)


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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports and the author of EARNHARDT NATION, on sale now at Amazon or wherever books are sold. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.