A few days ago, we were seeing the sadness in Mike Tyson's life, now that the one thing he does best of all was disintegrating before our eyes.

	Mike Tyson showed off his new tatoo during Thursday's press conference.

But we were wrong. We forgot that he is nothing but resilient, especially when it comes to the second best thing he does -- making us watch him.

Hence, the Mike Tyson reality show, coming to a television near you, and sooner than you want.

The first thing that comes to mind is, "Why? Haven't we been watching the Mike Tyson reality show for nearly 20 years now?" Even allowing for the fact that you can't swing Mitch (Blood) Green by the ankles without hitting an episode of "NYPD Blue," reruns of Mike Tyson at work and play frankly turn "The Osbournes" into "Masterpiece Theatre."

The second thing that comes to mind is, "Well, what else has he got for us?" I mean, how does he top two mouthfuls of Evander Holyfield, his ever-growing flesh canvas, the alternating I-need-help/You-need-help-avoiding-me press conferences and all the other zany antics of a life going hideously weird?

But eventually, we surrender to the idea, because a culture that can make Evan Mariott, Trista Rehn and Rick Rockwell famous for a while can easily absorb Mike Tyson, and still have room for "Survivor In The Bowels Of Hell Itself, Part III: The Pointless Bickering Over Who Gets To Eat The Wombat."

The truth is, the Mike Tyson reality series is our fault, pure and simple. Every time you hear someone confess that even though he or she is utterly revolted by the very idea of Tyson, he or she will still lay down another $49 for pay-per-view in hopes of watching him burst into a chemical fire -- well, there's your target audience right there. The pathetic life-as-recurring-nightmare junkie that made Jerry Springer, Jerry Springer.

So let's move past that mock offense in your voice. You're not the victim here. You're going to watch the Tyson reality show even though you know he can't top what he's already done, and even though you will spend all of the next day pretending to stick your own finger down your throat in utter revulsion at what has become of the former heavyweight champion of the world.

	Usually the life of the party when he was in prison, a bris turns ugly when Mike Tyson playfully pounds the mohel.

Yeah, you wanted to say no, but you just couldn't. Mike made you do it through the power of osmosis, just like he made you blow half a C-note on Clifford Etienne, and the Holyfield fights, and the Lewis fight, and the Douglas fight, and the McNeeley fight.

And there's the ulterior motive of seeing if the Tyson reality series can beat the only man on earth who can hang with Iron Mike for sheer pig-iron craziness.

Michael Jackson.

It is already clear that Springer's been out of ideas for years, and will be until he can get the household pets of the people who sleep with them to speak. Ozzy Ozbourne has come across as the post-normal Ward Cleaver. The best cartoon characters these days all seem to have one eye in the middle of their heads.

Tyson can beat them all with one hand tied behind his back, and he doesn't even need to get over the fly to do so.

But Michael Jackson has done things so purely dark-side-of-the-moon that he can draw ratings with just people arguing the difference between "stark staring nuts," "drive-off-the-road crazy" and "mutant, pure and simple."

And he's appeared on television to deny them all, even down to the denial that his face lifts have been performed by John Daly.

	Imagination runs wild when Mike Tyson has a little free time on his hands.

Tyson doesn't deny much, and his face work is still pretty sedate -- after all, no surgeries yet.

Plus, he still seems to have enough humanity about him that he may see that this is the step too far.

Or, he may see the ratings for people humiliating themselves for our amusement are still off the charts, and decide to take on the challenge of beating Jackson on his own terms.

Frankly, we're rooting for Tyson to see that the reality series pays well, but will never cover the real cost. Yet he's no fool. He knows what pays, and what people want to watch, and he knows he can still keep playing us for the cheap voyeurs we are.

So reality Tyson it is. I hope you all remember to shower after the pilot is aired.

Ray Ratto is a columnist with the San Francisco Chronicle and a regular contributor to ESPN.com