Every day you hear a few oddball stories. They’re great water cooler fodder – but the really odd ones are normally about people you’ve never head of. Some guy in Oregon gets his hand eaten off by a wild squirrel. A 74-year-old lady in England walks 384 miles naked. To be fair, you do hear some almost unbelievable stories about Britney Spears, but she’s the exception to the rule. Well Britney and Mike Tyson. Mike’s life is almost impossible to follow anymore. I tried looking up his criminal history on Wikipedia and found myself so overwhelmed that I’m not even going to bother any of you with it. It won’t help your turkey go down any faster. Mike’s currently doing a one day stint in the slammer after pleading guilty to cocaine possession and driving under the influence. Tough punishment, I know. Before you’re filled with righteous indignation as I (almost) was, take note: Mike has been forced to wear pink undergarments in jail. By the sheriff. Do you think the guy is trying to encourage prison rape? Because I thought sheriffs were supposed to prevent crimes.

The final humiliation for the one-time “baddest man on the planet” came yesterday courtesy of Joe Arpaio, the self-styled toughest sheriff in America who believes pink has a psychological calming effect. Mr. Arpaio, who has vowed to make an example of law-breakers in Phoenix, Arizona, also obliged the former heavyweight boxing champion to wear pink underwear under his prison stripes.

Unsurprisingly, 41-year-old Tyson – who had been jailed for a day after admitting charges of possessing cocaine and driving under the influence – looked anything but amused when he reported to Tent City, an infamous open-air jail near a dog pound and a rubbish dump. The sentence, on top of 360 hours of community service, followed the fallen fighter’s arrest in his BMW after leaving a nightclub last Christmas.

But it could have been worse. Had Tyson, who has served prison terms for rape and assault, been jailed for longer he might have had to endure another of Mr Arpaio’s pet punishments – the chain gang.

[From the Daily Mail]

Sheriff Joe Arpaio pretty much spits in the face of the concept of restorative justice. And I have to say that, when it comes to Mike Tyson, I’m cool with that. So when your family is squabbling this Thanksgiving and you’re sitting there wondering if it’s cool to fake an illness and/or jump out a window just to get the hell away, and it seems like you will never experience happiness or joy in your life again (is that just me?) think of Mike Tyson in his pink lacies, and remember that there is still good in the world.

Picture Note by JayBird: Image thanks to the Daily Mail.