The Blind Side by Michael Lewis

Some of you lovely readers might not be aware of this, but before Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for her portrayal of Leigh Anne Touhy in the movie The Blind Side, there was actually a book. Oh yes, I'm not lying. Often times, Hollywood actually makes movies based on books. Crazy I know. And often times, books are written about real live people. Such is the case with The Blind Side.

First I will give a little synopsis of the book and then provide a lot of commentary because this book is not the least bit what everyone thinks it to be. Least of all my boss, Lynnette, who purchased this book to read before she watched the movie. She made it three pages in and then promptly handed it over to me to read. She wanted me to read it first so I could tell her where to start reading it. In essence, where it got good.

Michael Oher was a poor, black kid from the wrong side of Memphis, TN - that is the West side. In a strange turn of events, he lands in an East side, rich, white private Evangelical christian school for his Junior year. Some concessions were made since Michael didn't really have the grades to make the cut at the highly academic school. His free pass came in the form of his body. Michael was 6'5", 350 pounds. At age 16. All the coaches at the school saw a wonderful asset in Michael so he was allowed in.

The Touhys, the rich, white Evangelical family that eventually adopts Michael, entered his life gradually. Michael had no real support system. He was one of 14 siblings to a mother addicted to drugs. Michael mostly slept on whichever friends couch who would have him, up to and including his first semester at Briarcrest, the new Christian school. Sean Touhy, a former Ole Miss basketball star and current owner of 85 Taco Bells, took an interest in Michael. Sean himself was an American success story having come from nothing and made himself a millionaire. He saw a little of himself in Michael.

The Touhys involvement in Michael's life began slowly. Sean set up an account in the cafeteria for Michael's meals. Leigh Anne, Sean's wife, took Michael out clothes shopping since he only seemed to have one pair of jeans and one t-shirt to wear. Eventually, Michael began sleeping on the Touhys' couch. After that, Leigh Anne simply set him up in his own room. Just like that, Michael had become part of the Touhy family.

Eventually, college football scouts got wind of Michael. They didn't care that Michael wasn't particularly good at football (yet). All they needed was one glimpse at his size and they were ready to throw a full scholarship at him. But before that could happen, Michael needed some work. His grades were crap - he was barely able to read. And the position that all the scouts were interested in him playing - left tackle - he had never played before. Sean and the Briarcrest football coaches spent the summer teaching Michael the basics of the left tackle position. Leigh Anne got to work getting Michael a tutor to improve his grades.

Michael's senior year was a glorious success. He was named Tennessee State Football Player of the Year and his grades had improved considerably. He was being courted by all the big colleges and he had been formally adopted by the Touhys. Michael's life had gone from nearly an inner city statistic to future NFL star in a short year and a half.

OK, so Michael's story is really only half of this book, dear readers. Many people don't know that the book is actually called The Blind Side - Evolution of a Game. That game is football and that evolution makes up the other half of the book. The book begins with the story of Lawrence Taylor and Joe Theismann. Anybody who knows anything about pro football knows the story I'm speaking of. Lawrence Taylor (or LT more commonly) is better known these days for his crack addiction and more recently his penchant for sex with underage girls. Joe Theismann, well, he's known for what Lawrence Taylor did to him. If you're curious, google it but don't say I didn't warn you. I'll just leave it at this:

This half of the book is very heavy on football theory and strategy, stats and statistics. I watch football. I'm a fan. I know most of the big name players. I know my way around a football game well enough. I may not know the difference between pass defending and pass interference, or the difference between offsides and encroachment (one is defense, one is offense - I don't know which). This is what I have a husband for and he came in very handy while reading this book. "Honey, what's a blitz?" "Honey, what's spearing?" My point being, I know the basics of football but I still needed help with this book.

Lewis' point was that there was an evolution that had started a decade - maybe two - before Michael Oher even set foot on the football field. That evolution was a need for a big enough, strong enough, athletic enough left tackle to protect the quarterback's blind side. The idea being that most quarterbacks were right handed therefore making their left side their blind side. If that blind side was adequately protected, the quarterback was left free to complete his passes down field.

So, these chapters on football theory and strategy were inserted in between the chapters about Michael's transformation to give the readers some background on what had made Michael such a valuable commodity in the first place. Lewis also, most likely, bored a lot of readers (not the least of which my boss) who picked up the book to read a heart warming rags-to-riches story only to be bombarded with football statistics. I blame this on the movie. I haven't seen it yet but I would venture to guess the movie doesn't mention the improvement of pass completions when going from a traditional offense to a West Coast Offense. God, how do I even know these things now! I need to watch a fashion show and reprogram my brain ASAP!

This book was hard to rate since, as I stated above, half of the book is football theory, the other half heart warming rags-to-riches. I would give the football theory half two bows and the rags-to-riches half four bows so we will go with an average of three bows.If you are an average reader and can get through the history and theory chapters without being so bored as to give up, you'll find the book quite enjoyable. If you're a football scholar, like my husband, you will find the book riveting. If you don't know the first thing about football or sports in general - and don't care - you're screwed. Rent the movie. Happy reading, or maybe this time I should say happy watching!