The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game [Paperback]

Since I'd greatly enjoyed Lewis' baseball book "Moneyball", I figured this would make a nice companion to read during the NFL playoffs. The book's subtitle is "Evolution of a Game", so I expected a somewhat similar book looking at the transformations underway in professional football. And to a certain degree, that content is there, via a brief discussion of the rise of the passing game and Bill Walsh's crucial role in this, as well as Lawrence Taylor's impact on the game. The book opens with a blow-by-blow of LT's famous leg-snapping sack of Joe Theisman -- an event I vividly recall watching on TV as a 12-year-old Redskins fan. This leads off the discussion of role of the left tackle and this position's counterintuitive rise in the NFL pay scale. All of which segues into the book's main subject: Michael Oher.

Oher is one of thirteen children born to an alcoholic, drug-addicted mother in the West Memphis ghetto. He grew up in total poverty with her, in and out of various foster homes and various public schools. Along the way, he filled out into a 6' 6" 340 pound behemoth with natural grace and speed unnatural to those of his size. He also came to the attention of Lewis' old elementary school classmate, and ex-college star point guard Sean Tuohy. Now a successful businessman and pro-basketball announcer, Tuohy takes an interest in MIchael and works the system to get him into his daughter's elite Christian prep school.

The lily-white conservative Tuohy family's quasi-adoption of Michael, along with his meteoric rise to prominence in college football recruiting circles forms the central storyline. The Tuohy's basically work their upper-crust and sports connections to shepard Michael along, pressuring people, exploiting loopholes, and using their money to smooth his path. Lewis originally wrote about this for the New York Times Magazine, and in many ways, the book feels like an extended magazine piece. It's essentially a very smooth and readable extended human interest profile. The main problem is that the book has no ending -- it ends with Oher a sophomore at Mississippi. The more natural ending would have been two years later, with Oher getting drafted and about to get enter the maelstrom of the NFL.

Imagine that you are a large (over 300 pounds) African-American teenager who lives in the worst part of Memphis. You never knew your father (and he will soon be murdered). Your mother is addicted to drugs and doesn't do much to provide for you. You have no bed. You don't know where your next meal is coming from. You haven't gone to enough school to know how to do much of anything.

What do you want out of life? You want to be Michael Jordan . . . just like millions of other teenagers. You've spent endless hours on the playgrounds practicing as a shooting guard.

What will you become in a handful of years? One of the most heavily recruited college football players in the United States and a top professional prospect who people are watching as you learn how to be a left tackle.

The story of how Michael Oher made this transition is one of the most amazing, moving, and fascinating real-life stories it has ever been my pleasure to read. Whether or not you like football, you'll find this book to be impossible to put down.

Michael Lewis does a remarkable job in telling the story. Mr. Lewis was fortunate to have a long-term friendship with Sean Tuohy, one of the many people who helped Michael Oher fulfill his potential. As a result, Mr. Lewis enjoyed amazing access to the people involved in Michael's life . . . and eventually got some help from Michael as well.

The Blind Side is four stories in one:

1. Michael's life before he met the Tuohy family.

2. Michael's progress from being ignorant to becoming a highly recruited college football prospect.

3. Michael's adjustment to college.

4. The changes in American professional football that created an irresistible demand for someone with Michael's physical capabilities.

Each of these stories would make a fine book. To be able to pursue all four stories at the same time is an unexpected delight.

But the story's not over. Michael is now a sophomore at Ole Miss. Will he make it to the NFL? You can follow his career and find out. Perhaps other amazing chapters lie ahead. Who knows?

There's another story this book doesn't tell, but implies: The world is full of talented youth who could make great contributions . . . but they need a lot of help from people who care and are determined to help the youth succeed. For ever Michael Oher, there must be millions who languish. How can we change that? You'll be haunted by that question after you read this book.

If you are looking for keen insights into American football that you don't already have, you'll probably be disappointed. Any fan of professional football knows that a team's potential chances of success are only as good as the blocking of the offensive line. Clearly, the left tackle is the best insurance against a maimed right-handed quarterback, something no fan wants. You've probably noticed that the top left tackles get paid almost as much as quarterbacks. The history of how the Bill Walsh-type passing offenses have become so important is something you've lived through.

The professional football material will, however, be helpful to those who don't know football and want to appreciate why people have been going gaga over Michael Oher.

How can you help an at-risk youth today?

I'm a huge football fan but actually don't read that many books which are football related. Normally they are the usual ghost written ramblings of some former player or coach which have the odd interesting after dinner type anecdote but generally are very formulaic.

Not this book.

I was attracted to it from some word of mouth recommendation. Really glad I bought it.

Gives some really interesting back ground on the evolution of the passing game, o-line play and blind side pass rush in the NFL. Also gives some insite into the College recruiting process. Which is good if you are a football fan.

But more than that it tells a fascinating human interest story of a poor black kid from New Orleans with a drug and alcohol addicted dead beat mother, multiple brothers and sisters from various absent fathers and zero education. This kid just happend to be 6-5 and weigh 300+ lbs at age 14 and have great athletic ability.

Taken in by a rich white family who support him through high school this story tells of his journey adapting to a middle class upbringing, his education and of course the development of his footbal career.

As a postscript the book ends with him being recruited to Ole Miss a Division 1 College football programme on a full scholarship. He was just drafted to the NFL by the Baltimore Ravens with the 20th overall pick in the 1st round of the 2009 NFL draft.

Great story.