Blind Side Accolades & Update

Image of Michael Oher courtesy of Bleacher Report.



At the Academy Awards last night, Sandra Bullock won Best Actress for her role in "The Blind Side", capping an awards season where she also won a Golden Globe for playing the Southern mom that takes Michael Oher under her wing and helps him achieve a life outside of the Memphis slums where he grew up. The film, made on a $30 million budget, tiny by Hollywood standards, has gone on to gross more than $250 million. Previously, I had reviewed the outstanding book here on FTRS and the movie version didn't disappoint. Most of the movie was straight from the book (some chapters regarding the technicalities of the left tackle position didn't make it onto the screen), and the omissions that were done made sense for a general audience. If you missed out on seeing it in theaters, "The Blind Side" will be out on DVD March 23.



But what about the real Michael Oher? Where is he now and how is he doing? Oher was drafted in the 1st round, 23rd pick overall of the 2009 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Ravens. Weighing in at 309 lbs. and measuring 6'5", Oher made a strong impression on the Ravens coaches early to the point where he became the team's starting right tackle. Over the course of the season, he started all 16 games (11 at right tackle, 5 at left tackle, the position he played during his "Blind Side" days), and was runner-up in the Offensive Rookie of the Year polling. Oher has played well enough that there is some speculation in Baltimore that within the next season or two, Oher will switch to left tackle full time, a hard task considering the premiere pass-rushers in the NFL attack from the left side, hence the blind side.



I've embedded three YouTube clips into this post. The first is NFL Network's coverage of the draft when Michael Oher was selected. The second is an interview of Michael Oher by NBC's Bob Costas from last November, midway through Oher's rookie season in Baltimore. The third is an interview with the Tuohy family and Fox News' Mike Huckabee.

Book Review: The Blind Side

Photo courtesy of DailyRadar.com.

I finished Michael Lewis' book The Blind Side a few weeks ago. What a great story with a lot of heart. The book alternates between the history of the left tackle position, the player that protects the quarterback's blind side, in the NFL and the story of Michael Oher, a kid growing up in the impoverished slums of west Memphis, taken in by the wealthy Tuohy family and given a chance to succeed in football as a left tackle.

The left tackle position was undervalued in the early days of the NFL until Lawrence Taylor, linebacker of the New York Giants, wrecked havoc on quarterbacks by attacking their blind side. The book begins with Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann suffering a severe injury at the hands of Taylor. Later on, San Francisco 49ers coach Bill Walsh, the genius behind the "West Coast Offense", devised a plan to stop Taylor by putting his biggest blocker on the left side. Now that the passing game is even more crucial to teams than ever, the left tackle is often times the second highest-paid player on the team.

But it was the story of Michael Oher that was the highlight of the book. Michael was an African-American kid who had hardly ever slept on a bed, or known what having his own room was like. His mom was a drug addict, they lived in housing projects (appropriately named Hurt Village), he had to repeat first and second grade, and was what some would consider "damaged goods". After a family friend sent his son and Michael to a private, mostly white Christian school on the other side of town, the Tuohy family effectively adopts him and sets him on a path to success in both academics (his GPA went from a 0.9 to a 2.65) and sports. He was the school's starting left tackle and went on to earn a scholarship from Ole Miss, the same school that Mr. and Mrs. Tuohy attended. Michael currently plays in the NFL for the Baltimore Ravens as the rookie starting right tackle, though he may move back to left tackle after gaining experience at the pro level. The Ravens' offensive line, the group of players that Oher is a part of, is receiving early rave reviews for protecting quarterback Joe Flacco.

The book's main flaw was there were times reading the book where I wanted to get back to Michael Oher's story, rather than hear the nuances of the evolution of the left tackle. Oher's story is so gripping, you want to see more of it and the left tackle history can get a bit technical at times, losing casual readers.

To hear author Michael Lewis in an NPR interview for the book, go here. And, as with most books, a movie adaptation is on the way this November (video courtesy of A3FilmTrailers/Warner Bros.):