I don't know anything about football and I skipped all the parts of the story about football and followed the storyline about the big kid, Michael Oher. I am interested to see how the story turns into a movie. One of the parts of the story that stuck with me long after I put the book down was the question of how important football was to Michael's rescue from poverty. Is it ethical to adopt a child for his football talents and what he can do for your team? Should he have stayed in school and put his literacy and education first, or was putting football first his opportunity or his exploitation? ( )

A great analysis of football and the importance of the left tackle. The title refers to the left tackle's importance in protecting the blind side of the quarterback. The importance of the position is mingled with the story of Micheal Oher and his rise as a high school star and college success at the position. (He was drafted in the first round of the NFL draft.) ( )

I became a Michael Lewis fan years ago when I read Liar's Poker. Fan may be too strong a word. I realized then that I enjoyed his style and so when browsing the book store, and with the movie trailers out, seeing that the book was by Lewis, i decided to give it a shot.

I was not disappointed. Lewis has a way of writing that brings something which you are not a part of into your life and make you one with it. Some of his short works i still find that I remember vividly, twenty years later and recite from on occasion.

Here we have an encouraging story of a young black boy who really has nothing in his life but his athletic ability. We have a good family that certainly does not need to exploit the boy. So they did what we all should want to do if our situations allowed, take the boy in and help. But the story is not just about that, it covers the evolution of football, these last thirty to forty years as marquee quarterbacks, or productive west-coast offense systems come into play.

In essence it is two books because of that, and it is what makes the story. I had to call my football buddy up half-way through and tell him I had a book he needed to read. Now I have to watch a game and wonder what the left tackle is doing.

This book was a very good read, and well worth the time and effort. It may not be as fun ultimately as Playing for Pizza by Grisham, but it is pretty good in its own way. ( )

As a book club read, this was different. And as football is not my favorite sport (I don't dislike it, but for me it ranks below baseball & basketball), I wasn't sure how I was going to like it, but I went in with an open mind. It basically alternates between chapters about football player Michael Oher's "history" & the emerging importance of the position of left tackle in the NFL and in college football. Overall, a very educational story for me. For someone who doesn't necessarily consider themselves a true football fan, some of the football history may seem a little dry. I was okay with it, but tended to start skimming the further I got into the book.

The chapters specifically about Michael Oher were more engaging, although I feel myself left with a sour taste in my mouth as to the role the Tuohy family played in developing this young man's sports career. I have mixed feelings about that. If not for the financial & other numerous supports that the family provided him, he'd still be just another black kid on the street, struggling to survive. Hence, his is an inspiring story and the Tuohy's should probably be commended for their unfaltering support of Oher. But it reaffirms to me that in many cases, money makes the world go 'round, and in many instances, it was the Tuohy money that allowed all of this to happen. It makes one wonder about all of the other potential "stars" out there (athletes & other), who are unable to realize their potential because they're not fortunate to "fall into" the life-altering situation that Oher did. ( )

This adult nonfiction book won the Alex Award in 2007 and I've tried reading it before. But the first part of the book is strictly a book about football and the history of the game, and I grew bored. But then I saw the movie trailer and thought, "I better give this one another chance." So I tried the audio version. My mind still wandered during the football parts, but the parts about Michael Oher were wonderful. Michael was a poor black kid in Memphis who luckily ended up at a ritzy Christian school because of his massive size. He was smart, but never educated. He was physically gifted, but had never been taught to play anything. Everything he learned he learned from the streets. And then he ends up with a rich, white Republican family and his life begins to change. He starts learning how to play football and realizes that he won't ever be a point guard because of his size. He's called a "freak of nature" and is bigger than most NFL linemen as a junior in high school. After a few football games, college scouts are beating down his door. With a great tutor, charitable adopted parents and network of supporting people, Michael Oher ends up being drafted by the Baltimore Ravens for millions of dollars. This is a great inspirational read, if you can handle reading about the growing importance of the left tackle charging the quarterback's blind side. ( )

In 1981 defensive lineman Lawrence Taylor arrives on the NFL scene, changing the face of football forever by terrorizing quarterbacks with his size, agility, and vicious determination. To counter his prowess, teams begin to look for added strength in their offensive lines. The shift in playing strategy trickles down to the college level, making player recruiting a national pastime. The compelling focus of this football story is Michael Oher, a 15 year-old boy rescued from the Memphis ghetto by a white family who adopts, educates and guides him to a spot on a well-respected Division I football team. The author tells this amazing story through observations and interviews. Unfortunately the book ends with some threads of the story left hanging, making you wonder if perhaps there could be a sequel. ( )

Review by Jeremy Taylor
It’s fair to say that vast majority of casual football fans enjoy watching games without having more than a very general idea of the strategy that lies behind each play. For most spectators, if the quarterback completes a pass, he’s doing a good job; if he throws an interception, he’s not. If the defense gets a sack, they’re awesome. If they give up a touchdown, they’re struggling. We’re happy when our team does well, annoyed when they play poorly, and clueless when it comes to knowing about actual football strategy. That’s what the commentators are for.

In The Blind Side, author Michael Lewis gives readers some excellent tools to use in elevating their level of knowledge about—and appreciation for—the finer points of the game. Specifically, Lewis takes readers through the history of the left tackle position. If this sounds like less-than-thrilling subject matter for a nearly 300-page book, you’re in for a surprise.

This is a nonfiction book, but in many places it reads like a novel, primarily because Lewis follows the story of a football player named Michael Oher from his impoverished childhood, through his improbable adoption by a wealthy Memphis family, his surprising high-school football career, and his enrollment on a football scholarship at the University of Mississippi. Oher is a real person, and in telling his as-yet-uncompleted story, Lewis tells the history of the position Oher plays.

The left tackle has become one of the highest-paid positions in professional football, and in a sport where the stars are paid millions per year, that’s saying something. Many readers, even those who consider themselves knowledgeable football fans, may be surprised to learn that the seemingly inauspicious offensive-line position is considered one of the most important on the field. The reason, according to Lewis, is that the left tackle protects the quarterback’s “blind side.”

The development of the left-tackle position is a fascinating history in itself for those who enjoy reading about football and perhaps remembering some of the notable events the book touches on, but the real story of The Blind Side is the inspirational and touching tale of Michael Oher, the kid from the slums who became a football sensation.

Lewis utilizes an interesting strategy in writing what is essentially a biography of a football player who is not even out of college yet, a tactic that is particularly effective in portraying the ever-evolving nature of football strategy. Readers will come away feeling like they know a little bit about the life of Michael Oher but quite a bit about the position he plays.

Lewis’s casual writing style is easy to read but can be confusing at times. His wry perspectives on Southern Christianity may annoy some readers, but for the most part he remains an unobtrusive and unbiased narrator. There is some foul language, as may be expected in a nonfiction book whose real-life characters utilize casual profanity in regular speech, but overall there is little truly objectionable content.

For football fans interested in a wider perspective on the game as well as readers interested in a real-life rags-to-(presumably)-riches story, The Blind Side will entertain and educate. ( )

A book club pick. A very interesting social culture book that examines poor v rich and looks at the south all in the name of winning high school/college football. It's amazing this is a true story.

The entire book club found this book engrossing. ( )

A good book to read if you're interested in stories behind football, and a very good book to read if you've been a teacher. There are two stories in this book -- one on the statistics of football, one on the life of a young man essentially raised by wolves but catapulted into another life by his rare physical gifts, gifts which played into the statistical storyline. The statistics side of this book is nowhere near as strong as Lewis's treatment of the same for baseball -- partly because the baseball story is just more developed, partly because the protagonist's story is so bizarre and touching and vivid it will simply hijack any subplot in its presence.

3 stars because not as strong as Moneyball, but 4 stars for the right reader. ( )

I'm not too interested in football but I read (with my ears) The Blind Side: Evolution of the Game (2006) by Michael Lewis because it sounded like an intriguing story and I'd liked Lewis' earlier sports book Moneyball. The Blind Side deals with a change that occurred in the NFL with the emergence of the New York Giants' linebacker Lawrence Taylor. Taylor was able to change the game because he was a huge man but also fast, agile, and athletic. As a result he was able to put fear in the hearts of NFL quarterbacks by being able to come at them fast and furious from the right, their blind side. Lewis details LT's effect in a second-by-second retelling of the four-second play that ended Washington QB Joe Thiesman's careeer (which you can see in all its gory on YouTube). As a result, NFL teams had to find big, agile men to play Left Tackle to defend against the rushing Lawrence Taylors of the game. The importance of a good protection for the QB has resulted in Left Tackles being among the most highly paid players in the game.

After this prologue, the narrative switches to the story of Michael Oher, a left tackle at Ole Miss expected to be one of the top choices in next year's NFL draft. Oher is a big, athletic young man and a talented football player, but his life story as told by Lewis is far more intriguing. Oher never even played organized football until he was 16 and that was at the unlikely location of a private Christian school in Memphis. Escaping poverty in this wealthy, mostly-white school, Oher wins the hearts of a coach Sean Tuohy and his wife Leigh Ann who take Oher into their home and eventually adopt him. Oher's struggles to improve academically after a lifetime of almost no formal education are the most inspiring parts of the book, especially a section where Sean and Michael work out the poem "Charge of the Light Brigade."

Despite the title, this book actually has little to do with football, but it is a story of hope and generosity and what can happen when an impoverished boy receives some loving nurturing. When amateur drafts are discussed in the sports media, they can be dehumanizing, treating the players as commodities. Thanks to Michael Lewis, we can know the story of one of those very real human beings who happen to play the sport of football.

A portion of the story may also be read in the New York Times article "The Ballad of Big Mike." There are also plans afoot to adapt the book into a movie. ( )

This is the true story of Michael Oher, a black kid from Memphis who was poor, unschooled, sometimes hungry and homeless, and is now on track to becoming a first-round draft pick for the NFL. Lewis takes us deep into the life of the formerly shy, somewhat passive loner known as Big Mike, who overcame tremendous obstacles to become a student at Briarcrest Christian Academy. On arrival,

"Michael had no money and no reliable way to get around. He was totally dependent on whoever might give him a lift, and he had no idea, when he arrived at school in the morning, where he might spend the night. He sort of shopped around every day for the best deal he could find."

i was struck by the heart of those who helped him succeed ~ his friend, Big Tony, who first drove him to the white side of town and argued that he should be enrolled in an expensive private school; Leigh Anne Tuohy who noticed Michael wearing the same clothes every day and eventually became his adoptive mom when Sean and Leigh Anne took him in; Sue Mitchell who volunteered many hours to tutor him to help him overcome his lack of education; etc. And faced with enormous changes, Michael kept pushing forward:

"He'd gone from among the least valued fifteen-year-olds on the planet to among the most highly prized eighteen-year-olds. In the market for him great forces were at work. Soem of these forces arose from changes in football strategy: professional football now exalts the value of the task that Michael Oher's body is ideally suited to perform. But the greater forces arose from a series of social accidents -- his wandering out of poor black Memphis into rich white memphis, being taken in by a rich white family, and, above all, his willingness to endure an immense amount of trouble and discomfort to better his lot."

Equally fascinating is Lewis's description of the rise of the passing game and the recognition of the left tackle's importance:

"Offensive linemen were the stay-at-home mothers of the NFL: everyone paid lip service to the importance of their contribution yet hardly anyone could tell you exactly what that was. In 1985 the left tackle had no real distinction. He was still expected to believe himself more or less interchangeable with the other linemen."

But that changed when Lawrence Taylor appeared:

"(New York Giant linebacker Lawrence) Taylor is coming. From the snap of the ball (Washington Redskins quarterback Joe) Theismann has lost sight of him. He doesn't see Taylor carving a wide circle behind his back; he doesn't see Taylor outrun his blocker upfield and then turn back down; and he doesn't see the blocker diving, frantically, at Taylor's ankles. He doesn't see Taylor leap, both arms over his head, and fill the sky behind him. Theismann prides himself on his ability to stand in the pocket and disregard his fear. He thinks this quality is a prerequisite in a successful NFL quarterback. "When a quarterback looks at the rush," he says, "his career is over." Theismann has played in 163 straight games, a record for the Washington Redskins. He's led his team to two Super Bowls, and won one. He's thirty-six years old. He's certain he still has a few good years left in him. He's wrong. He has less than half a second." ( )

Michael Lewis swishes another one out of the park from midfield with this detailed look at the rise of the, and a particular, left tackle in American football. It's an amazing story for multiple reasons, and he tells it as well as anyone else writing today could. ( )

Totally fascinating. ( )

I like Michael Lewis sports books.

I got recommendations for this book from a bunch of weblogs and from my friend Bobby.

While I didn't quite like this one as much as Moneyball, that's not saying much since I *loved* Moneyball.

The intermixing of Football history and how Lawrence Taylor is responsible for the tools that a left tackle position (like the main character Michael Oher) needs to have.

The story of Oher blocking a guy on defense off the field, over the track surrounding the field and toward the fence surrounding the stadium made me laugh.

I though Oher had a lot in commond with Michael Clarke Duncan's character in The Green Mile. Through much of the book it seemed like Oher had just materialized out of nowhere... ( )

A fascinating and moving insight into the growth of a potential NFL star from very humble and difficult beginnings. I am sure the vast majority of people who have read this will be pulling for Oher to make it to the big stage. The development and changes in the guys life are brought out well by Michael Lewis here, this is a very fine book, he clearly has a knack for writing about sports what with this and Moneyball. I look forward to his next book on football, although I fear we may have to wait longer than I would really like. ( )

I first read "Moneyball" by Michael Lewis, and "The Blind Side" is just as phenomenal. Michael Oher is one of many children of a cocaine-addicted single mother in Memphis's seamier side. Given by chance the opportunity to study at a prestigious Christian secondary school in Memphis's more afffluent area, Oher begins a new life when he is adopted by the evangelical Tuohy family. Lewis relates the history of football as it pertains to the position of Left Tackle, the rise in importance of which allowed Oher to be scouted by universities with the top football programs in the country. Once a neglected boy whose destiny was to become a member of a gang of drug dealers in Memphis, Michael Oher currently attends Ole Miss and will most likely be drafted by the NFL after graduating. I am not a football fan and know relatively little about the game, but I thoroughly enjoyed Lewis's book. It is heartwrenching, inspiring, and entertaining.

After a beautiful opening passage and engaging opening chapters, this was, for me, a disappointing, ultimately exasperating, "he said, she said, he did, she did" exploration of changes in football strategy over the past decades on one hand, and the culture surrounding how the teams are built, developed and educated: focusing particularly on the players (many of whom are black kids from poor single parent upbringings with little formal education) who have grown to fill the now crucial quarterback protection position. This feels like a mightily padded magazine article, and in a shorter format the punch would be stronger but expanded to fill the book length the flaws defocus from the real story here.

I'm a football novice, but found it wonderfully incisive when sticking to the nuts and bolts of what has happened to the game, and the importance of the team players who are (or were) often ignored in the spectacle. I found Lewis recent history of how the offensive game has changed captivating even to someone with very little knowledge of the sport. However, its in Lewis' coverage of the personal and cultural back story that the book becomes far less satisfying, and suffers from an overly bland, turgid relating of the facts when the subject positively screams out for some sort of opinion, author's voice or other form of subjective expression or introspection. In covering Oher's rise through high school to pre-NFL college the author untangles Michael's life and presents this untangling in an awkward order that seems to match that in which he discovers the facts making the telling seem more like a diary of Lewis than an exploration of his subject. Oher's story is certainly interesting, sad, tragic and uplifting to some degree - it is also infuriating and Lewis doesn't shy away from the negative - but in the way that Lewis tells it not sufficiently _engaging_ to lift this work to the level where I would unreservedly recommend it.

There is a heartbreakingly sad social story here that includes, yet goes beyond the personal, and deserves a much more engaging telling, and ultimately this book left me disappointed that it dedicated so much page space to the topic with so very little depth.

As a history of a changing game, it succeeds with gusto - as a commentary on the social underpinnings I left feeling a little short-changed. ( )

http://jwikert.typepad.com/the_averag... ( )

This is a tale of two interwoven stories. The first is the story of Michael Oher, son a crack addict, who rose up to be one of the top NFL Lineman prospects in next summer's 2008 NFL Draft. And the second is the story of how football has evolved from a slug it out, pound the dirt ground based game to a light up the scoreboard and torch the horizons passing game. Oher, a massive man child, stumbles upon two benefactors who eventually adopt him and enroll him at a small private Christian school in Memphis where he learns to make mincemeat out of high school football defenses. Notable parts of the story are the courting of Oher by College Football's biggest names, including home visits from Phillip Fulmer, David Cutcliffe & Nick Saban to shmooze the family on the benefits of going to their particular school. Another is Lewis backstory of how a little known offensive genius by the name of Bill Walsh challenged the norm and reshaped football forever. Overall it's an excellent football history story, but it's also a fascinating look at a unique individual and the craziness that inevitably surrounds future NFL players. ( )

About 100 pages into The Blind Side, I was putting the book down for the night, and noticed that the library had tagged it as "B - Oher" (Biography section, subject's last name Oher). I thought it was a bit odd, since the author was really just starting to talk about Michael Oher, the phenom left tackle prospect from Memphis, Tennessee. But it ended up being very accurate. Only two or three of the chapters are devoted to examining how football evolved from the reliable run-first offense to passing 50-60% of the time. The rest are devoted to the evolution of Michael Oher's game, and more accurately, how he went from being just another kid from the slums to living with a rich white family and becoming a top left tackle prospect.
I won't give away the ending, and if you decide to read the book, I recommend you avoid looking up Michael Oher on the internet, as it will spoil it for you. The author definitely succeeds in showing all angles of college and pro sports, good and bad. You wind up rooting for Michael, even as he seems destined to follow that all too familiar route to destruction. The Blind Side shows us why left tackles have become so important to football (are you listening Giants and Jerry Reese?) even while they remain virtually anonymous, and then puts a face on one of those anonymous players. Brilliantly done, and the first "non-fiction" book I've finished so quickly in a long time. ( )

I couldn't put this down. I am a football fan but not a great one by far -- I don't watch more than 8 games a year, and I don't do Fantasy League. But it is enchanting. Michael Lewis does have a gift for writing factual biographical novels. Sort of Tracy Kidder meets John Grisham. The fact the he interviewed extensively Bill Parcells, Bill Walsh and many other players is amazing and quality work. ( )

The description of Oher's journey from the ghetto to a college scholarship and the stories of those who helped him along the way are very compelling. Lewis’ writing is solid, and tends to get in the way of the story only rarely. ( )

Explains the development of the importance of the offensive lineman, more importantly the left tackle. But the bigger story is school programs doing whatever they can to get the talent on their teams even when it means compromising educational standards. ( )

Super Bowl XLI is right around the corner, and I have the perfect book to whet your appetite. Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball, has written another sports expose titled The Blind Side. This time he aims his knowledgeable pen at the institution of football.

His first chapter retells the horrendous tackle Joe Theismann endured by Lawrence Taylor—an attack which ended his football career. The ABC game, a Monday Night Football production watched by 17.6 million viewers, featured the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins. It was, “the start of the second quarter, first and 10 at midfield,” when Theismann caught the “flea flicker” and set up for a pass.

Out of nowhere Taylor raised his arm to sack attack Theismann. The force wasn’t in Taylor’s arm but rather in his descending right thigh. As he came down for the tackle his thigh was pushed down into Thiesmann’s right leg, fracturing tibia and fibula.

Lawrence Taylor had made a name for himself as a fanatical quarterback destroyer. Apparently, Taylor had a mild case of claustrophobia and preferred to maneuver away from the pack. This being, he would not lower himself into a set position when in the line of scrimmage. Once the ball was snapped, he preferred to move around the mass and be the guy closer to the top of any tackle.

Just by playing with his natural fear he became successful at “sacking the quarterback.” Time-after-time he went around the line and circled back to find the quarterback unprotected. He, in effect, hit the man from his blind side and created a new football strategy.

This new strategy requires a heavy, nimble man or waltzing elephant to be effective. It is a unique human that possesses this mixture, weight and grace—so unique, that the NFL is willing to pay big money for the specimen. The left tackle, Taylor’s position, is the second highest paid player, other than the quarterback.

Imagine you are a football scout and you have just seen an incredible sight, a sophomore at Briarcrest Christian School, bulky yet nimble, making three pointers on the Memphis basketball court. This is how Michael Oher first appeared to scout Tom Lemming, believing he had just witnessed the next Orlando Pace.

The next year, Lemming “ranked him [Oher] as the #1 offensive line prospect” in the country. Follow Oher’s evolution, currently playing at Ole Miss, from gentle giant to mean machine in this very entertaining book. ( )