The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game
Opening in theaters November 20, 2009, The Blind Side is a feature movie based on Michael’s Lewis’s New York Times bestseller, produced by Alcon Entertainment and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The Blind Side tells the inspirational story of Michael Oher, a homeless black teen taken under the wing of the Touhys, a wealthy white Memphis family. Oher’s size and speed on the football field bring him accolades. But learning the game’s strategy and making it as a student take the help of...
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By the author of the bestselling Moneyball: in football, as in life, the value we place on people changes with the rules of the games they play. The New York Times - Janet Maslin Michael Lewis has such a gift for storytelling that it can be dangerous to his nonfiction. He is so much fun to read that he can appear to be shaping an entertaining narrative by sandpapering reality's rough edges. The real-life fable that is The Blind Side tells how a mountainous, destitute black teenager miraculously morphs into an Ole Miss football hero and becomes a member of a wealthy white evangelical family. Its dialogue is sharp and its anecdotes well chosen. Its aim for both the heartstrings and the funny bone is right on the mark.
Back Story 15The Market for Football Players 29Crossing the Line 45The Blank Slate 75Death of a Lineman 103Inventing Michael 131The Pasta Coach 167Character Courses 197Birth of a Star 231The Egg Bowl 263Freak of Nurture 293And Moses Stuttered 313Afterword to the Paperback Edition 331Author's Note 335
\ From Barnes & NobleWe are huge fans of Michael Lewis, one of the foremost practitioners of the new literary journalism, an engaging style of nonfiction that blends workmanlike reportage and artful, creative narration. Now the bestselling author of Liar's Poker, Moneyball, and Coach scores a touchdown with this insightful look at professional football and the changing nature of a game now tightly focused on speed, size, and strength. Typically, Lewis provides an appealing, human-interest hook to his deft analysis of America's most popular spectator sport. At the heart of The Blind Side is the remarkable story of a rising gridiron star, a young man -- rescued from an excruciatingly disadvantaged youth by a remarkable family, a Christian education, and the game of football -- who seems destined for a stellar career (and an astronomical salary) in the NFL.\ \ \ \ \ Bookmarks MagazineIt's much more than a treatise on football; it's an exploration of the limits of conventional thinking and how strategic changes affect the value of quick-footed behemoths.... That he makes it easy for his reader to comprehend—and enjoy—is enough for most critics to give Lewis's latest a rousing cheer.\ \ \ BooklistStarred Review.... The book works on three levels. First as a shrewd analysis of the NFL; second,\ as an expose of the insanity of big-time college football recruiting;\ and, third, as a moving portrait of the positive effect that love,\ family, and education can have in reversing the path of a life that was destined to be lived unhappily and, most likely, end badly.\ \ \ \ \ The SpectatorProvides deep insights about sport and America.\ \ \ \ \ Financial TimesA wonderful tale.— John Gapper\ \ \ \ \ The ObserverLewis has made a habit of writing about sport recently, but sport is really only a subtext for a much more meaningful examination of class and race. I wept at the end, something I have not done at the end of a work of non-fiction for a very long time.— Malcolm Gladwell\ \ \ \ \ The Times [London]The strongest strand of The Blind Side is about sporting strategy.\ When brain defeats brawn in one of Michael Lewis's books, you can almost hear the prose style lift off.— Ed Smith\ \ \ \ \ Booklist“Starred Review.... The book works on three levels. First as a shrewd analysis of the NFL; second,\ as an expose of the insanity of big-time college football recruiting;\ and, third, as a moving portrait of the positive effect that love,\ family, and education can have in reversing the path of a life that was destined to be lived unhappily and, most likely, end badly.”\ \ \ \ \ The Spectator“Provides deep insights about sport and America.”\ \ \ \ \ Bookmarks Magazine“It's much more than a treatise on football; it's an exploration of the limits of conventional thinking and how strategic changes affect the value of quick-footed behemoths.... That he makes it easy for his reader to comprehend—and enjoy—is enough for most critics to give Lewis's latest a rousing cheer.”\ \ \ \ \ Janet MaslinMichael Lewis has such a gift for storytelling that it can be dangerous to his nonfiction. He is so much fun to read that he can appear to be shaping an entertaining narrative by sandpapering reality's rough edges. The real-life fable that is The Blind Side tells how a mountainous, destitute black teenager miraculously morphs into an Ole Miss football hero and becomes a member of a wealthy white evangelical family. Its dialogue is sharp and its anecdotes well chosen. Its aim for both the heartstrings and the funny bone is right on the mark.\ —The New York Times\ \ \ \ \ Allen BarraThe Blind Side, perhaps the best book written about a college football player since Willie Morris's The Courting of Marcus Dupree (1983), grabs hold of you in several ways. On one hand, you'll be appalled by the tactics used to advance academically unqualified high school and college football players. At the same time, you'll be furiously turning the pages, rooting for Michael Oher to succeed. And the story isn't over: If Oher makes it into the NFL in three years, Lewis should have a dandy follow-up.\ — The Washington Post\ \ \ \ \ Publishers WeeklyAs he did so memorably for baseball in Moneyball, Lewis takes a statistical X-ray of the hidden substructure of football, outlining the invisible doings of unsung players that determine the outcome more than the showy exploits of point scorers. In his sketch of the gridiron arms race, first came the modern, meticulously choreographed passing offense, then the ferocious defensive pass rusher whose bone-crunching quarterback sacks demolished the best-laid passing game, and finally the rise of the left tackle the offensive lineman tasked with protecting the quarterback from the pass rusher whose presence is felt only through the game-deciding absence of said sacks. A rare creature combining 300 pounds of bulk with "the body control of a ballerina," the anonymous left tackle, Lewis notes, is now often a team's highest-paid player. Lewis fleshes this out with the colorful saga of left tackle prodigy Michael Oher. An intermittently homeless Memphis ghetto kid taken in by a rich white family and a Christian high school, Oher's preternatural size and agility soon has every college coach in the country courting him obsequiously. Combining a tour de force of sports analysis with a piquant ethnography of the South's pigskin mania, Lewis probes the fascinating question of whether football is a matter of brute force or subtle intellect. Photos. (Oct.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.\ \ \ \ \ Library JournalBest-selling author Lewis (Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game) shows how changes in the pro game wrought by 49ers head coach Bill Walsh's efficient passing attack and a defense emphasizing Lawrence Taylor-style speed rushers from the quarterback's blind side mean that the offensive left tackle position now rivals the quarterback both in importance and in pay scale. Lewis's discussion of evolving strategy is woven into the true focus of his book, a profile of African American football prodigy Michael Oher. One of 13 children of a drug-addicted mother, Oher was homeless in Memphis when he was placed in the Briarcrest Christian School and then adopted by a wealthy white family. He found a sense of belonging and a future. He is now the massive left tackle for the University of Mississippi. His strange, sad, and yet inspiring tale is grippingly told here. For all libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 6/1/06.]. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.\ \
