The Blind Side by Michael Lewis

right on. always has bugged me that good athletes get subsidies to go to college, and the tab is picked up by the rest of us schlumps. why aren't there free rides for j-school kids?

 

The whole connection with Sean Tuhoy and his family is sort of negative in some ways.
But, this kid might have turned into nothing more than a solid booksmart guy who had his life saved.
The athletics part evolved and that's great to see.
I think the Tuhoys had his best interests in mind and made a tough decision to do a hands-on job of helping him salvage a life for himself.

 

I doubled over laughing at the part where Michael tried to block the kid who was trash-talking him out of the stadium and onto the bus I can't even imagine seeing something like that live.

 

Just finished the paperback version of the book. Found out Oher is going back to Ole Miss for his senior year.
I think Lewis' conflicted feelings about the whole thing came through in the writing. There were many other families Oher crashed with who DIDN'T take him in for good. And while I am always suspicious when I hear of athletes moving away from their parents going to school and living with families connected to a basketball or football school, the truth is they are helping the kid have a chance at a better life. And given the time and care the Tuouhy's put into Oher, the hope of an 8-4 season and a trip to the Music City Bowl seems like a bad return on their investment.
I would be interested in hearing a story about a kid who moved away to go to high school and living with a family, gets injured, then gets booted out of school and the home.

 

I don't have to read this book because I know it sucks. [/Joe Morgan]

 

The part of the book I found fascinating was the evolution of the left tackle, the chess match between Walsh/Parcells and how Walsh developed the "West Coast Offense."
I played football for a decade, and I was a left tackle in high school. I didn't know any better. I figured I was just put there, but I know I was a better pass blocker than a run blocker. It made sense. (I'm not bragging by any means. I wasn't all that great. Our team wasn't very good either.)
Being from Memphis, Lewis did a really good job of encapsulating the town. There is a stark gap between the poor and the rich, who don't live in Memphis proper (except maybe Midtown) but live way out east and even into north Mississippi.

 

You're not picking up the tab, unless you happen to be a fat-cat 50-yard-line donor at a Division I school. That's where the funds come from for the scholarships.
An athletic scholarship is fully funded by a school's athletic department -- as in, the athletic department writes a full tuition/room&board check to cover Joe Pro, the quarterback. Did you know that? The money generally comes from athletic deparment funds largely generated by booster donations. So the money's not coming out of your pocket.
Feel better?
Would it make you feel even better to know that I went to college on a full journalism scholarship? So they're out there, just not as many. And, to be honest, I didnt repay my school for that scholarship in the $ame way that, $ay, Tyler Han$brough i$ now.

 

Great book. My favorite line was Leigh Anne Tuohy's observation about the Tennessee-Alabama battle to recruit Oher:

"The difference between Phil Fulmer and Nick Saban was the difference between dealing with the town mayor and dealing with the White House."

From page 165 of the hardcover.