One of the things we do in this section is provide reviews of the latest sports books that you may want to pick up, or warn you of the ones to leave on the shelf.  This week we go back to Michael Lewis’, “The Blindside” which is four years old but is back in the public eye as it happens to have its debut as a major motion picture today. We’ll review the movie for you next week, but as for the book, this really is one of the unique sports-reads of the last few years. 

“The Blindside” tells the now well-known story of Michael Oher (pronounced “oar”) who plays right tackle for the Baltimore Ravens, but who had a very difficult childhood and would likely have remained an anonymous tragedy in the inner-city of Memphis, Tennessee were it not for his incredible size and athletic ability and the assistance of a wealthy Memphis family who took Oher into their home. When Lewis’ book came out the story was not complete as Oher was then just in his freshman season at the University of Mississippi and his NFL success was only a potential outcome.  What makes the book different from other human interest stories in a sports setting, is the fact that Lewis weaves throughout his narrative a fascinating history of the Offensive Left Tackle (thus the title ”The Blindside”) position and it’s importance in the game.  Lewis’ position is that the horrifying injury to Redskin’s Qb Joe Theissman, witnessed by millions on Monday Night Football, changed forever the way GMs and coaches in the league viewed that previously, relatively unimportant position.  The writing is engaging and the book reads more like a work of fiction than the biography/sports textbook that it actually is.  My only quibble with the author is the portrayal of the family that took Oher in, the Touhy’s.  Lewis seems to accept completely at face value that this family are the caring, humanitarians that selflessly take in a poor, homeless boy from the projects with no ulterior motive whatsoever.  The fact that Oher selects as his college Ole Miss which happens to be the alma mater of both Sean and Leigh Ann Tuohy and rejects a host of other offers, including from all of the most potent football factories in the country is never really addressed or explained satisfactorily.  I’ve met Sean Touhy who happens to be the “color voice” of the Memphis Grizzlies and he comes across as incredibly sincere and honest, but for this book to be complete some digging probably would have been in order, even just to prove that nothing underhanded was involved.

Nonetheless, this is a great read and it feels like you’re getting two books for the price of one.  Enjoy!