The Blind Side - book

The Blind Side, by Michael Lewis (W.W. Norton and Co., 2009).

This, for me, was one of those rare books that I found hard to put down once I began reading. It is an exceedingly interesting account of a young Black man’s rise from poverty and neglect to become a millionaire professional football player. Sometimes described as “a freak of nature,” Michael Oher at sixteen already was six feet six inches tall and weighed 350 pounds. But he was also, for a person of that size, extremely gifted by being exceptionally fast and mobile. Through a series of rather improbable events he was enrolled in a small, private Christian college where he could play both basketball and football. Although this was an obscure college as far as football went, he was discovered early by football scouts who all believed at first sight of him, because of his size and unusual physical abilities, that he was destined for College and eventually a career in the NFL. During his first weeks at college he still had no permanent home and was forced to spend time with a number of different people in the ghettos of Memphis, living hand to mouth, wearing the same clothing day after day, and so forth. He was then taken in by a white, Republican, and very wealthy family who eventually adopted him. Thus he acquired a white mother (who became extremely active on his behalf) and a wealthy father (who was unusually generous), along with a sister of his own age and a young brother with whom he became very close. As he had had virtually no education they provided him, not only with love and a home, but also with a tutor and most everything he could have desired. As his background was so impoverished he had to be slowly enculturated into the upper middle class society he had entered. He eventually raised his grades sufficiently to be allowed to play sports, and also to be admitted to Ol’ Miss University where he duly became a football standout. It is difficult to read this inspiring story without a tear or two along the way as it is a story of hard work and dedication, ambition and determination, as well as love and devotion. As Michael was one of thirteen children whose mother was a drug addict and could not look after him, with a father he didn’t know, and a history of running away from one foster home after another to live on the street, the odds against him were enormous. Without the help of his adopted (and wealthy) parents he would not have had much of a chance at anything other than prison.

But there is much more to this book than Michael Oher’s personal story, as the author situates Michael in the context of professional football and its demands for players, especially players with Michael’s rare size and ability. Not only do you learn much about football strategy, coaching, and the like, but specifically about the unusual demand for left tackles, a position that has been raised to a much higher status than other linemen, and, indeed, sometimes even higher than that of quarterback. You also learn the lengths to which Universities will go to sign outstanding football prospects, the promises they will make, and the various means that can be employed to make prospects respectable. For example, if you have money to hire tutors, and if you know the right places to go, you can quickly raise failing grades into “A’s” and thus conveniently raise a grade point sufficiently for college acceptance. You can also expunge criminal records and make certain the prospective players will not be considered potential troublemakers, and so on. As Michael’s adopted father had been a standout athlete at Ol’ Miss himself, and his wife was also a graduate of that distinguished University, there was much suspicion on the part of some (a great many other Universities had attempted to sign Michael) that they had deliberately groomed Michael specifically for the purpose of playing football there. By giving him food and lodging, as well as money and other material things, this might well have been against the rules of intercollegiate recruiting. But as the family had taken Michael in before he even played football, and as they were already incredibly wealthy, these kinds of charges could not be confirmed, even though Michael did sign at Ol’ Miss instead of the many other football programs that might have promised him even more. Michael now plays left tackle for the Ravens, having signed an initial five-year contract for 13.8 million dollars. His fantastic success story is being made into a motion picture.

Michael Oher comes across as a sadly neglected and ignorant, but by no means unintelligent, young man who tried to do the right things and learn what was required of him. However, much to my chagrin (and chagrin is putting it mildly) there is what to me is a dark side to this fantastic story. For one thing it demonstrates (once again) that if you have money and connections you can pretty much do as you please, whereas if you are poor and powerless you may well be doomed. There is a disturbing aura of “I’ve got mine, you get yours,” as well as a “what’s in it for me,” attitude. This can be seen clearly in the behavior of the younger brother who, even though a child, demands of the various recruiters what they will do for him. This might strike you as funny, but later, when he demands to know why his sister and Michael should even be included in his father’s will (because they will both be wealthy on their own) it reveals a mind set that is not very flattering. But what truly soured the story for me was the following:

“Not long after college coaches informed him that he had a future in the NFL, Michael informed Leigh Anne (his adopted mother) that, if he indeed made it to the NFL, he intended to buy a house with thirteen bedrooms so that his mother and siblings would be guaranteed shelter. Now he wasn’t so sure he wanted to do that. ‘They had the same chances I had,’ he said. ‘They need to get off their lazy asses and work. They need to start hearing ‘no.’”

This is a statement so delusionally false and (in my opinion) awful, that I wonder if he really said this or if it is merely being attributed to him by the author or someone else.

In an afterword to the paperback edition the author observes that reactions to his book were bizarre and self-contradictory, some thinking it was too liberal and other complaining it was a conservative polemic, others thought it was a Christian miracle, and still others shunning it because it contained the word “evolution,” and so on. For me, I’m sorry to say, I think it reveals the depth of Michael’s indoctrination into basic and apparently permanent Republican values: money and influence count more than what might be right, what’s in it for me, and I’ve got mine, you get yours.