The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game

Michael Oher's story is certainly interesting, but there's just not enough content for an entire book of this size.

I LOVED the chapters on the evolution of the rush defensive end, the West Coast offense, free agency, and everything else that made the LT position so valuable. The early Michael Oher chapters were fascinating. Once he was making it in school and crushing people on the football field, it became a little tedious.

Michael Lewis never fails in his ability to dig deep into his subject and share great insight. In this story he walks us through the challinges of an abandoned young man who's life is changed by the compassion and commitment of a family with nothing to gain by extending themselves to change the life of a human being.

This book restored my faith in good people of the United States. However, I do feel that too much time was spent on Bill Walsh. The family that gave of themselves is to be commended and it goes to show what love, understanding and caring can do, not just to young people but to us all.

If this were written by someone besides Michael Lewis, I would have given it a 4-Star. The Movie followed the story-line that the Michael Lewis of 'Liars Poker' or 'The Big Short' would have written; 'The Blind Side' jumps around with the start towards the end of the book, the middle at the beginning, and the ending around the two-thirds mark. The Michael Lewis of 'MoneyBall' would have developed and given better backstory of the characters; because of this, I can see why real-people got merged into single-characters in the Movie. Michael Lewis should have given Michael Oher the same respect in 'The Blind Side' that he gave Billy Beane in 'MoneyBall'.

In todays cynical world it is refreshing to see how important it is to care about our fellow man. You never know what will happen from just a single act of kindness. Michael Oher was a young man just waiting and needing someone to care - if only for a moment. This is really a story of hope. God has instructed us to serve and love one another. It is amazing to see what God will do when we do what He says!

Saw the movie, and found it heartwarming, but the book is another thing altogether. Just wonderful. Learned a great deal about football (The author wrote Moneyball, after all) and the human side of the story was much more richly developed.

I am halfway through this. I bought it last night on Kindle for PC for my netbook. Easy to read, but a LOT of football background. You find out what every coach was doing before, during and after the timeline. That's ok, since my husband loves football and I have learned to, I enjoyed most of it. This is the kind of book you get for you, and then give to your boyfriend or husband, they might like it even more than you did.

The writing is top notch, and for anybody who has even a passing interest in football the "history" of the game is fascinating. But the best part is that this is a true story, complete with quotes from the main characters and yet it absolutely reads like a novel and has captured my interest thoroughly!

This man can write!!!!

The story line was interesting, and the writing engaging, but the sports detail was so extensive that the story became secondary. Midway, it began to read like a non-fiction focused on the politics of sports rather than fiction. Overall, disappointing.

The Blind Side has great information. I teach students like Michael and I found the story very inspirational. The football information was very interesting. However, if you are not into football, you can skip those chapters and still get all of Michael's story. The most valuable information for me was the facts about differences in the children from different economic classes which are apparent as early as kindergarten.

This was one of the best-written, most moving books I have read in a long time. It is a truly compelling story. The football angle, while important, is almost tangential to the most significant aspects of the book -- the characters themselves. Although this would appeal to a sports enthusiast, it is also a must-read for bibliophiles like me.

Much like Moneyball...the book is more conceptual than the movie.

Great book. Great story. Great writing style.

I loved the schematic aspect of the book, but I am football coach so I can understand the information.

First to give you full disclosure I'm a University of Georgia (UGA)Ball Fan. In the South "Ball" means just one thing, football. Does your son play ball has only one meaning, unless you are a Tech fan, then it could mean basketball, but those guys still carry slide rules.

I bought this book because I thought it was a "sports story". I was wrong. It is an incredible human interest story, also. One which has caused me to laugh out loud and read some passages to my wife and, others, which made me cry.

This should be required reading for every school board official in the country.

Oprah ought to put it in her book club.

The author starts off explaining why an offensive left tackle is important in football (See Lawrence Taylor (L.T) and Joe (How I got my leg broken on national television) Thiesmann. It tells of the evolution of the passing game in the NFL from a steam-roller running game to a finesse passing game ala Bill Walsh (see west Coast Offense that was really born in Cincinnati).
I particular enjoyed the antidote about his official trip to visit the University of Tennessee.

But what will be of greater human interest is the overlay of the story of Michael Oher, the "man/child" currently playing football at Ole Miss. Oher shows up at a predominantly white Christian school in the 9th grade with virtually no school history and horrible family background. An incredibly shy 350 pound kid struggles but ingratiates himself to faculty and staff and manages to stick around. Finally one Thanksgiving Day a volunteer assistant coach and his wife see him at a bus stop in his usual shorts and recognize that in addition to no money for food, he is traveling to the gym to watch practice just to be in a heated room. Through incredible acts of kindness and caring this young man is taken in by this wealthy Christian family who attempt to socialize and educate him for the future.

But little did they realize that at 6' 6" with an incredible frame and quick feet, football coaches would see their answer to possibly the most important position on the football field and they would relentlessly come calling. This presents many problems as Oher has virtually no chance of attending college with his past educational background. Thus begins the odyssey of the recruiting wars for this individual who by the end of high school has been called the best pro prospect even though he has played in only 15 football games.

This portion of the book dominates approximately 60% of the book. It is incredibly touching and I certainly applaud the sympathetic, caring approach by Leigh Ann and Sean Tuohy. This book is not just for football fans as the issues here are much greater. How does a child get to the 9th grade with virtually no retention of knowledge or ability to function in a social setting? What can a change in culture and caring do for this young man? And other questions will also appear such as is their potential ulterior motives for selecting this student out of so many and wasn't the final steps to eligibility really inappropriate? As to my opinion I choose to believe that the Tuohy's were interested in helping another human being, and in the process, it enriched the lives of their family, this young man and the possibilities that a loving, caring environment can create.

I strongly recommend this book for football fans, sociologists, and people with interest in politics, religion, or Southern Culture as there are many issues intertwined. Once again, the weakness to this book may be that he narrowed its focus by making it a "sports book". It's not. Its main message concerns underprivileged kids and how a change in environment can produce incredible results

I thought it was hilarious that Sean Tuohy read Michael the following and told him that it was about Ole Miss going into the stadium at LSU (THE STADIUM IS KNOWN AS ""Death Valley,":

The Charge of the Light Brigade
by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!" he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Some one had blundered:
Their's not to make reply,
Their's not to reason why,
Their's but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.
Flashed all their sabres bare,
Flashed as they turned in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wondered:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right through the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reeled from the sabre-stroke
Shattered and sundered.
Then they rode back, but not,
Not the six hundred.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came through the jaws of Death
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!

Oh, I'm an ex-artillery officer as well.

Highly recommended for educational professionals and members of Boards of education. It wouldn't hurt if you are a fan of college football ,either.

Gunner August, 2008

Much better than the movie, although the book really showed how well Sandra Bullock played her character. The chapters on the history of the "west coast" offense and the left tackle were both interesting and well written. Michael Lewis also did a great job of showing all the circumstances Michael Oher had to overcome, not just poverty.