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This title in other formats:The Blind Side: Evolution of a Gameby Michael Lewis
Staff Pick
The reclusive son of a drug-addled single mom suddenly becomes one of the most valued football prospects in America. How? A year before the scouts came calling, Michael Oher had virtually no formal education, no social skills, and no athletic experience. In The Blind Side, Michael Lewis investigates changes in the pro game that turned a formerly anonymous position, offensive left tackle, into the NFL's second highest paying job. Among the beneficiaries, he discovers Big Mike. You'll laugh, you'll cry — really: On the outskirts of Memphis, Lewis unearths a fascinating story of compassion, commitment, and life-altering second chances. Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments: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 young man at the center of this extraordinary and moving story will one day be among the most highly paid athletes in the National Football League. When we first meet him, he is one of thirteen children by a mother addicted to crack; he does not know his real name, his father, his birthday, or any of the things a child might learn in school — such as, say, how to read or write. Nor has he ever touched a football. What changes? He takes up football, and school, after a rich, Evangelical, Republican family plucks him from the mean streets. Their love is the first great force that alters the world's perception of the boy, whom they adopt. The second force is the evolution of professional football itself into a game where the quarterback must be protected at any cost. Our protagonist turns out to be the priceless combination of size, speed, and agility necessary to guard the quarterback's greatest vulnerability: his blind side. Review:"As 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." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Review:"As 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." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Review:"'There ain't much to being a football player,' wrote William 'Pudge' Heffelfinger, a legendary lineman of the 1890s, 'if you're a football player.' Michael Oher, the subject of Michael Lewis' exhilarating 'The Blind Side' and currently a sophomore at the University of Mississippi, is a football player. More precisely, Oher is an offensive left tackle and, as such, a highly prized commodity in modern... Washington Post Book Review (read the entire Washington Post review) Review:"Lewis's discussion of evolving strategy is woven into the true focus of his book, a profile of African American football prodigy Michael Oher....His strange, sad, and yet inspiring tale is grippingly told here." Library Journal Review:"In another journalist's hands, Blind Side could have read like a magazine piece on steroids, but Lewis' deft skill as a narrator avoids that problem all the way through 288 pages." Oregonian Review:"In The Blind Side, Lewis takes on football, and specifically the mania for the game as encountered in Southern culture. It is a riveting account, though its pleasures — like those of watching grown men nearly kill one another over a pigskin — are ultimately distressing." Los Angeles Times Review:"If you love football, you'll find the X's and O's discussion enthralling. If you love a good tale, you'll keep turning pages to find out more about the mystery of Oher's past and what has become of him." San Jose Mercury News Review:"Its dialogue is sharp and its anecdotes well chosen. Its aim for both the heartstrings and the funny bone is right on the mark." Janet Maslin, The New York Times Review:"Lewis tells an amazing true story in an appropriately mordant style... Oher's story is not pretty, but Lewis tells it well — and against all odds, it may be heading for a happy ending."George F. Will, New York Times Book Review Synopsis:The bestselling author of Coach, Moneyball, and Liar's Poker delivers a multidimensional story that traces the upbringing of a young boy through to young adulthood, all through the lens of sports and his community of support. About the AuthorAuthor of the bestsellers Liar's Poker, The New New Thing, and Moneyball, Michael Lewis writes regularly for the New York Times Magazine and Bloomberg News. He lives in Berkeley, California. What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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