The Last Shot/The Blind Side (Part 2)

Michael Lewis is best known for Moneyball, a candid portrayal of Billy Beane, the fiery and controversial Oakland Athletics general manager. Here he tackles a different, two-sided enigma: how did Michael Oher, a poor black teenager from the slums of Memphis who had had virtually no formal education, end up at Briarcrest Christian School, a swanky private school on the outskirts of Memphis, as a the adopted son of a wealthy, evangelical, Republican family (and why do certain offensive linemen get paid so much)? The answer lies in the curious position of a football left tackle. Charged with protecting the book's namesake, the quarterback's blind side, the left tackle has become an increasingly specialized position, demanding an athlete who is almost inhumanly tall, fast, and strong. Jonathan Ogden, one of the left tackles described in the book, is 6'9", 345 lbs., an All-American in both football and track and field who might have been the fastest person on his team in a 20-yard dash. The book splits into two narrative paths in following the story of the left tackle. One path follows the evolution of the players to play the position, from then to now. This part, while very educational, occasionally can get a bit dry when discussing more technical aspects, but is interesting for any football fan. Noteworthy is a story of how Bill Walsh's San Fransisco 49ers had to devise a special gameplan to deal with Lawrence Taylor. The other side is Oher's journey from the Memphis streets to Briarcrest and eventually to the NFL, as he was a first round pick of the Baltimore Ravens this year. His travels were made possibly by the incredible generosity of the Tuohys, a wealthy family who basically sponsored his education and helped him achieve a goal of getting into college. The story is intriguing because you so rarely hear a feel-good story like this, and yet it happened with success.