TOW #12 "The Blind Side" IRB

As you read before, I am not very interested in sports.  So when I picked up The Blind Side, I thought it was simply a biography about Michael Oher that I would pick up, think about how Oher overcame his poor childhood to become successful, but not feel as if I learned anything.  Couple that with the fact that it's a book on sports and I had some negative views in mind, even after seeing the movie. Boy was I wrong.  I was taken through the first half of a story of love, acceptance, success, learning, and just about any other positive moral idea you can think of.  Also, much like my last IRB book,  The Blind Side switches between two story arcs.  In In Cold Blood, it was between the murders and the investigation.  In The Blind Side, the story switches between the past, where Michael enrolls in Briarcrest Christian School and is adopted by Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy, and the present, where Michael Oher is a successful football player.  As I have said, I enjoy when a story has two plot lines.  It keeps it interesting for me.

I think the part that got to me most of all was the author's, Michael Lewis, use of the repeated idea of the "blind side" in football.  There is an idea in football that the quarterback has the area where he cannot see, therefore cannot react to oncoming opponents.  It is the good of the offensive line to protect the quarterbacks at all cost.  This idea of protecting someone who is defenseless appealed to Oher, who is very protective by nature.  The idea of Oher playing offensive line showed his kindness and loyalty as a person.  That's when I really realized how deep this book could be.  It uses these metaphors to an extent that I have never seen before.  Mostly, these metaphors are saved for the world of fiction, where a story can be centered around one simple theme.  The Blind Side, however, uses this idea of playing football to represent what if right in the world.  How people risk injury to save a weaker friend.  How the kindness of one person can be transferred to another as they pay it forward.  I actually can't wait to see the movie again, so I can watch it with a deeper understanding.