While I Decide

I recently finished Michael Lewis' biography, The Blind Side. The book covers the life and transition of physical freak of nature and perfect potential left tackle, Michale Oher (that was a mouthful).

Simply put, this is the true story of a humble, yet misguided, West Memphis youth who - through a serendipitous serious of events and connections - found his way into the home of an affluent, East Memphis, white family. Lewis does a great job unfolding the story in a way that helps the reader understand the human spirit a little better and in a way that helps you understand why a person of Oher's physical stature is such a valuable asset in the game of football.

Lewis intertwines the history of professional football and its transition from a rushing game to Bill Walsh's west coast offense-style passing game with Joe Montana. This ties everything together to explain why the left tackle is so important. He protects the quarterback's blind side, allowing the passing game to succeed and leads teams to championships.

Through Oher's story, you learn that not only his size, but his (lack of) upbringing attributed to him developing quick feet on the basketball court of the ghetto which help make him one of the more well-rounded linemen in the country.

Lewis makes the book an easy ready and makes a sports history lesson very digestible and pretty fun as well. It's a great college football season read. And now I'm on to reading Life, Inc.