Big Mike Oher

jeckll · Sep 25, 2006

Incredible article

Long, but well worth it. An excerpt from Michael Lewis'--author of MONEYBALL--newest book, BLIND SIDE. Looks like a great one. :103631605

GreenDoberman · Sep 25, 2006

Absolutely awesome story.

Everyone should read this.

BillGray · Sep 26, 2006

Agree completely. Michael Lewis could write about mold spores and I would make time to read it. He's a New Orleans native and a few weeks after Katrina had a unique and moving (and long) essay on the city in the NYT magazine. I think this is my favorite part of the Big Mike piece:

On a cold and blustery morning, Sean and his wife, Leigh Anne, were driving down one of the main boulevards of <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com

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lace> when just ahead of them a huge black male stepped off the bus. He was dressed in the same pair of cutoffs and T-shirt he always wore. Sean pointed him out to his wife and said: “That kid I was telling you about — that’s him. Big Mike.” <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com

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“But he’s wearing shorts,” she said. <o

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“Uh-huh. He always wears those.” <o

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“Sean, it’s snowing!” <o

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And so it was. At Leigh Anne’s insistence, they pulled over. Sean reintroduced himself to Michael and then introduced Michael to Leigh Anne. <o

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“Where are you going?” he asked. <o

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“To basketball practice,” Michael said. <o

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“Michael, you don’t have basketball practice,” Sean said. <o

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“I know,” the boy said. “But they got heat there.” <o

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Sean didn’t understand that one. <o

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“It’s nice and warm in that gym,” the boy said. <o

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As they drove off, Sean looked over and saw tears streaming down Leigh Anne’s face. And he thought, Uh-oh, my wife’s about to take over. <o

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The next day in the afternoon, Leigh Anne left her business — she had her own interior-decorating firm — turned up at Briarcrest, picked up Michael and took off with him. A few hours later, Sean’s cellphone rang. His wife was on the other end. <o

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“Do you know how big a 58-long jacket is?” she asked. <o

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“How big?” <o

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“Not big enough.” <o

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celticGreen+ · Jul 31, 2010

bumping this thread instead of starting a new one... i saw the movie "the blindside" in the theaters and thought it was okay - but watching it again, a few beers deep, i gotta say i really dig it. it's actually a well done film as far as pace, drama, and humor go... but for sports fans it's almost a justification - it depicts the qualities that make a great athlete, and how they relate to life.