PDA

View Full Version : I Read A Book The Other Day



SoonerInKCMO
11/26/2006, 09:12 PM
It's called The Blind Side: Evolution Of A Game (http://www.amazon.com/Blind-Side-Evolution-Game/dp/039306123X/sr=8-1/qid=1164592727/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-5106972-2693264?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Michael Lewis - the guy that wrote Moneyball. I was expecting something of a Moneyball in shoulder pads, so to speak, but instead got something like a cross between Pygmalion and Friday Night Lights. Anyway, all that's beside the point. My point is that as I was reading it Saturday morning, I came across a passage that seemed particularly apropos considering the day's upcoming football contest.

The central character of the book is Michael Oher; he's an offensive lineman for Ole Miss. The timeframe is just before the last game of Oher's freshman year - the one against Mississippi State.


...Mississippi State was a land grant college, originally called Mississippi A&M. The desperate contempt Ole Miss football fans felt for Mississippi State was echoed in the feelings of fans of the University of Texas for Texas A&M and fans of the University of Oklahoma for Oklahoma State - formerly known as Oklahoma A&M. These schools were not rivals; they were subordinates. Theirs was not a football team to be beaten but an insurrection to be put down.

Yep. :D

reevie
11/26/2006, 09:15 PM
Subordinate....I like that....


Oklahoma Subordinate University. Does that have a ring to it?

yermom
11/26/2006, 09:30 PM
ooh, that could stick

Rogue
11/26/2006, 09:33 PM
So, is the rest of the book worth reading?

Mixer!
11/26/2006, 09:33 PM
I wonder how that works for the California schools?

SoonerInKCMO
11/26/2006, 09:50 PM
So, is the rest of the book worth reading?


I liked it. It's sort of two stories. One is how the left tackle has come to be the highest paid position on the OL... the other is how this kid Michael, who has the prototypical abilities of a left tackle, was 'rescued' from his poverty-stricken neighborhood on the West side of Memphis by a wealthy couple on the East side.

Jeopardude
11/26/2006, 10:00 PM
There was a NYT Magazine cover story on Oher last month. Pretty sure it was by Lewis. His life story is heartbreaking-- only has one picture from childhood. Hope he handles the pros well.

GottaHavePride
11/26/2006, 10:47 PM
ooh, that could stick

HARUMPH! HARUMPH!!

proud gonzo
11/26/2006, 10:50 PM
I didn't hear a harumph out of that guy!

crawfish
11/26/2006, 11:07 PM
I didn't hear a harumph out of that guy!

HARUMPH!!!

royalfan5
12/4/2006, 09:43 PM
I'm about half way through this book. It's absolutely engrossing. Michael Lewis is one of the most brilliant non-fiction writers I have ever read. He's Halberstam-esque.