The Blind Side

I've been busy lately. Funny what a baby and youth ministry will do to a person's free time. So my reading has been real scarce lately. But a few weeks ago, as the football season was getting cranked up, I had a conversation with a friend of mine; avid sports fan (and crazy smart, get on his team for Trivial Pursuit!).

"I'd like to read something to get in the mood for football this year." So we walked back to the office in his home and he looked over his book shelf.

Now get this. Two shelves. One: books from college days. Two: all sports books. Bill Simmons' and Money Ball and some book about a fantasy baseball guy who flew around the country actually talking to the actual players on his fantasy team (that's getting into a hobby!). And the stack of sports books looked like my stack of religious books. Were my library not so narrowly focused, I'd tell him to get some variety, but that'd be the pot calling the kettle something or other...

Anyway, he recommended "The Blind Side" by Michael Lewis. Basically, it talks about the evolution of the left tackle position in football through the story of a physically-gifted, under-privileged, black kid surrounded by an affluent, white world. Lewis weaves the narrative of Michael Oher's life with background info about Bill Walsh and the development of the 'West Coast offense' and NFL free-agency and Lawrence Taylor's vicious pass-rush.

I don't typically get into fiction books (turns out this actually isn't fiction, but still, I don't typically get into narratives like this), but this was a fun little read. The characters became so like-able and tracing this thin detail of the game of football was interesting.

So, this is just a thanks to Luke and a recommendation to any football fans looking for a good story.

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