Book Report: The Blind Side

Title: The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game
Author: Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game

Synopsis:
Through an amazing and rare series of events, a young man from the ghettos of Memphis changes his destiny, avoiding an almost certain short life in a drug gang to become one of the most anticipated potential NFL players in years.

My thoughts:
In The Blind Side, Michael Lewis relates the story of a young kid, Michael Oher, who suffers from every conceivable social disadvantage in life except for the fact that his substantial physical gifts make him uniquely suited to play the second-most important position on the college/NFL football team: left tackle.

Lewis gives a good primer on how the left tackle position became such an important role on the team. Starting with the career ending leg injury suffered by Joe Theismann on national television in 1984 through the current day NFL where some left tackles get paid more that quarterbacks, Lewis walks us through some of the reasons why "In football, as in real life, the value we place on people changes with the rules of the game they play."

But this football primer is really just to set the background for the story of Oher. Faced with the huge hurdles of race, poverty and lack of education, Oher finds a way to leverage his one advantage: That he hit the genetic lottery.

It turns out that, through the chance of natural selection or a gift of god, Oher has the body of a prototypical NFL left tackle. If he can only overcome his lack of education, a murdered father, a drug addicted mother, and a society that seems not even to know he exists, he has a chance to earn millions playing a game for which he seems specifically designed.

Luckily he meets a family in Memphis. A rich, white, evangelical Christian family no less, that takes him in, sees to his education and only then allows him to set off on his journey to the NFL.

There are many setbacks along the way as you can imagine, car accidents, academic troubles, even an investigation by the NCAA. But the story, like all good stories, ends with a beginning -- in this case the beginning of Oher’s football career. The next chapter will be written this fall, Oher’s junior season at Ole Miss and it’s one I'm keen to follow when football season starts.

The description of Oher's journey from the ghetto to a college scholarship and the stories of those who helped him along the way are very compelling. Lewis' writing is solid, and tends to get in the way of the story only rarely.

Rating: Recommended.

tagged: books, literature, Michael Lewis, football, sports, Michael Oher, NFL, Ole Miss, The Blind Side

YouTube Tuesday: Fierce Blue Ascot

I don't know about you, but if fashion is cyclical I dread the return of the electric-synth gender ambiguity that dominated pop music during the 1980s.

You know, that whole era of big hair, lots of makeup, frilly clothes and musical instruments that play themselves?



This is some kind of marketing campaign for Sprint's music download service. The actor playing "Ian" is Dominic Keating, a star of the ill-conceived Star Trek: Enterprise series.

Still this video is completely plausible. Such a band could have existed and produced such a song. The parody is spot on, and it's good to see companies taking a risk like this.

UPDATE: I just discovered that you can download a copy of the mp3 (for strictly ironic purposes of course).

tagged: movies, YouTube, video, Star Trek, Enterprise

YouTube Tuesday: Scientonomy

Yesterday the BBC program Panorama aired an episode which attempted to dig a little bit into Scientology. The "religion" is trying to gain recognition as a religion in the UK, over the objection of citizen groups.

I watched the 30-minute program online. Here's the first 10 minutes. You can watch the rest here.



The Scientologists' main spokesman in the piece is Tommy Davis. This guy does his best to look like Agent Smith while following the BBC reporter around, gettin' all up in his grill, and basically harassing and impeding him the whole time.

The pestering continues on and on until, in an understandable fit of frustration, the reporter John Sweeney completely looses it with an old school shout down. Of course if I were in Sweeney's shoes, I'd be the subject of an assault charge for trying to knock the Raybans off that pencil-necked little fascist.

Unfortunately, Tommy Davis' lack of PR acumen only serves to strengthen the public perception that Scientologists are crazy, whacked-out, paranoid, cultist Nazis. They obviously don't "get" that when you act like your batshit crazy, people assume that you are, in fact, batshit crazy.

If they want my advice, they'll give honest answers to the questions. Or, if they actually are the shysters everyone thinks they are, make up elaborate but plausible lies.

But following people around, harassing them, provoking them only makes it look like they have something to hide.

tagged: movies, YouTube, video, BBC, Panorama, Tommy Davis, scientology, cult, religion

It was a beautiful day

We were looking for something fun, local and inexpensive to do after lunch on Sunday, and since we were in the neighborhood we opted for a stroll through the sculpture Kansas City Sculpture Park.

Our four-year-old was impressed with the Henry Moores... for about 10 minutes. Then she was more interested in finding a shady patch of ground to play in the dirt.

But it was a nice stroll nonetheless.

The new Bloch Building looks terrific framed against the lush landscaping. I was very impressed with how well the it integrates with the south lawn of the museum. It becomes almost a wall of a large outdoor room, creating a intimate experience in a large landscape.

PS- If you can't wait to see the inside of the Bloch Building, there's another really good slide show of the interior online at Architecture for Art.


tagged: Steven Holl, Nelson Atkins, art, architecture, Kansas City, museum, sculpture, Henry Moore

Friday Blogthing: Hey, you can't argue with the Celts

You Are An Olive Tree

You're a warm, kind person, and you always seem to be the mediator. Balanced and reasonable, people can count on you to be tolerant. You have a well developed sense of justice - and avoid aggression and violence. Your idea of a perfect day? Reading in the afternoon sun. You are cheerful, sensitive, empathetic, and free of jealousy.

What's Your Celtic Horoscope?

tagged: Celtic, horoscope, olive tree, blog, quiz

Political football

Well, this seems like it should be pretty easy to figure out.

Jim Quinn, a political radio talk show host in Pittsburgh, has claimed on the air that he has a "source with authority" who says that Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius made remarks about the poor response of the National Guard to the Greensburg tornado at the behest of Howard "Barbaric Yawp" Dean and top Democratic Party leadership.

The implication of course, is that the situation was dramatized and exaggerated for political gain. That in fact, the response was more than adequate.

According the source, Sebelius called Sen. Sam Brownback to apologize for her remarks, saying she was sorry and that the DNC had told her "we can't let an opportunity like this go by." The source said Sebelius was told not to ask for National Guard help, so that the situation could later be spun as a lack of response.

For his part, Brownback was (reportedly) saddened and disappointed by the Gov.'s conduct.

Of course, none of this has been confirmed. It's definitely plausible, and I wouldn't put it past Dean and the Dems to try to make political hay. Of course, I wouldn't put it past political talk show hosts to make up this sort story for the sake of politics an ratings.

It seems to me, though, that a phone call could settle this whole thing before it gets started. Get Sebelius and Brownback on the phone, have them explain the situation. Either she said that stuff, or she didn't. Either she made the call, or not (hell, you could probably just check some phone records if you don't trust the two principles involved).

Get them on the same call together and they'll have to agree on what happened. Then let the shit hit the fan or not.

UPDATE [10:18 p.m.]: J.D. is keeping it skeptical over at Evolution. No definitive "evidence" one way or the other, but it sounds like J.D. is leaning toward calling BS on this story.

tagged: Greensburg, Kansas, Kathleen Sebelius, Sam Brownback, politics, Howard Dean, opportunism

Out on a Limbaugh

The problem with being a jerk in the broad category of political discussion, is that it often has an affect opposite of said jerk's intentions.

For example, a certain cretin from Topeka (which, I won't name in this form for reasons which I have previously explained), convinces more people that he is wrong the more he speaks.

Worldwide, Muslims didn't make any new allies when they began burning embassies in response to editorial cartoons.

Likewise, the vandal who defaced a billboard of Rush Limbaugh in Baltimore only provides the media with a reason to give Limbaugh free promotion via news stories.

No doubt, the vandal (probably a liberal), gained some short-term personal satisfaction from the act of vandalism (assuming s/he feels no guilt from the criminal act). But the result is a raft of news stories, additional notoriety, a bump in blog references and possibly a spike in listenership for Limbaugh's program.

If a person can't look objectively at a situation and discuss topics rationally, it's usually a better decision to just turn the radio dial to Air America (if it's still on the air).

tagged: politics, Rush Limbaugh, liberal, vandalism, free speech

Your chance to help

We received this announcement in an email from the K-State Alumni Association.

Apparently, Pizza Huts in Kansas will donate 20 percent of purchases tomorrow to the United Way Greensburg Disaster Fund if you mention the fund when you order. This fundraiser applies to all dine-in, carry-out or delivery orders.

So if you're like me and wondering what you can do to help, here's your chance. And you could munch on some bread sticks to boot.

Here's a story on fund-raising efforts, and here's the info we received (click to embiggen):

tagged: Greensburg, Kansas, tornado, United Way, Pizza Hut, rund raiser, KSU, K-Sate, alumni

Foo bar

Remember a couple of weeks ago when it was nice on Saturday? When the sun was out, it was warm, and it didn't rain?

Yeah, those were good times.

We took advantage of that day to explore our new neighborhood a little more. We moved in last fall and spent most of the winter doing fix up projects around the house. But on that day, that glorious, sunny spring day, we headed over to Foo's Fabulous Frozen Custard in the Ranchmart Shopping Center for an afternoon refreshment.

I gotta say I was pleasantly surprised. The mom & pop shop has two locations now (the original is in Brookside). The Ranchmart location has the feel of an old-timey neighborhood ice cream parlor, but it has the look of a modern franchise, from the kewl coffee house décor to the flat-screen TV to the impressive and well-used meeting places.

What impressed me most was the traffic. There were lots of people there. Singles, couples, families and groups. Some popping in for a to-go order, others enjoying the beautiful day on the sidewalk, still others in book clubs or study groups in the back room.

It made me feel like I might be in what passes for a small town in these parts.

tagged: Foo's Fabulous frozen custard, food, Kansas City, Overland Park, Leawood, dessert, Ranchmart

Dialog with a 4-year-old about Iraq

Scene: Me and the 4-year-old daughter B. in the car returning from Dairy Queen where we have picked up a "Welcome Home" ice cream cake for the homecoming party for Uncle Nick, who is home on leave from Iraq.

B.: Daddy, does Uncle Nick have a big job?

Me: Yes, he has a very big job.

B.: In... Iraq?

Me: Yes. He has a big, important job in Iraq.

B.: Oh.

B.: Is Uncle Nick a soldier?

Me: Yes. He's a soldier in Iraq.

B.: Oh. ... Does he have to fight?

Me: Sometimes. But only when someone wants to fight him.

B.: Who wants to fight him?

Me: The bad guys.

B.: Are there lots of bad guys in Iraq?

Me: There are some bad guys. But most of the people are good guys.

B.: What do they do with the bad guys? Do they kill the bad guys?

Me: ...

Me: ...

Me: They just try to catch the bad guys. They try to make them into good guys.

B.: Oh. So the bad guys won't be bad anymore.

Me: Right.

B.: Is Uncle Nick the only soldier?

Me: No. There are lots and lots of soldiers in Iraq.

B.: Like hundreds?

Me: More like thousands.

B.: Thousands? What's a thousands?

Me: That's a lot of hundreds altogether.

B.: What are their names?

Me: I don't know all of the soldiers' names. There are so many that it would be hard to know every name.

Me: My friend Bill from high school is a soldier. But there are lots more whose names I don't know.

B.: Oh.

B.: When are we going to eat the ice cream?

And... scene.

tagged: Iraq, soldier, war, family, parenting