A Heart-Warming Holiday Story

Having spent the month of November gathering nuts and insulating my tree trunk against the coming cold, I feel like I owe you a lot, my dear reader. I fully expect to be capable of delivering on that debt, particularly since I'll now be boarded up inside this tree trunk - which, thank God, has wireless internet - for the better part of the next four months. Living in California for six years really warmed my blood and I'm no longer equipped to handle the horror of a full-blown Chicago-style winter.

My soul (though sadly not my physical being) was warmed considerably by the story I first heard in a radio interview about a week ago. It is a story told by Michael Lewis (acclaimed author of the infamous Billy Beane baseball book Moneyball and the semi-autobiographical Liar's Poker) in his new book, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game. It is the story of Michael Oher, the sophomore starting left tackle for the Ole Miss Rebels and a member of the All-SEC second team. If you don't read the rest of this post, and you generally don't follow college football, you'll probably next hear about Oher when he's a top-ten NFL draft pick in a couple years.

These distinctions are impressive for anyone, but completely remarkable for a kid that never walked on a football field and would hardly have recognized the inside of a classroom as recently as four years ago. Ask Michael (Lewis or Oher) and he'll tell you that at 15 years old (and about 6'5", 330 pounds), living on the floor of an apartment in the projects, he was one bad break from dead or in jail; and about as far from a professional football career as someone of that size can be.

I won't go into the whole story here, because you can read a NY Times Magazine article that gives an in-depth summary, but the short version goes like this... Michael is walked up to the doorstep of a small, highly Christian high school by the man ("Big Tony") whose floor he sleeps on. Despite virtually no academic record, absolutely zero knowledge base (and I really mean zero: Michael didn't know what an ocean was) and really very little interest in going to school, he attracts the attention of the football coach and the sympathy of a few important teachers and administration members and is admitted to Briarcrest Christian Academy.

By about one year later, Michael was adopted by a very wealthy (and equally white and Republican) family of four, getting A's and B's in school despite his initial deficiencies, and popping up on the pre-season High School Football All-American First-Team as a left tackle.

Those of you who know me know that I am none too big a fan of Republicans and terrified by devout Christians (or devout members of most any faith, for that matter), but this is an undeniable example of a situation where a family's strict obedience to "Christian morals" or what-have-you led to incredible positive consequences.

In any event, Michael Lewis' book chronicles two stories: the development of college and NFL football led to placing increased value on the left tackle position, while simultaneously the kindness of a Christian family led to the remarkable development of a future left tackle. The convergence of these two stories finds a young man who might easily have died or gone to jail on the fast track to a multi-million dollar NFL career.

It's a truly remarkable story, and I highly recommend you read the summary, if not the book itself.Here's the link to the NY Times Magazine article, in case you missed it the first time.