The Blind Side

I just had the pleasure of reading an advance copy of the new book by Michael Lewis, the author of, among other things, MoneyBall and Liar's Poker. It's called the The Blind Side.  It is simply sensational. It will be in bookstores October 2nd. 

It's about a teenager from the poorest neighborhood in Memphis who gets adopted by a wealthy white family, and who also happens to be an extraordinarily gifted offensive lineman. Simultaneously Lewis tells the story of the emergence of the left tackle as one of the most important positions in modern day football. I thought MoneyBall was fantastic. But this is even better, and it made me wonder if we aren't enjoying a golden age of sportswriting right now.

First, there's Bill Simmons over at espn.com.  Then there's David Foster Wallace. He wrote a piece for the New York Times magazine on Roger Federer a few weeks back, which was almost as good as the piece he wrote on the tennis player Michael Joyce a few years back--and which reminded me of how wonderful his voice is when he turns to sports. Then there's Lewis.

The three of them, of course, could be more different. Simmons is the ur-fan. Wallace is the intellectual. And Lewis? I'm not sure how to describe him, which is part of the genius of his books. It's not even clear to me that his books are about sports in the end, even though he takes sports as his subject. MoneyBall was really about discrimination. (I once tried to convince a university psychology professor that she should make MoneyBall recommended reading in her intro psych class.) And The Blind Side is as insightful and moving a meditation on class inequality in America as I have ever read--althought to put it that way, I realize, makes it sound deadly dull. It isn't. You should read it. 

Comments

[Bill Gerstein]

Money Ball should be read by school principals and central office types to understand how to better work with data and the lack of resources to improve education. I always recommend it to those people. I should add that I am a high school principal.

[Mike McCready]

Saw him on Colbert Report a few days ago. Will pick this up. Thx.

[Andrew from Richmond, VA]

If The Blind Side were 900 pages:

If The Blind Side were 900 pages long, Michael Lewis could have written a fascinating chapter on any or all of the following subjects that he only touches on in his terrific book:

Massive Resistance, bussing and their effect on public education in the deep south.

The failure of inner city public schools to provide its neediest students with even a basic education.

The corruption of the foster care system by cruel, exploitive profiteers.

The effect of evangelical Christian schools on southern politics.

The nexus between football and evangelical Christianity.

The curious coincidence of the rise of football as a new national past time and the emergence of a new conservative majority across the Sun Belt.

Class tension between middle and working class whites as played out (predominantly by black athletes) between public and land grant universities.

The near-complete corruption of the NCAA as it lowers its standards to accommodate the complete corruption of college athletics.

The unfortunate lack of a minor league football system that might offer a viable alternative to college football for poor inner city players who are utterly unprepared for college.

The gross inequity between rich college football programs and the continued poverty of the athletes whose play brings that revenue in.

The unwitting collusion of the NCAA in maintaining the status quo of indentured servitude in college athletics.

Hardly shotcomings, these are testament to the bredth of Lewis's reporting. He has, as usual, written much more than a sports book and it should be read by anyone who wants to understand the role of athletics in our society.

[Peter]

i'll take Dave Zirin anyday...

http://www.edgeofsports.com/2006-10-09-202/index.html

[Stefan Dox]

I just surfed around and found your site, I really enjoyed the visit and hope to come back soon.

[Mike Harmon]

If this is the golden age of sportswriting, let's be sure to add Steve Rushin (SI) to the list.

[China Law Blog]

If you have not already done so, you have to read October 1964, by David Halberstam. Its about the Yankees/Cardinals world series, but it is really about race relations in the United States. I have twice recommended this book to foreign lawyers curious about race relations in the United States and both times they came back to me and said it was the best book they had ever read about the United States, period.

[Julian]

Wallace's Federer piece was one of the most compelling, extravagant & enjoyable things I've read in a newspaper in a long time. Thanks for the reminder!

[Donald W. Bales]

I tried to click on www.i-a-t.org, but didn't get anything.
I "blinked" on your frizzly hair image. I related more positively to you with the more subdued hair.
I did not realize that you had black ancestry-not that it would matter as to the validity of your writing.
Excessive gambling or taking prescription drugs does not change the validity of what the person writes or says. Nor does the religion or ethnicity of the writer or speaker.
My son put me on to your books some time ago.
I saw you on with Brian Lamb this evening.

[sc]

Saw an interview on c-span and you stated your looking foward to writing another book. May I suggest an idea for anew book. A book on a Fictional Theocray of a nation. A book on Horseracing (i was told once it started as an aristocratic sport on a British Colony). We'll if anything becomes of these thoughts through your talents; we have a church that is in need of repair...

[Simon Hendrix]

Again for the fifth time (on c-span) I am abash to admit I truly enjoy your delivery almost as much as your wit! It usually only takes a moment or so to realize why writers write.
Your antidotes on council and imput with the elders, I'll bet, converted a lot of "old conservative white guys"