Taking Back the "Football" Films

The Blind Side debuted on November 20, 2009.  I, however, am just getting around to seeing it (On Nov. 20, I decided that attending my wedding seemed infinitely more important than seeing a movie – GASP!).  So last Friday, the hubby and I had a date night at the movies and we agreed upon The Blind Side.  I’m so glad we did!  After seeing a string of depressing films recently (a sure sign that it’s Oscar season) with not-so happy endings, The Blind Side centers on a young man who is rescued from his sure-to-be unfortunate fate to become an All-American football player. 

Based on the true story, Michael Oher, homeless and traumatized, lives in the Memphis projects where most of the young men his age fall victim to gang shootings or drugs.  As a boy, Michael and his brother are removed from their home by child protection services due to their cocaine-addicted mother.  Shortly after a stroke of luck lands him at Wingate, an affluent “white” Christian high school, he meets the Tuohy’s, a well-to-do white family who change his life forever.  Sandra Bullock plays Leigh Anne Tuohy in an Oscar-winning performance.  Leigh Anne is a tough as nails, take no prisoners southern woman who takes Michael off the street – literally - and into her home.  Michael stays with the Tuohy’s and they become family, encouraging him in his studies and fine-tuning him to become one of the greatest left tackles in NFL history.

The term “blind side” is a football reference, actually, (I learn something new every day) that is credited to Lawrence Taylor's 1985 hit on Joe Theismann that created the shift in offensive football strategy where teams started to choose large players to fill the position of the left tackle and protect the "blind side" of right-handed quarterbacks.

I'll explain that further for the football challenged like myself (I had to ask my husband to verify this next bit): Let's say a quarterback makes a right-handed pass.  Since he is right-handed, the side in which he cannot see is naturally, his left.  That’s where the left tackle comes in.  It’s the paramount job of the left tackle to protect the quarterback’s left side, his blind side.  Michael learns to become a great left tackle by honing in on his best natural instinct, protecting those he loves.

The Blind Side, a wonderfully executed film, covers the full spectrum of human emotion, which, in turn, is what makes films similar to The Blind Side so successful – an unlikely hero with an ill-fated past who meets someone of significance who has the tools and the means to change the hero’s life forever.  And of course, results in a happy ending.