Well dressed, misinformed

Deadspin Editor Emeritus, New York Magazine writer, and Rick Ankiel stalker Will Leitch in his weekly “Ten Humans” column today:

Because I don’t want to get in yet ANOTHER argument with Drew about the Draft, I won’t reiterate how much my eyes glaze over every time someone starts talking about the NFL Draft. (For the record, though, I’ll say this: If you happen to find yourself with a Sporting News column, I highly advise you against ever implying that it’s a little creepy to watch 20-year-olds in run sprints and lift weights in their undergarments, particularly in a column that has your email address attached. Sporting News readers really, reallylike the NFL Draft, apparently.) I would like to talk about Mississippi offensive tackle Michael Oher, whose “stock” has been “rising,” whatever the hell thatmeans. Oher, of course, is the focus of Michael Lewis’ book “The Blind Side,” where he’s portrayed as a good-hearted, slightly dim kid who has had a tough life and just happens to have the exact right body type to be a franchise-changing left tackle. He ends up being “adopted” by a family of Ole Miss boosters, who help him get his grades in order so he can dominate for the Bulldogs. Here’s what I’ve never understood about this book: Doesn’t Michael Lewis know that family is just using Oher in a weird, obsessive way that completely lacks any sort of emotional perspective? I mean, Lewis almost makes the family look heroic, though, obviously they wouldn’t give two shits about Michael Oher, let alone let him live in their home, if he weren’t going to make the Mississippi Bulldogs football team better. Lewis paints the family like this altruistic brood who just wants to help out this kid who’s had a hard life. Is he serious? The point of Lewis’ book seems to be that Oher is a human being who has been turned into a product … but he somehow ignores the blatant opportunism of that family, just staring at him. Lewis is a wonderful writer and extremely smart: He must have seen through that family, right? Is the whole book an in-joke at their expense? I love “Moneyball” but honestly, “The Blind Side ” absolutely drives me crazy. I still have no idea what Lewis was getting at there. But hey! Michael Oher! Stock rising!

The obvious confusion between Ole Miss and Mississippi State aside (hey, ESPN does it all of the time, why should we expect the courtesy research from anyone else), Leitch is wrong on several points here.

By his tone, Im going to assume he read the book.  And if he has read the book he would have had a little background on the Tuohys.  Leitch paints them as opportunistic, capitalizing on the obvious physical talents of  an under-privileged kid for their own benefit.  Lets first assume that when Leitch says that the Tuohy family is “using” Oher, he means in the financial sense.  While Oher stands to make a substantial salary as a top flight NFL draft pick this year, the Tuohys are already substantially liquid, owning several fast food franchises in the Memphis area.  If that’s not Leitch’s intent then he instead means to imply that the Tuohys took Oher in to steer him to Ole Miss, where Sean Tuohy was a basketball star in the 80′s.   This is an assertion that has been made by detractors and Ole Miss rivals for some time, and it’s not without merit, if the cynical path of things is the one you choose to walk down as it relates to this story.  I, with my red and blue rose colored glasses firmly affixed, would rather see the goodness that the Tuohys displayed in taking a young kid in and giving him a chance in life.  Yes, they took the kid into their home, yes they paid for him to attend a private school, yes they helped him pass his courses and get into college, but wouldn’t most parents do that if they had the means and motivation? 

And maybe Lewis did his readers a disservice by not being more suspicious of the family’s motives and address it more abruptly, but the book, at the very least, gave enough background on the situation to warrant giving the Tuohy’s the benefit of the doubt. I see where Leitch is coming from I guess, but as someone perhaps closer to and more appreciative of the story, I tend to find the whole made for tv movie/super compassionate angle a little more compelling and probable than the underhanded , kindness with ulterior motives picture that Leitch likes to paint here. 

And yes, having written this, we completely expect to never be linked on Deadspin again…until Matt Jones gets arrested again or something.

Just kidding Will, um…go Cards!