‘The Blind Side’ shows the saccharine side of SEC recruiting
When it came out, Michael Lewis’ “The Blind Side” was considered one of the foremost tomes on modern SEC football. After all, it included big-name coaches recruiting a lineman, Michael Oher, who committed to Ole Miss thanks to the insane methods of DACOACHO. L’Orgeron is a mythical figure in the conference these days, on par with the crazy sack of weasels that currently coaches the Rebels, Houston Nutt.
A number of coaches were impressed enough to play themselves in the film adaptation. Now, we have a chance to see the first clips from the movie. As Southern Miss partisan and Rivals blogger Dr. Saturday says, the trailer is not for the faint of heart.
So although I respect Lewis and I’m sure the book is great — I gave it as a gift to my dad, and he loved it — I have no special feeling for its story or characters. In other words, I can handle what I’m about to show you.
But if you did read Lewis’ book, and especially if you liked Lewis’ book, I’m going to advise you to do something I never would under normal circumstances: Click away. Or at least skip this post. Whatever you do, don’t hit ‘play’ on the trailer below. I’m sure you’re curious to see how Hollywood treated the master prose and storytelling of the best college football book of the decade. I know you’ve read about the numerous cameos and must have at least contemplated seeing this movie, if for nothing else but the magisterial on-screen splendor of Ed Orgeron. I say to you: Don’t do it. Just … don’t do it. Let the book live on in your head as the solid piece of work you remember.
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I mean, it’s a thinly veiled chick flick. I’m sure they could cut it up to make a rocking, action-paced trailer for football fans, but we’ve seen its stripes, and they belong on a Prada handbag.
Which will certainly sell more tickets than the central insights on the evolution of the passing game and the emerging importance of the left tackle in scouting that gave the book its title. And at least Bullock’s Mississippi accent isn’t a total embarrassment. But no matter what happens to Alabama this fall, his association with this movie is destined to be the most embarrassing moment of Nick Saban’s year.
Oh my God that was horrible. At any SEC early morning tailgate, you would segregate the men to watch “The Junction Boys” and the women to watch that thing. Any women that walk out are allowed to stay and enter the stadium. I, oh, gah, that, I, MAKE IT STOP.
