The Blind Side by Michael Lewis

Michael Lewis is back with another book about a sport that's interesting and entertaining even for people who don't follow the sport (see Moneyball on my 2004-5 or all non-fiction lists).) This time, the sport is football. Lewis describes an interesting shift in the value of the left tackle, the player who protects the quarterback's "blind" side (left side for right-handed QBs). In addition to being valuable simply because they protect a highly-paid quarterback from getting crushed, the best players in this role have a "freakish" combination of size, agility and speed that makes them rare even among top atheletes. Much of this book is about Michael Oher, now a college player who has this rare combination of talents. When he was 15, Oher was living on the streets of Memphis, and through a random series of events ends up going to a private school and living with a wealthy white family, who encourage and support him through high school, and help him through the bizarre frenzy of college football recruiting. An interesting and very easy read.