Completely agree about Jason Whitlock.
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Itâs a bad system that colleges act as the NFLâs minor leagues. It creates a conflict of interest. It leaves young athletes like Michael Oher vulnerable to manipulation, with all sorts of people exploiting him and then people expecting him to be grateful in return.
Does anybody think that the Tuohy family would have given Oher help had he not provided value as a football phenom? Would they have spent their money on tutors and BYU classes for just a regular nice kid? A regular kid who wasnât of use to them?
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We cannot guess what they would or would not have done. However, the information about the family before Michael Oher entered their lives was that they did help kids who were struggling.
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Maybe you donât think you ârescuedâ your daughter, but you may have saved her years of shuttling through the system, with a series of foster parents who may not have been so loving. Thatâs surely a win/win situation, and we should all be grateful to those people who adopt. Thank you.
I can understand Michaelâs desire to not be seen as saved or rescued anymore, and that he is responsible for his own success. Maybe heâs tired of being grateful. But his brother, or should it be, âbrotherâ says that the family has been estranged for a decade, with Michael becoming more vocal and threatening. Iâm very curious about the true story involving the money. He thinks the Touhyâs collected millions, but they say they didnât get very much. Theyâre wealthy, but even to them, millions would matter. Is his resentment and anger all about the money? If so, seems that he should have sued them a long time ago. And if itâs not about the money, he should get a better therapist and get this resolved, instead of lingering over it for so long.
Since everything is becoming public, Iâm guessing we wonât have to wait long to find out what he has supposedly been vocal and threatening about. They probably would have all been better off without the book being written, and the movie being made.
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I agree about being better off without the book and movie, both of which Michael Oher didnât want and didnât have any input. The Tuohys read scripts, met with actors and walked red carpets.
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I donât think the Tuohys would be better off without the book and movie.
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Hard to tell. They may not be enjoying the negative publicity, but then again, some people eat that up, good or bad.
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Wait⊠didnât Michael Lewis interview Oher extensively when he wrote The Blind Side in 2007? I think in the book Oher acknowledges that the Touhys had him sign a conservatorship because he was over 18 and could not adopt him.
Yes, and Oher wrote that in his 2011 book as well. Lots of inconsistencies on both sides.
Micheal Oher was against the portrayal of himself since the book was first published, so if Lewis âextensively interviewedâhim, which I find no proof of, he did a poor job.
And it was in his own book that Oher spoke of the conservatorship, which he believed was just like a legal adoption.
Letâs be honest - none of us knew or know or maybe now are learning about adoption or conservatorship, etc. - even when this thread started and I still donâtâŠ
So if a young man is being directed by folks he thinks have his best interest in mind, how would he know? Of course heâd trust what they said.
So I can see why he thought what his book said he did.
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âI love the narrative that Sean Tuohy was the âpoorâ kid in a rich school. He was the son of 2 college educated parents. His childhood wasnât that of a kid who missed meals or didnât have shoes. Did classmates have more money? Maybe, but saying you were poor is disingenuous.â
Replying to above: i have college educated parents, but was the poor kid in a very rural poor school. Daughter of a self employed MFA artist. we grew up with nothing. government cheese. pell grants all through college, a basement that filled with water and frogs with every rain. why would you doubt people who say this?
my parents have since helped out a western african familly a single mom and son. Given them time, love, helped them become American citizens. taught the son to drive. gave them their car. helped him through school. He is now at a top tier med school.
my family would be devastated if he cancelled them. They would NEVER look to him for money. Oher made a ton of money; and the tuoheys never asked for repayment, or a portion of his proceeds.
this is about money on Oherâs end.
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Sean Tuohy may have been the âpoor kid in a private schoolâ but that narrative seems kind of convenient with this whole story that he and Michael Lewis built. Seanâs dad was the private school basketball coach, the court is named after him. Was Sean one of the less well off kids in a college prep private school, probably with some wealthy families in it? Maybe, even probably. Was his situation at all comparable or similar to Michael Oherâs experience? Doubtful.
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I say this because Iâve read about Sean Tuohy and he wasnât poor. He was talking about having less than the rich kids at his private school.
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I found this interesting. Seems Tennessee lawyers are confused by why the Tuohys decided on a conservatorship and the details of it.
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I donât understand what the point would be of either an adoption or conservatorship, for someone that old. Was this somehow necessary for his school applications? I donât really understand why they needed to do any legal procedure, unless they were required to sign many documents for him.
This is discussed above. It seems the conservatorship cleared the way for Michael Oher to commit to Ole Miss
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Yes, the NCAA restricts âboostersâ from influencing recruits unless they have a family relationship. The conservatorship seemed to meet this requirement, and IMO the conservatorship was the fastest way to create that family relationship.
The Tuohys may not have wanted to commit to adoption for someone theyâd only been helping for a few months.
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Then donât continuously use the word âadoptedâ for your money-making endeavors.
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I think âadoptionâ was an easy, general term to use. Many people use words that are not strictly the definition because they are more understandable without having to do a long explanation. Saying adoption instead of conservatorship makes more sense when trying to imply meaning. And, at least until the Oher, Touhy relationship became estranged, it looks like all of them felt like Michael was part of their family.
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