Michael Oher and The Blindside

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And a lot more than the 14K per person that they’d initially claimed to have gotten. Reading the article, those proceeds are just until 2021, nothing past that is included. So with more publicity gunned up for this movie because of the dispute, I’d imagine they have made quite a bit more.

Maybe Michael is suing them for all the other monies they have made off of his story. The “charitable foundation” that has only paid 20% of their proceeds to charity, the many speeches that Mrs. Touhy continues to give about the story, though they Michael has been alienated from the family for over a decade?

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Michael went to college in 2005 and graduated in 2009 and went to the NFL. All through that, they were all still friendly (according to HIS books). Leigh Anne helped him buy and decorate his Baltimore apartment and both Tuohy kids were visitors. He had a house and cars in Memphis. He complained in his books that he didn’t like the movie as it portrayed him as stupid, but honestly the Blind Side book (and movie) were very close in the facts to Oher’s own books. Oher claims he was in a ‘good’ foster home for 2 years, went to school all the time, went to church and Sunday school with the foster mother; school records claim otherwise and the book doesn’t show the foster mom (and her sister) in the best light. Similar facts, different slant. Those are the kinds of things Oher disputes and claims he was always a good students and the movie shows him as dumb.

I think it is a little wishful thinking on his part. He had total tutoring all through high school and college. He wasn’t stupid but had had very little formal schooling. No one disputes that he couldn’t have gone to college without the Tuohys, or someone like the Tuohys, helping him through. Someone arranged an interview for him with the top (really only at that time) high school scout and Oher didn’t even know who the guy was or what he did, so Oher didn’t fill out the paperwork and almost blew his chance for the ARmy All American game.

IMO, Oher doesn’t want to admit that he didn’t do it on his own, that the Tuohys really helped him. He did some work with LeighAnne on the charity but it didn’t work out for him to be a motivational speaker.

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I think this would have worked out much better if the Touhys had just done a decent thing to help someone without having to get something out of it. Without getting all the publicity and accolades, without setting up a fake charity and making their identities as the saviors, without playing the games to create a conservatorship and encouraging Michael to go to their alma mater, without continuing to profit off the story for so many years.

If they had just taken him in and helped him get to his goals for a few years without getting so much out of it, there would have never been this kind of resentment and anger.

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If the Tuohy’s had not stepped in it is doubtful Michael Oher would have had a college or NFL career. He would not have been eligible with his grades. The publicity came with his story and the movie… which he approved at the time. The tour, speeches ( I attended a lunch where he and Leanne spoke) were with his knowledge, approval, and participation. The story is very encouraging; a family helping someone out who needed help regardless of the circumstances. The financial information has shed light on what everyone received… clearly not 15 million that Michael is suing the family to obtain.

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Just my opinion, but I think they did. He started attending the school (a private Christian school) when he was in 10th grade. He played basketball (and Sean T was the assistant coach) and was preparing to play football. The parts of the movie where Sean paid for his lunches was true, and their first financial interaction. Michael was couch surfing with a few of the families, including the Tuohys. In the spring of his junior year, they invited him to stay with them for senior year and he did. At that point, they started getting him ready for college.

Everyone really thought he was going to play for Nick Sabin at LSU, but Sabin left. Then everyone thought he’d go to Tenn, even to the point where his hs coach took a job there, but Michael decided on Ole Miss (closer to ‘home’, Collins was going there, and the Ole Miss coach also took one of Michael’s best friends as a player too). The Tuohys did all the tutoring, paid for the classes from BYU, got Miss Sue to do tutoring. The did the conservatorship just to appease the NCAA. Legally, I think the arrangement was stupid, but the NCAA needed something to save face and this worked. It was a ‘good ol’ boy’ arrangement. At that time, there was no book or movie deal, no charity set up, it was just them getting Oher into college.

One of the interesting parts of the Blind Side book was the other really good athletes from Memphis who didn’t make it into college, never mind the pros. They didn’t make it through hs, they fathered children and had to drop out, they got hurt, they got arrested. It also pointed out that those who did make it in college went to college ‘close to home’ like Oher did.

The Blind Side wasn’t written until Michael was in college, so over 18. The Tuohys didn’t abandon him in college, and in fact bailed him out (literally) when he got into a fight and a child was hurt (child was standing nearby).

I don’t know why things went so sour between Oher and the Tuohys. That seemed to happen about 4-5 years into his pro career, long after he’d established himself, after the book and movie were released. He had his own family by then (girlfriend, her 2 kids, and their child). He had his own lawyers and agents (football and books). He still lived in Memphis.

Many of his brothers had died. I think some of the timing of the Tuohy split (around 2012-14 I think) was that his bio family was really gone and he felt alone. I read Oher’s books and he just seemed sad and lonely, and like many pro football players he’d made some good money but had spent a lot of it too. Oher was highly paid, but not making Tom Brady or Peyton Manning money.

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Who knows what he could have done? A motivated, intelligent person with talent could have found his way, starting with community college. And they could have helped him in the exact same way without making themselves into celebrities. Many people manage to adopt and form loving lifetime relations. It makes you wonder when exactly it went wrong.

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From my perspective, the fact that players need to go to college in order to have a realistic chance at joining the NFL is a real problem. When universities act as the de facto minor leagues for football, it creates a whole bunch of perverse incentives. I see it as a sick near-monopoly that exploits athletes while claiming to benefit them.

(Technically, if football players graduate high school and then wait 3 years, they are eligible to be drafted by the NFL. But what are they going to do in the meantime to improve their skills, strength, visibility etc? In reality, to have a chance they have to go along with the whole student-athlete charade.)

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They obviously couldn’t have predicted his collegiate or professional athletic success when they started providing help.

Even more to your point they could never have predicted Michael Lewis would write a book, that they would be featured in the book, that the book would be a commercial success, that the portion of the book featuring them would be made into a screenplay, that the movie would be made, that the movie would be popular, etc.

I hardly think they were seeking fame and fortune by supporting MO (they were already rich). Perhaps worst case they were trying to act as recruiting “boosters” for Miss but the rest was sheer coincidence that Michael O. directly benefited from.

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Agreed in full. Additionally they run the risk of “career” ending injury before ever getting paid and further wear and tear on their bodies all while lining the pockets of the NCAA and their schools.

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As the parent of an adoptee (from China; we met when she was almost 2), I was always aware that as soon as she was old enough to figure things out, she would be aware that the family that created her did not keep her. Yeah, yeah, yeah, one-child policy, cultural preference for boys, blah blah blah, that doesn’t extinguish the feelings of a growing-up human being. And I can certainly understand how an adult, realizing that in addition to doing a good deed, his guardians had financial gain in mind, might have very strong feelings of betrayal.

Throughout the 25.5 years I have been a parent, many people have praised me for rescuing her. This includes many Chinese-American adults with whose children my daughter went to school. But I know in my heart of hearts that a baby or toddler or school age or preteen or teenage child had no choice in how they left one family and became part of another, and whatever the reason, they are not lucky. For myself, I know that I am the lucky one. My daughter’s life could have gone a zillion different ways–if she stayed with her birth family, if she grew up in the orphanage, if she were adopted by a Chinese family, or another American family or a family in another country. But I would never, ever tell her that she was lucky.

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Michael Lewis was a neighbor and long time friend. They knew he was going to write a book.

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You should watch “Last Chance U” on Netflix, a series about JUCO/community college and how hard it is and how few make it. Very few community colleges have football teams, and those schools struggle with the same issues Memphis high schools do - homelessness, crime, teen parenthood, drugs.

Read the book The Blind Side and see how unique Oher was to have made it out of high school, never mind college and to the pros.

Do I think the Tuohys benefited from Oher AFTER they helped him? Yes, but IMO not for the money but for the fun of helping him, and their thinking they were still helping him. The Tuohys had big egos and that’s what made him successful. They used their resources to help Michael - flew him in a private plane on college trips! Did you do that for your own kids? Their daughter was already going to Ole Miss so they didn’t need help Oher any more than they already did.

The Tuohys weren’t perfect, but I don’t think they helped him for financial gain. I think they liked Oher’s success and wanted to share it. Michael Lewis had had success with a few other books, but had also had some bombs. I really don’t think anyone thought this would be such a hit. Lewis didn’t make millions, the Tuohys didn’t make millions. Hollywood made millions. Oher’s only argument is that the Tuohys should have struck a better deal for the book and movie rights, but I think he’d lose that fight as they relied on experts (including Lewis) with experience in royalties.

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Not sure if you are familiar with how books are made but given the writing and editorial process they had absolutely no assurance of what if anything would have been included or published.

Are you suggesting they had the foresight to offer help in expectation of the eventual popularity of the movie?

If you have read the book the MO portion was a portion of a much larger sports narrative (in the spirit of baseballs Money Ball) that easily could have been cut.

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I used to think HS players never got into the NFL, but I’ve started paying attention during the player introductions they do, and there is always more than one guy who says, “XYZ High School” instead of a college. It’s not that uncommon.

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No High School players have gone directly to the NFL…

I look at this versus my own profession. Imagine if all investment banks aligned and created an “association” that codified and enforced an “apprenticeship” that forced “pre bankers” to work for free. The product of their work would directly accrue to the I banks and association.

After completing this “internship” phase 5% of participants would get drafted by banks and be paid a minimum of triple what current analysts get paid while the other 95% would have to go do something else.
I banks would have made a killing, only the best would be given jobs and to hell with the rest.

I suspect the outrage would be universal and the process ruled illegal. NCAA however is deemed about education and opportunity.

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Interesting, thanks. Do they just name their high school because they didn’t graduate from college?

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Yes and or attended JUCO or don’t want to rep college.

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Nope, I didn’t fly my kids to college visits on private airplanes. I don’t have the sort of wealth that the Touhys have. Ole Miss would be just a drive for us from Memphis. We did, however, fly them all over the country for college visits, actually making family vacations out of it, and spending a huge amounts of time helping them with their applications and SAT prep. That was miserable. We also spent over a million dollars for their many years of private school education, which was is a good percentage of our income, no doubt a much higher percentage than the Touhys. And you know what? We never expected our kids to be grateful, we never expected anyone to admire us, the kids know we did this because we love them and could afford it. Of course.

No one could have know what would have happened when they signed the book and movie deal. Logically, as his conservators, it would have made more sense to ensure that he got the same deal as they did, with a percentage of the profits. And I would have had half going to the entirety of their family, and the other half going to Michael. It is his story, after all.

I became far less impressed with them when I found out how little of the charities funds actually went to the charity, and how LeAnn was still getting paid for inspirational speeches about Michael, well after he became angry with them.

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Some players who rep their HS went to more than one college (more common now with transfer portal) and may not want to choose one. I recently noticed Jalen Hurts mentioned his HS name – and he (impressively) earned degrees from both AL and OK.

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College athletics offers more than just a waiting period. Kids need to mature and be part of a program that encourages that development. Structure, academics, etc. are things that college teaches and under a good coach an athlete with potential will flourish. There are probably many super smart kids who could forgo college and be successful; but having 4 years to grow, make mistakes, and learn is invaluable. Just my opinion

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