Week 11 Reading Post

This week I read The Blind Side by Michael Lewis for 1 hour and 48 minutes.

The first chapter I read discussed the Egg Bowl-a famous rivalry gamed played between the Ole Miss Rebels and the Mississippi State Bulldogs for an egg shaped trophy. Before getting into the game, Michael Lewis showed how Ole Miss' attitude toward black people affected their recruiting. Michael then went into how offensive line coach George DeLeone did not want to play Michael Oher as a freshman. Instead of letting him play left tackle, DeLeone played him at right guard where he could receive help. Ole Miss had a terrible season and topped it off with a 35-14 loss in Starkville. DeLeone and the offensive coordinator were fired, and Michael was put back at left tackle. The next chapter dealt both the childhood of Michael Oher's mother and Michael himself. Michael's mother had a drug addiction while trying to raise her ten kids. The police took the children away and placed them in foster homes. Michael, however, wanted no part of that and would frequently run back to his mom. Michael Lewis then again goes into Michael's relationship with Big Tony. The final chapter began with Michael almost beating a fellow football player to death for making sexual comments about his mom and sister-the Tuohys that is. The book ends with Dwight Freeney. Dwight had heard that there was a college lineman who thought that he could take him right now. Dwight said he couldn't wait to play him.


Goals for Spring Break:

During spring break I plan on spending my reading time going through The Scarlet Letter one time before we have to read it in class as Mr. Strusz said it would be the most difficult book we would read this year. If I have time, I also may try to get one more book in before the end of the project, but I have not decided which book that would be.

Totals: 47 hours and 21 minutes/ 2012 pages

Week 10 Reading Post

This week I read The Blind Side by Michael Lewis for 1 hour and 43 minutes.

In the first chapter that I read this week, Michael Oher was investigated by the NCAA to see if he received any benefits from Ole Miss boosters-namely the Tuohys-that would make him ineligible to play college football. The investigator became frustrated as Michael refused to answer her questions and were answered by Sean Tuohy. The chapter continued by showing the academic standards that Michael needed to play college football. The higher the ACT score; however, the lower the grade point average needed. Michael's best ACT score was 12. THis required a 2.65 GPA. He finished his sophomore year with a 0.9 GPA. The Tuohys brought in a tutor, Miss Sue, to work tirelessly with Michael. Even with hard work, Michael was going to finish with a 2.05 GPA. Sean found a loophole. If Michael were mentally disabled, he could submit new grades up until August 1. BYU offered courses online which could "replace" the F's Michael received. With these courses he was required to read brief passages from famous works and answer 5 questions about them.Michael was evaluated by two psychiatrists and determined to be learning disabled. After he finished his final test, Michael was allowed to go to college. He was also informed by Coach O of Ole Miss that he would start his freshman year.

The next chapter described the evolution of the left tackle position as their was no "prototype" for the position. That quickly changed. The demand for left tackles increased. Talented defensive ends would exploit the quarterback's blind side. A higher demand brought a higher price. Left tackles new they were talented and expected to be paid as such. Jonathan Ogden proved this by receiving a six-year deal worth $44 million in 2000. He was being paid more than any quarterback in the NFL.

Totals: 45 hours and 33 minutes/ 1942 pages

Week 9 Reading Post

This week I read The Blind Side by Michael Lewis for 1 hour and 17 minutes.

GTA

(Geometry, Trigonometry, and Algebra III)

Sometimes in GTA I feel like Michael Oher. Confused. There are just some problems that I can see worked over an over again, and it still doesn't sink in. Michael Oher was a lot like this when it came to the "most basic facts of life, the sort of things any normal person would have learned by osmosis". Mrs. Tuohy did her best to make sure every day he knew something he didn't already know.

After a few games Michael's coaches learned something: they could win running behind Michael. That's what they did. The whole game they would run "Gap", a run play that followed Michael. One play. That made me think of GTA. One rule. K.I.S.S.: Keep It Simple Stupid. Just like their football team, if you keep it simple, you can easily "win" at GTA.

Totals: 43 hours and 50 minutes/ 1877 pages

Week 8 Reading Post

This week I read The Blind Side by Michael Lewis for 1 hour.

"The Times They Are a-Changin'" by Bob Dylan

It all started with Bill Walsh. Due to a lack of talent that Bill had to work with to run the passing game for the AFL expansion team the Cincinnati Bengals, he created a system to fit the quarterback's strengths. His quarterback Virgil Carter was very inaccurate throwing deep. His new system involved short, timing routes. With this system he was able to perform many "miracles" by taking quarterbacks who had never completed as many as half of their passes and turning them into quarterbacks who completed over sixty percent of their passes. His system also increased their their yards per attempt. Teams in the National Football League took notice. A new trend in NFL strategy emerged: away from the run and toward the pass. In 1978 teams passed forty-two percent of the time and ran fifty-eight percent of the time. This new system changed the trend to passing fifty-nine percent of the time and running forty-one percent of the time. Teams were initially reluctant to pass because there was a six percent chance of a quarterback throwing an interception, but only a three percent chance of a running back fumbling. The success of this system changed those numbers. The chance of a quarterback throwing an interception dropped to three percent. That is how Bill Walsh changed the times.

Totals: 42 hours and 33 minutes/ 1825 pages