Ravens’ Michael Oher tells his side in memoir
Sitting at a conference table at the Ravens' training center just outside Baltimore, Oher, 24, is ready to reintroduce himself to the world with his own memoir, I Beat the Odds: From Homelessness to The Blind Side and Beyond (Gotham, $26), co-written with veteran sports writer Don Yaeger...
From USA Today
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — If you saw the monster hit movie The Blind Side, you’re unlikely to forget Michael Oher, the film version.
He was the gentle-spirited Shrek with the sad-sack Eeyore vibe rescued from homelessness and near-illiteracy by Leigh Anne Tuohy, the red-hot Memphis mama/matron played by Sandra Bullock, who won an Oscar for the role.
By the end of the movie, Oher (played by Quinton Aaron) is the Baltimore Ravens’ 2009 first-round draft pick. Good thing his pixie-cute adoptive little brother, S.J. (Jae Head), taught him the game of football using ketchup bottles.
Ah, Hollywood. It has always “enhanced” reality for the sake of a good story.
But the real Michael Oher just might be the first person with more sparkle and good looks than his movie counterpart.
Sitting at a conference table at the Ravens’ training center just outside Baltimore, Oher, 24, is ready to reintroduce himself to the world with his own memoir, I Beat the Odds: From Homelessness to The Blind Side and Beyond (Gotham, $26), co-written with veteran sports writer Don Yaeger.
It’s not that Oher dislikes the movie. “It’s a great story,” Oher (pronounced Oar) says of the film based on Michael Lewis’ best-selling book.Nor did he write it to compete with In a Heartbeat: Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving, the 2010 best seller from his adoptive parents, Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy.
“People who see the movie think they know all about me,” Oher says. But they don’t. “I have more personality,” he says…
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READ MORE ABOUT OHER’S MEMOIR PLANS HERE”:http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2011-02-08-oher08_CV_N.htm
