The Blind Side

I watched this last night while cutting out giant piles of fabric of stuff I need to do before Thumper arrives. I *loved* it. So much so that, when Kiddo asked if we could watch it this afternoon, I said sure. Little Mister had just fallen asleep because he'd taken a very early nap this morning (and thus didn't go to bed on time tonight), and The Husband was at the store (again, getting a couple things I forgot to put on the list Saturday ... lurve him!), so we just chilled out for a little bit. I made chili for dinner while we watched it. Little Mister woke up about 15 minutes later and didn't want to watch it until he saw the football scenes! haha. Love that kid.

The husband hadn't wanted to watch it. He grew up in the projects in LA until they moved to Utah, and his older brother was an amazingly talented athlete but their parents couldn't afford the equipment rentals the schools required once they moved here, so he never got to play beyond his sophomore year. And his younger brother was just as talented, and just as out of luck here. The husband knew he'd be reminded too much of his brothers' missed opportunities, and it was an emotionally charged movie anyway, so he didn't want to watch it.

I had told him about a couple of funny scenes, and he came home right before one, so he came in and watched it. He wandered around a bit, then came and watched the rest of the movie with us. He really liked it, too.

Sandra Bullock did an amazing job, but so did the young man playing Michael Oher, Quinton Aaron. And Tim McGraw didn't suck. This is one movie I wish we'd purchased, and we may still yet because I liked it that much.

I had to look up some things about Michael Oher and Quinton Aaron after it was over the second time. Not only did Michael Oher have to bust his butt in his classes during his senior year so he could qualify for any of the football scholarships offered to him, but he had to take some online independent study courses through BYU to replace some of his worst grades. He had planned to leave college after his junior year, but decided to stick it out, made the honor roll, and got a degree in criminal justice. When he signed with the Baltimore Ravens, his contract was $13.8 million for 5 years. After his first year in the NFL, he came in second for the offensive rookie player of the year.

Not too bad for a kid from the projects.

Quinton Aaron was in a bad place in his life when he auditioned for the part of Michael Oher. His mother was extremely ill and he had no money. He told the director, after the audition, that he was also in security and, if he didn't get the part, he'd love to help on the movie in security, and gave him a card. The director said he'd keep that in mind. A year later, Quinton's mother died. He still had no money and his family was about to be evicted from their apartment. That's when he finally got the call that he had won the part. I couldn't find any listing of how much he made for the movie, but he was nominated for best actor for the movie in both the Black Reel awards and in the NAACP awards.

When I told the husband about Michael Oher's NFL contract, he told Little Mister that playing sports was a-okay with him, and to make lots of money to support his parents. haha.