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Touhy/Oher reports seems to touch on a lot of culture war issues. Though it could just be a family feud.
They only became a part of his life when he was 17/18. But I guess they decided to become a forever family then. Photos for the next 6-8 years looks like a happy family. They put him in conservatorship at 18 instead of adopting. It gave them a bunch of legal rights over him. Sounds a little bad since he was an adult but it did make a formal tie. And let’s be honest a normal 18 year old often needs adults in the room. An 18 year old who never had a family life definitely needs it. Sort of gets down to whether they were acting in good faith or using him. I lean on good faith.
The movie I believe portrayed him as a little dumb. His childhood issues probably did limit him. By the time he got to the nfl he scored a 19 on the wonderlich. Which when I’ve looked it up before is like American average IQ and around 100. So not dumb just average.
He apparently wants more money now. The family and the author Michael Lewis seem to indicate that they never made much in the movie. Like $700k between all of them. While Oher indicates they got bank. Lewis says this just means Hollywood bad and writers aren’t getting paid. Fwiw Oher never got paid a lot in the nfl. As a first round pick he got 5 years 13.8. For nfl contracts I’d do a simple formula of guessing you get about half after taxes and agent fees. The big money in the nfl is from free agency contracts. He signed two. First one he didn’t finish but was $5/year and played one year. Then signed elsewhere at $3. He played well so they extended him immediately but he got hurt mid year and cut with 9.5 guaranteed. Lifetime earnings probably around $30-35. 15 after taxes and fees. If your life story become a movie that grossed $300 million I think it would be reasonable to think it could boost those earnings and would be meaningful.
The white savior storyline. I’m curious how much current politics could have soured what was a happy relationship. The family no doubt used him some and loved the having a football star in the family thing and doing things like getting draft picks taken together. From my own background I saw the same storyline as my football coach adopted a black kid who was a great athlete (I played midgets football with him and high school basketball). Would have been a Catholic version of the same story. Curious if current politics are ruining these types of relationships.
Slightly different topic but I tend to think the people who make it to play pro sports are significantly above group level IQ. Like Oher being 100 IQ. I just can’t see a 70-80 IQ functioning well enough to understand pro-sports concepts or being capable of training themselves to get there.
It's worth noting that on Reddit the Tuohy's are being portrayed as mustache-twirling villains despite no evidence they did anything wrong.
It looks to me like another case of the Copenhagen Interpretation of Ethics.
You take in a troubled teen, give him the support he needs to earn $14 million playing in the NFL, as well as enough fame to ensure a lifetime of sponsorship income when he blows the first $14 million. And this is the thanks they get. Serves them right, of course, for being rich, white, Southern, and Christian. Nothing they can do will ever be good enough.
In no world is Michael Oher worse off for knowing the Tuohy's. Where would he be without them? The lack of gratitude to me seems remarkable.
Just want to push back on the “when he blows it all”. I haven’t seen reports he’s broke. Perhaps he is. Perhaps he isn’t. But I’ve seen this narrative a few times.
Agree they did a lot for him. Probably helped him become a 5-star recruit. And helped him get into ole miss academically. Otherwise he’s probably a juco kid who transfers to a SEC school then hopefully works out. Becomes a 4th round pick without the bigger rookie first round pick contract. The dad played college basketball so no doubt helped him having a place to go home during off-season and with the work he needed to do to make it.
The best culture war angle here might be the gap between what really happened and the Reddit mustache no-nothing view. And perhaps I could say the film was blue tribe acceptable when made probably even moreso the book since Lewis throws in his the game “evolved” knowledge from Lawrence Taylor and here’s why his specific body type is so important in football. While the movie made some jokes on dumbwitted southern culture.
I assume he must be broke otherwise why go after the family?
He's clearly being taken for a ride by his lawyer. The family didn't make much money from the book/movie and, even if they did, why is someone entitled to money for their "story"? You can write a story about whoever you want and you don't have to pay them a thing. Nevertheless, I'm sure this will play out in the press and that the Tuohy's will settle with a non-disclosure to make it go away. Betraying the ones who helped you is a hell of a way to make money.
Which is a shame. He could easily pull down good money from appearances, endorsements, and memorabilia. He doesn't need this.
See my post above. He's not doing anything you wouldn't do if you found out someone had full control of your affairs for the past 20 years.
The Touhys' lawyer claims that Oher has threatened them with lawsuits before now that never went anywhere. I tend to believe the family, I think the idea that they were hoping to scam money out of a broke teenager is unlikely. The chances of even a really talented player going pro and getting rich are extremely slim.
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