Sandra Bullock's 'Blind Side' co-star has a crush on her

Friday November 20, 2009 9:16 AM By Neil Best

"The Blind Side," the new movie about former Ole Miss and current Ravens tackle Michael Oher, includes cameos by a series of real-life SEC coaches shown trying to recruit him.

But there is a lesson about the coaching profession in watching LSU's Nick Saban, Ole Miss' Ed Orgeron, South Carolina's Lou Holtz, Arkansas' Houston Nutt, Auburn's Tommy Tuberville and Tennessee's Phil Fulmer parade through the Memphis home of Oher's adoptive parents:

Five years later, not one of those guys still has the job he was in at the time.

Quinton Aaron, the actor who plays Oher, said all of the coaches were "cool" to work with, but he did not grow up as much of a football fan, which partly explains why he was far more impressed working with his co-star, Sandra Bullock.

Partly.

"I had a crush on her for the longest," said Aaron, 25.

"I followed her career, watched so many movies with her over the years. The first movie I got a crush on her from was 'Love Potion No. 9.' That part where she runs out in a wedding dress? Wow."

Bullock, 45, spends much of "The Blind Side" strutting in tight clothes and getting things done by sheer, over-the-top force of will.

It all seems a bit much at times.

But people who know Leigh Anne Tuohy, Oher's real-life adoptive mother, say Bullock nailed her characterization of the charmingly but relentlessly pushy Tuohy.

Photo: Warner Bros.

'Blind Side' needs a darker side

Friday November 20, 2009 8:54 AM By Neil Best

My tween and teen very much enjoyed "The Blind Side," the new movie starring Quinton Aaron as a large left tackle and Sandra Bullock as a sassy Southern lady, seeing in it a family friendly vibe captured in this review in the Post.

Their more cynical dad saw it more like the much less positive reviews in Newsday and The New York Times, the latter of which pretty much nails every one of my qualms with the film, including one of its central flaws:

To call it Disney-esque is to ignore the fact Disney at least knows enough about storytelling that it would have delved more deeply into the darker sides of the tale than "The Blind Side" does.

The Tuohys of Memphis, the adoptive parents of the Ravens' Michael Ohr, are very nice people in real life, from what I've heard from people who know them.

But their relentless, strangely complication-free niceness here does not make for a nuanced, thought-provoking film experience.

Rodney Harrison isn't shy on NBC

Thursday November 19, 2009 8:42 PM By Neil Best

Another modern communications miracle: It's Thursday night, but my Friday newspaper column is up on Newsday.com.

Items include Rodney Harrison talking about his criticism of Bill Belichick Sunday night - "The toughest time in my short broadcasting career" - as well as more boffo NFL ratings figures and actor Quinton Aaron talking about dropping 100 pounds in three months to play Michael Oher in the new movie, "The Blind Side."

Photo: Warner Bros.

Steve Phillips case in review

Thursday November 19, 2009 1:07 PM By Neil Best

ESPN ombudsman weighs in on Steve Phillips, Tom Cable and Bob Griese.

Yes, it's long.

Newspapers and Olympics, Wise and Kornheiser, Israel and baseball

Thursday November 19, 2009 9:23 AM By Neil Best

It appears I will not be covering the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, along with many other people from newspapers that would have covered them in the past.

Washington, D.C., sports media guys Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wise have been feuding on the radio. That kind of thing never would happen in New York, would it?

A few weeks ago I watched an entertaining documentary called "Holy Land Hardball" about the planning and execution of the Israel Baseball League's first and so far only season in 2007.

You can see it, too, Saturday night at Young Israel of West Hempstead.

Roslyn's own Erik Kesten, one of the co-directors, told me the film was a "labor of love" and helped him "redefine my idea of success."

The project drives home the fact that for all the close ties between Israel and the U.S., there are certain subjects on which they have absolutely nothing in common.

For example: baseball.

(The IBL's roster of managers featured a who's who of Jewish former major leaguers who played in New York: Ron Blomberg, Ken Holtzman, Art Shamsky.)

Why does the film end with the first pitch of the opening game rather than showing the games themselves that season? Partly for financial reasons and partly because of the level of play the IBL produced.

"If they had seen it," Kesten said of viewers, "they would not have wanted to see it."

Photo: AP

Americans like pro football

Thursday November 19, 2009 8:49 AM By Neil Best

I could stop boring you with NFL ratings superlatives, but to do so would be to ignore one of the biggest sports media stories of the year.

The gravity-defying rise in pro football's popularity continues to rivet the business, with the most popular theory being that the recession has encouraged people to sit in their homes and watch TV all day and night.

(Another benefit of staying home: no drunk morons sitting next to you. Well, at least no drunk morons who are not friends or relatives.)

Sunday's Packers-Cowboys and Patriots-Colts games attracted 26.7 million and 22.4 million viewers, respectively. The former was the most-watched TV show of any kind for the week, and the latter was the most-watched prime time show, again whipping "Desperate Housewives" head to head.

Fox's late afternoon window on its doubleheader weeks is the most popular show of the current television season - sports or otherwise.

Add in the fact athletic events mostly are DVR-proof, and the value of sports programming relative to other TV fare never has been higher.

Photo: ABC

Joe Namath chats up Woody Allen

Wednesday November 18, 2009 11:25 AM By Neil Best

Check out this very strange, very cool photo montage chronicling Game 6 of the World Series. (Thanks to our friends at The Big Lead for the link.)

Now that I've re-booted the blog, I need to start doing some newspaper work, too.

Enjoy "The Joe Namath Show" at 2 p.m. on ESPN Classic.

(You know how I often jokingly tell you to enjoy some weird programming on ESPN Classic or Versus or MSG Plus or wherever? Well, this time I'm not kidding. I'm watching. Joe's guests on the show, which originally aired in October, 1969, are Bernie Casey and Woody Allen. Joe Namath and Woody Allen? The DVR is poised and ready.)

UPDATE:

Well, the huge disappointment was that Woody's segment on the show was severely trimmed for some reason - almost to the point of nonexistence.

Other than that, though, it was a satisfyingly bizarre experience.

"The critics have been saying the appeal of this show is its amateurism," co-host Dick Schaap (Cornell Class of '55) said to Joe. "You're living up to it."

The highlight - other than cast member Louisa Moritz's micro-mini-skirt - was a cameo by Ann-Margret, who rose unannounced during an audience question segment and asked Namath to what he attributes his "quick release."

After some sheepish giggling from both parties (and the audience), she added, "He knows what I mean."

Namath cited two things, each of which was greeted by nervous laughter from the audience: excitement and fear.

Oh, my.

ANOTHER UPDATE: I just watched a YouTube video of Mr. Namath and Ms. Ann-Margret, um, "acting" together that offers some possible insight into all of this. But I most definitely will not be posting said video here. You're on your own.

ANOTHER UPDATE: One addtional oddity I forgot to mention earlier. At the end of the show Joe promotes the featured guest on the next episode: Bills rookie O.J. Simpson.

Photo: AP

Here is a clip from another episode in which (toward the end) Joe comes out in favor of athletes betting on sports!:

Belichick gets second chance!

Wednesday November 18, 2009 11:03 AM By Neil Best

The NFL Network will replay Sunday's Patriots-Colts game in its entirety at 8 p.m. Wednesday.

If the league has a sense of humor, it will edit in an alternate ending in which Belichick punts on fourth-and-2.

Photo: AP

Moulson, Coors at same party

Wednesday November 18, 2009 10:57 AM By Neil Best

Speaking of Cornell (see three posts down), (Spunky) Katie Strang wrote a blog post about the Islanders' Matt Moulson and the secret society he was invited to join while in college there.

I was not invited to join said society, but Katie mentions that Adolph Coors II was - many, many decades before Moulson.

I did live in the same fraternity house Coors did.

No, not at the same time, wise guy.

(Correction: Oops. It actually was Spunky Steve Marcus who wrote the post about Moulson and Coors on the Isles blog. WatchDog regrets the error.)