A few weeks ago the brilliant and contrarian online magazine Slate ran an especially fascinating article that pointed out how weirdly common stories like the one told in The Blind Side really are. Believe it or not, there are dozens of examples of a wealthy white family taking in a poor black football player as one of their own and giving him the strength and confidence to become a big star. Even Michael Lewis, who wrote the book The Blind Side, admits the story of Michael Oher is not actually unique.
But while Michael Oher copycat stories may be out there, it'll be pretty tough for another movie to mine the material after The Blind Side, so we're moving in a slightly different direction for our next story of football and overcoming adversity. According to Deadline, New York Jets linebacker Bart Scott is going to be the subject of his own biopic, which tells the story of his troubled childhood in inner city Detroit and his eventual success at Southern Illinois University and in the NFL. Gay Talese helped screenwriter Richard Regen develop the story and sold the pitch to producers Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne.
Scott grew up in East Detroit surrounded by both his extended family and gangs, violence and drugs, but became an instant star on his high school football team and was recruited by over 100 schools. He wound up at Southern Illinois University and started his NFL career with the Baltimore Ravens before moving on to the New York Jets, where he started every game in his first season with the team. The one thing I'm not clear about from any of this is what makes Scott special-- he's not an NFL superstar, and also doesn't seem to have had a spectacularly troubled childhood-- but maybe he's got the charismatic personality or storytelling skills that make his story more than just the facts.
