In order to get my grandmother out of the house, Mom and I took her to see the Blind Side today. This is the classic horrible life until someone provides a opportunities and assistance. The helpers benefit by seeing how the helped improve. Annie in this case is a 6’6″ 320 pound black guy whose birth mother is a crack addict and former neighbors are gangsters. His suffering from having to deal with the old neighborhood reminded me of this shooting in Valdosta.
When it comes to the NCAA concerns the Tuohys, as “boosters”, removed him from the squalor in order to get him to play for Ole Miss, I wonder. The movie suggests this was just because there was an unfounded concern the Tuohys made Michael pick Ole Miss. It also suggests other boosters might start taking good prospects out of subsidized housing, adopt them, and have them enroll at their university. Kids from horrible neighborhoods go to schools which don’t have athletic programs and don’t get kids into college. So getting the kids into a place where they actually have a shot at having a good life seems like a good thing even if for the wrong reasons. As long as the kids are not being mistreated, I say go for it.