Living America

Last week, I invited some friends over for USC's opening football game. People came from as far as Toronto and Seattle. Except my boss and his date, everyone was Indian. So my boss decided to test the football knowledge of an Indian!!

First question: What is the Blind Side in Football? Bingo...I can write a full history about the blind side. I recently read a book by Michael Lewis( who has previously written Liar's Poker, New New Thing and Moneyball) that is called Blind Side. I have actually covered this book as well as the main character Michael Oher in the Sports section of this blog in an earlier entry.
Blind Side is essentially the left side of the quarterback( if he throws from the right hand)...essentially the side he cannot see while throwing the football. The person protecting this side of the quarterback is the left tackle. In this picture, the OT on the right side of of the QB is the left tackle.

Till 1985, this position was considered a normal position like any other in the offensive line but Lawrence Taylor( or just LT) broke the leg of Super Bowl winning quarterback Joe Theisman of Washington Redskins...reason? The left tackle for Redskins did not protect Joe Theisman against the ferocious LT who was playing at Offensive Linebacker in the legendary defence of the Big Tuna Bills Parcells. That incident became seminal in terms of bringing out the importance of this position of left tackle. Within a few years after that, left tackle position became the most expensive position on the field after quarterback. What you required was a huge man( at least 300 pounds) who had a lot of girth, long hands and could face a barrage of NFL size monsters and save the quarterback.

Well, I felt really happy to be able to answer this " What is the Blind Side?" so comprehensivel( It doesn't matter that I could not answer the next question!!). Answering any question is fun but this one was special since I have been in America for just over 2 years. And one thing that I have realized while travelling all over the country is that nothing starts a conversation better than football. Nothing is better to bring down the wall. I love football( Go Trojans!!) and I know it really helps.Even in this place, airport at Bloomington Illinois, from where I am writing this entry, if you are a Chicago Bears fan, you have a lot of friends. If you hate Bears, than better not talk about it!!

By the way, this trip to Bloomington is awesome from the perspective of how different it is from Los Angeles. Women do not mind having some fat on their body and people have time to stop and have a hearty conversation with you. Instead of buildings all over the place, you finally see some nice agricultural land. If you have lived in LA or New York or other big cities in US, places like these might seem very vanilla but this is what really makes America....majority of it. And these places decide who would rule in Washington, not the elite of the big cities.