Question on Michael Oher's character

[chwtom]

1. Your right. I asked why some might say he had character issues or red flags. I then questioned the answer. But did the thread/discussion have to end w/ the answer. Is there some reason we can not discuss Oher, his character, and prospects?

 

2. One issue I have is, many (like myself 24 hours ago) are not aware what some might talk about when saying he has character issues. I had a discussion w/ someone the other day that said he would be a bad pick because he heart Oher was a bad guy and had all these red flags. He had no idea what the discussion about Oher was, but simply that he read he had character issues.

 

Hell, look at my original post and why this all started. Don Banks indicates Oher is falling, and follows that up by saying teams don't have the patience for players as they did in pre-Goddell days. Does that not give you the impression of more than being to close to family? Referncing Goddess implies a player who will get into trouble. I don't think you have even indicated Oher is likely to cause trouble or get on the wrong side of the law, but that sure was an implication in Banks comments.

 

3. I do think you can over-analyize a prospect, and would argue many GMs and scouts say the same. If you look hard and long enough, you will find problems. No one is perfect, and thus everyone has flaws. If you continue to look hard at those flaws, they become magnified. By draft day, what really is nothing big seems huge because you have focused on it too much. That is what i mean.

 

4. You say there were concerns prior to the combine, but that is partially my point. I really didn't hear these concerns until more recently. The book didn't suddenly come out, so why did the "concerns" seem to? You seem to put a ton of stock in the combine. I don't. I put stock in what the player does on the field. I don't think he showed a lack of committment or dedication on the field. You say you read the book, and that makes you think he won't give 100%. I argue what he did on the field in college makes that leap in logic questionable.

 

5. Okay, so you read the book. In the book, does it talk about how he took off plays in college, or didn't give 100%. Everything I have read about his college career would point to the opposite. In my eyes, he worked his tail off. Not only did he work hard in football, becoming one of the nation's elite LTs, but also in the classroom as he made Dean's list his sophmore year. That just doesn't sound like a guy who lacks dedication.

 

So you havent watched him play, haven't read the book about him, and yet you still think you are qualified to tell me what kind of player he is, whether he takes plays off, etc? I have watched him play (live and on tv), and I've read the book about him, so I think that makes me think I'm wasting my time arguing his virtues/vices with someone who has lots of opinions but little information to base them on.

 

I don't put a ton of stock in the combine, but I do put some in it. It's valuable to answer questions a player has put up with their on the field play. I don't want DHB because he hasn't done anything on the field to make me care what he does at the combine. But I do care about what Oher does because he does have question marks. I'm not sure why you haven't heard anything about his ? marks until now, maybe because you only started paying attention to him when the draft came around. You don't strike me as an Ole Miss guy, and you haven't read the book, so I don't know why you would've heard much on him.