

Oher heard about it again recently when Ravens Coach John Harbaugh, while stressing the need for completed blocks, showed the team the outrageous "Blind Side" film clip in which Oher supposedly blocks a high-school opponent the length of the field and dumps him over a fence.

"Everybody laughed and fell on the floor, it was all fun," said Oher.

But was it? Sean Tuohy, Oher's father, understands his son's discomfort.

"He's tired of it, and I can't blame him," said Tuohy in a phone interview. "It's easy for us and everybody looking in, but when you're the object of it, it can get old."

Tuohy, a Memphis businessman and part-time Grizzlies broadcaster, laughingly said that he never tires of watching himself, considering his character is played by the popular McGraw. But he said the movie is much more painful for Oher.

"Think back to when you were 16.… Would you like to see those days relived over and over again?" he said. "I'm sure there's a time he'll look back and truly realize he made a difference in the world, but right now he just wants to play football."

This year, though, the movie even stuck its neck into his football business in an ironic way. The title is a phrase used in football to represent the quarterback's most vulnerable side. When the quarterback is right-handed, that side is protected by the left tackle, which is considered the most important position on the offensive line and a spot manned by Oher. Yet at the start of the postseason, the "Blind Side" guy was moved out of the blind side, with an inconsistent Oher going to right tackle to accommodate natural left tackle Bryant McKinnie.

The switch was like asking a left-handed pitcher to suddenly throw with his right hand. The adjustment required time, but in the playoffs, the Ravens' offensive line has helped the offense rack up some of the best numbers in franchise history.

"It's a lot of work; you do a lot of things backward. It's very hard, but you do what you got to do," said Oher.

Which is a good way to describe his journey, which has been lost in the glare of its telling.

"It's incredible, knowing the road I had to travel to get to this point," Oher said. "I've come a long way. It's unbelievable, amazing, what I had to overcome, it's all remarkable."

He said he would have to "think long and hard" about being involved in a "Blind Side II." One suspects a Ravens victory in Super Bowl XLVII would be sequel enough.