Sports & Entertainment Beat

We here at the Spotlight are a family-oriented program committed to giving you sports and entertainment industry business and legal news and insights interspersed with dad jokes (though sometimes I wonder whether it is the other way around…). In any event, I feel it is important to address a story that blends familial (or maybe pseudo-familial) elements with the subject matter of the Spotlight. Nowhere is that more apparent than with that of news of the legal dispute between former NFL Offensive Tackle, Michael Oher and his (supposed/alleged) adoptive parents, Leigh Ann and Sean Tuohy.  Oher has filed an action to dissolve his conservatorship with the Tuohys, alleging that they had tricked Oher into signing conservatorship documents allowing the Tuohys to represent Oher’s business interests was the same as being adopted and concocted the (once) heart-warming story of a white Tennessee family adopting a black football player out of abject poverty that served the basis for the film, “The Blind Side” (for which Sandra Bullock won the Oscar for Best Actress in 2009), allegedly to enrich themselves at his expense. On the other hand, the Tuohys’ lawyer fired back with allegations that Oher had sought to extort $15 million from the family to prevent him from going public with his side of the story. The whole saga is troubling, because you tend to hope that neither side is true, though that would mean that the only ones being bamboozled are you and I. if there is a winner to emerge from the fray, it might well be Sandra Bullock, who might yet break her streak of awful sequels (i.e., Speed 2 and Miss Congeniality 2) with her being positioned to reprise her role of Leigh Ann Tuohy in the yet-to-be-created, The Blind Side 2: Blind Justice. That is, if Hollywood movies are ever made again.  Before we jump into the rest of this week’s Spotlight, a brief programming note that I will be on vacation with my family next week, so the Spotlight will be recharging in my absence.

1. Fantasy Football guru, Matthew Berry raises $2 million for his startup fantasy sports media company, Fantasy Life. My fantasy football team can only hope to bring in a fraction of that amount this year.
    
2. McDonald’s launches a collectible, but non-transferable Grimace NFT. Just another way for McDonald’s (and a grimace) to stay with you long after your meal.
    
3. Just as Netflix renews its series, “The King of Collectibles” a Michael Jordan rookie card goes up for auction with a starting bid of $500,000. On that note, I am going to head out to go through my wife’s grandfather’s sports card collection gathering dust in my basement.