As I tore through the book, I kept wondering how Lewis got such remarkable access to the Tuohys; and I also wondered, why does he take such an uncritical view of their role? The author's note at the end provides the obvious explanation, stating that Lewis is a friend of Sean Tuohy's and that they had been longtime classmates at the same New Orleans school.
The Tuohys eventually persuade Oher to attend their alma mater, Ole Miss, where football players have to "go through the tedious charade of pretending to be ordinary college students" to get their shot at the NFL. Lewis doesn't dwell on the cynicism of this arrangement, either. He is too determined to paint Oher as a heroic figure. "The world that had once taken no notice of Michael Oher was now so invested in him that it couldn't afford to see him fail," he insists. The problem is, that Lewis never bothers to ask why.
