Todd Marinovich, the Happy Ending

Heard Marinovich on the radio driving in today with everyone's favorite, Cowherd. They were talking up a Marinovich segment on the WWL (30/30 I think). I followed the story since he was drafted by the local Raiders and had the short USC career along with reading in SI about the ban on McDonald's growing up. After the drug addiction came to light I did not have high hopes for him.

Hearing him today, I got a great feeling hearing how he appears to have learned to overcome his addiction and how he loves being a father and is great friends with his dad. He just sounded so calm and happy in a grounded way. I'm happy for him.

 

That was a great 30/30 - perhaps the best.

 

Doesn't it seem anachronistic now that not letting a kid eat McDonald's was considered so weird back then? Seems like it would be considered pretty normal now.

 

Yeah, I know several parents who you could argue are almost as strict with what their kids eat.

Then again, Marv Marinovich had a plan. Normal parents who don't let their kids eat sugar are just assholes...

 

Watched the documentary last night. Although I'm happy for him, I'm not convinced it's over. His last relapse was less than two years ago. (Side note: I had no idea the "Marijuanavich" stuff started in high school. I thought it was well into his USC career before he went off the rails.) Maybe the fact that he's married to a former addict will actually help in that she would see the signs before anyone else might.

The Marv dynamic is incredibly strange. Todd says how great Marv has been throughout his life, but I think that's more of a coping mechanism to help him live from this day forward.

 

He was a pretty decent Arena QB in Milwaukee.

 

It went way beyond that.

 

I haven't seen all of the 30 for 30 yet, but I've interviewed Marinovich and his childhood was insane.

His father was also very open about it. But I would bet that what Marv did wouldn't be much different than what Andre Agassi, Mary Pierce, Tiger Woods, among others went through...

 

I really enjoyed the film. He's the same age as me, or close, so I remember all the hype and followed him as he crashed and burned.

I think the disservice his dad did to him wasn't so much "forcing" him into 24/7 football, but it was by teaching an all-or-nothing ethic. He was all-in with the football stuff. He would become all-in with the party culture.

And I don't completely blame dad for that. I think it's in the DNA too.

 

Lot of parallels between Marinovich and Herren, although Marinovich had the dad factor that complicated everything. And like Longtime said, I don't think it's over for either of them, which I'm sure they'd both admit as well.

It would have been interesting to see if he would have turned out better if the Raiders hadn't drafted him. Maybe it all ends the same way, but if he could have gotten away from LA, it could have changed a lot of things.