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The answer, in Marinovich\u2019s case, was chaos, chaos that still echoes today more than three decades later.<\/p>\n
Marinovich, a southern California quarterback who played his college ball at USC and took snaps in the NFL for the Raiders, crashed and burned shortly into his NFL career, a victim of his own bad choices and \u2014 most everyone assumed \u2014 the immense pressure his father Marv placed on him practically from birth.<\/p>\n
[<\/strong>Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2025 NFL season<\/strong><\/a>]<\/strong><\/p>\n The truth, however, is far more complex and, to Marinovich\u2019s mind, far more favorable to Marv, who died in 2020. Marinovich \u2014 once dubbed the \u201cRobo QB,\u201d or, even less charitably, \u201cMarijuanavich\u201d \u2014 has at last put his own story, in his own words, into print. “Marinovich: Outside the Lines in Football, Art, and Addiction” documents, in painful detail, the battles that the onetime quarterback and present-day artist fought throughout his career and continues to fight even now \u2014 with addiction, with perception, with himself. It\u2019s a harrowing but ultimately impressive and inspiring look at reconciling a public image with personal belief.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cMy most fundamental flaw was both a tremendous blessing and a horrible curse, but it was my reality,\u201d he writes. \u201cWithout the zeal accompanying obsession, who knows if I would\u2019ve succeeded in football? Someone else could have been the first college sophomore in history to declare for the NFL Draft. Yet, on the flip side, there wouldn\u2019t have been a soul-crushing dozen arrests, five incarcerations, and over seven trips to rehab.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s a reason, then, that he begins the book with this epigram: \u201cThis book is an act of self-love after decades of self-defiance.\u201d (Disclaimer: Marinovich and this writer share an agent.)<\/p>\n For Marinovich, now 56, training began virtually at birth. His father, a former strength coach with the Raiders, developed a relentless regimen designed to maximize Todd\u2019s potential and hone his discipline. But early in his autobiography, Marinovich makes sure to draw a line in the sand:<\/p>\n \u201cNo one pushed me into football, least of all my dad, Marv,\u201d he writes. \u201cI chose it. Any suggestions to the contrary were lies offered freely by the media to manufacture a Greek tragedy.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n And yes, the media dove deep into the Marinovich story, starting long before he suited up for USC. Even as a high schooler, Marinovich was drawing national attention.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was a really trippy time for me, because I was so shy going into high school,\u201d he told Yahoo Sports recently. \u201cAnd then articles were talking about my diet, like I was a freak show \u2014 \u2018He\u2019s never had a Big Mac!\u2019<\/a> It just wasn\u2019t true. I was healthy, and I ate healthy, but, you know, living in America, you\u2019re going to have a Big Mac.\u201d<\/p>\n Todd Marinovich (center) signs his Letter of Intent to attend USC with parents Marv (left) and Trudi, on Feb. 10, 1988 in Mission Viejo, California. (Photo by Bob Riha, Jr.\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n (Bob Riha Jr via Getty Images)<\/p>\n During this time, Marinovich honed his ability to remain cool under pressure. An immensely talented basketball player, he played in dozens of hostile gyms, sinking last-second shots to win games in front of rabid crowds. It\u2019s the kind of training you can\u2019t teach, you just have to experience.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cI felt really comfortable when the time was running out that I want the ball,\u201d he recalls. \u201cNot everybody wants the ball when time\u2019s running out. And that\u2019s OK. Just give it up, just pass it to the guy that does.\u201d<\/p>\n As much as he loved basketball, however, Marinovich loved football even more. Speaking today, he notes that there\u2019s an almost otherworldly component to the game when it\u2019s functioning at its highest.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s truly spiritual,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s 11 of us who are out there at once. It\u2019s so special when everyone has just got your back. All you\u2019ve got to do is handle your guy, don\u2019t let the guy down next to you. You\u2019re looking at guys in the eye, and they know that you are not going to let them down. You\u2019re going, I\u2019m going to die trying not to let you down, bro.\u201d<\/p>\n At his finest, Marinovich was something to behold at quarterback. He threw for 9,914 career yards in high school, a mark that was a national record at the time. (It\u2019s since been nearly doubled.) Marinovich threw for 2,477 yards his senior year, more than contemporaries John Elway, Jim Kelly or Dan Marino did in theirs. In two years at USC, he crafted some instantly indelible memories \u2014 a last-second drive to beat Washington State in 1989, a triumphant 45-42 victory over rival UCLA in 1990.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Those were good days for Marinovich and anyone in the Marinovich business. He was winning nationwide acclaim and shaking off his shyness to become a fixture on the L.A. party scene. He counted Charlie Sheen and Flea among his friends, and he was an unmistakable redheaded presence wherever there was a party to be had.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were some really amazing next-level times that I had before it got really bad,\u201d he laughs, \u201cand that’s just, that’s all I’ll say.\u201d<\/p>\n But the cracks were already starting to show. He engaged in an on-camera shouting match with his head coach in what was then called the John Hancock (now Sun) Bowl on the last day of 1990. A few weeks later, he was busted for cocaine possession, but still managed to get drafted in the first round of the 1991 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n He saw little NFL action, playing in just eight regular-season games, with one playoff appearance, over parts of two seasons. He threw for eight touchdowns and nine interceptions, plus a zero-TD, four-INT game against the Chiefs in a 1991 wild-card game. He dodged NFL investigators, often with grimly comical results \u2014 he would use teammates\u2019 urine to pass drug tests, but got popped when one of his teammates gave him urine while drunk at four times the legal driving limit.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n After multiple failed drug tests and failed attempts at rehab, Marinovich was suspended for the 1993 season, and never played NFL football again. He attempted to catch on with the Canadian Football League, the Arena Football League and other organizations, but nothing stuck. Eulogies for his career pointed the finger at Marv, but Marinovich is adamant that the blame belongs on himself, and only himself.<\/p>\n \u201cMarv was a thorny scapegoat, as he\u2019d delivered the genes and created the environment offering addiction fertile ground,\u201d Marinovich writes. \u201cHe could be a ruthless tyrant obsessed with perfection, but ultimately, his criticism was child\u2019s play. The most damaging voice came from within. At the height of addiction, I needed drugs to silence my mind as much as others require air.\u201d<\/p>\n These days, Marinovich lives on the Big Island of Hawaii, hanging out with his dog and creating art. (Check out his work on Instagram<\/a>.) Creating art isn\u2019t a bad life, he admits.<\/p>\n \u201cArt takes me away,\u201d he says. \u201cI can escape into a place that \u2026 it\u2019s hard to describe, but time is non-existent in this place, and there\u2019s a flow to it. It\u2019s kind of similar to athletics, there\u2019s a flow to athletics. But with art, there are no rules, and in football, there are.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Todd Marinovich remains one of football\u2019s great what-ifs. But even though his NFL career was a spark at best, he still tries to look back on his days at quarterback with pride.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me, it\u2019s truly about the experience,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd I had some just beautiful, amazing \u2014 all the adjectives \u2014 experiences that the game has given me, and I\u2019m grateful for it.\u201d<\/p>\n “Marinovich: Outside the Lines in Football, Art, and Addiction,” by Todd Marinovich with Lizzy Wright, goes on sale Aug. 5.<\/p>\n![\"Capistrano](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/98b17200-6e6a-11f0-bb3e-5bca0b43eef8.jpeg\"\/)
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