re: Todd Marinovich arrested...again....

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From the day he was born he was raised to be a QB

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Indeed, it has been—and almost certainly will continue to be—a difficult life at USC for Marinovich, who burst upon the world of college football during his hysteria-filled recruitment in the winter of 1988 (SI, Feb. 22, 1988). Almost every football-playing college in the U.S. made a pitch for him. Schools begged. Got on their knees and pleaded. It was not only Marinovich's ability that attracted attention, but also the fact that he was born and bred to be a quarterback. Every decision regarding his young life was made with one goal in mind: that Todd grow up to be a quarterback. Included was the food his mother, Trudi, consumed while Todd was in the womb.

Project Marinovich was engineered by Marv, an offensive lineman at USC and co-captain of the 1962 national champions. He was the prototypical stage father. In most ways, Marv didn't have a life. He had Todd's life. In 1987, Marv and Trudi were divorced. "I had a captive audience," says Marv. "I told him when to eat, what to eat, when to go to bed, when to get up, when to work out, how to work out. Now I have a hard time getting him on the telephone. He seems to be leading a life-style that is wearing. The interviews, missing meals, bad sleeping habits. Things are just starting to slip. I told him, 'You are making bad decisions, but I can't make them for you anymore.' He went directly from an environment where everything was regimented to a totally open door."

Marinovich stares at the ground, then slowly looks up. "Man, it's tough every day to live up to the image of the all-American boy who has never eaten a Big Mac," he says. "And I do get tired of people looking at me funny. Sometimes I just don't want to deal with it."

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