Gustavo blogged him up as “OC's Eternal Loser” in 2007, but Esquire magazine's May 2009 issue (the one that allows you to create your own horrifying Obama/Clooney/Timberlake/monster man cover) labels him as “The Man Who Never Was.” We're talking about Todd Marinovich, the Newport Beach kid who was engineered by his father to be a legendary quarterback and, eventually, became a legend for the wrong reasons.
He led Mater Dei and Capistrano Valley teams to greatness in the late 1980s and became the protypical OC-bred USC star. But after only three years with the Los Angeles Raiders, the drugs and partying caught up with him and he was forced out of pro sports, consigned to chasing heroine and occasionally getting busted for skateboarding on Balboa Island. A few forays into Arena Football and Canadian teams didn't pan out (though he set a few records in his short time in the Arena); now, he's living — supposedly sober — in San Juan Capistrano.
It's an Esquire profile, so it's a good read even if you hate football and live in Fargo. Get it online here.
But if you live in Orange County, there's the added fun of playing spot-the-reference in Marinovich's life story. You probably know what's being referred to when it's mentioned that Marinovich surfed naked at a “spot near a nuclear power plant.” Bonus points, though, if you can identify his “old hook spot in Santa Ana” where Marinovich liked to buy black-tar heroine.
