The Marinovich Project

I watched it the other night as well.

The one thing I was shocked about (my wife too) is how tight father and son still are.

I went into watching it thinking man that guy must really hate his dad for all of the stuff he put him through. Actually quite the opposite and very surprising to me at least.

The wife and I watched it as well. Marinovich's highs were highs and his lows were very low. I had remembered his success, and how he got there but I didn't realize he had become a heroin addict. I thought the segment was very well done. The relationship with his father is complex, and I could never begin to understand it. It is a modern day parental tragedy, and I think alot can be learned here.

When I first heard about Marinovich (in college) I thought his father was crazy as my point of reference was crazy tennis parents in the mid-80s (with their "prodigy tennis kids"). I still don't think it is healthy as parents try to live vicariously through their kids or control their careers. I can only think of a few cases where parental involvement (at this level) worked out well (only) because the parents allowed their kids make decisions.

Watched it last weekend with my wife. I was not aware of the Marinovich Project until then. I couldn't believe some of the things i was seeing. There was a lot of hard work and sacrifice... but in the end, what was really sacrificed? Kind of puts things into perspective if you think about it.

I watched it last night and also thought it was very well done. Not sure I could add anything to whats been said.

I did see him play in college for USC. I thought at that time he was about the best college QB I had ever seen. Since I already knew a lot of the story, I thought the most interesting parts were his own thoughts as he was going through it all. Especially when he became the starter on the Raiders and thought, 'Ok, I did it...nothing left now, I'm done.'

quote:

Originally posted by justbaseball:
I thought the most interesting parts were his own thoughts as he was going through it all. Especially when he became the starter on the Raiders and thought, 'Ok, I did it...nothing left now, I'm done.'

I thought that was the most ironic part of his whole story. His dad had done all this to make him in his mind the greatest QB ever and the minute his dad told him "I am so proud of you" after the one game as the Raiders QB that was all Todd was waiting for to say in essence "Phew..now that's over with let's move on".

The takeaway for me on that part was that we as parent's probably greatly underestimate how much our teenage sons and daughters really just want to make us proud no matter how crazy we might treat them. And no matter how they might act outwardly toward us and our opinions.

BSD32,
Very perceptive takeaway. It is very important that we let them know that we love them for who they are and not how good of a baseball player they are.

Anybody know when this will be showed again? I totally missed it the first time and really wanted to see it.

ESPN is knocking them out of the park with these shows. There have been many shows like this that show a great perspective to things that have went on back in the day. I think the one on Miami University was phenomenal. I can see this being another really good one mainly because I was in high school when Marinovich was going through USC. I was really curious back then how he would turn out.

quote:

Originally posted by coach2709:
Anybody know when this will be showed again? I totally missed it the first time and really wanted to see it.

Hey Coach,
Next airing is Dec 16 1am to 2:30am EST on ESPN2. No-doze or record it!

Thanks cabbage but I think that was this morning (last night) because on my TV guide it doesn't show it coming on. Plus 1 am would make it the 17th instead of the 16th.

Regardless any showing at that time would definitly be a DVR thing.

Hey Coach.... looks like Christmas Eve, ESPN2HD at 10:30P to 12M, CST. Hope that helps... GED10DaD

Thanks GED10 - might still be a DVR setting seeing what time / day it's on. Still looking forward to watching it.

ESPN did one along the same story a couple of months ago on Chris Herren. Herren was a stud high school basketball player. He played college basketball at BC and Fresno State before playing in the NBA. His father pushed him so hard in basketball it was all he had for an identity until he found heroin.

One thing from the film, that plays over and over in my head, is what Todd says about his natural/unnatural talents... "Just because you're good at something, does that mean you're born to do it?".

I am sure this is soemthing that has been a major part of his ongoing therapy and addiction recovery. Ironically, for me, I never thought about someone who was really good at something not loving what they do? I guess this is a great topic to feed the nurture vs. nature debate. Marv created the perfect athlete but may have contributed to the creation of an imperfect person.

Amazingly, it appears Todd is recovering and headed in the right direction.

GED10DaD

There is a pretty good old article about John Frank of the 49ers, who quit to become a doctor.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.c...G1068727/1/index.htm

But he might have just quit anyway, if you read the article.

I have watched The Marinovich Project 3 times.I had some of our kids watch it with their parents as well.A lesson we might of learned is let the kids be kids , or they might rebel later when they have their own freedom.