Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there. My kids have the day planned out for me and it is a surprise so I am up early before everyone else to get a post in. I do know that my wife bought me a new grill which is very cool. Since we moved a year ago we have been without - our old house had a built in that couldn't come with us. I will be grilling up some nice steaks tonight!
I thought it might be appropriate to share some pick ups from former USC Trojan QB Todd Marinovich since conventional wisdom leads us to believe that Todd's dad ruined him. If you aren't familiar with the story, his dad attempted to mold him into a quarterback from a very young age earning him the nickname of Robo QB. Dad's work did get him to the point of being a star QB at USC and a first round draft pick of the Oakland Raiders but the story gets sad after that with drug usage, flaming out at the pro level and homelessness in his adult life. I believe he has his life somewhat turned around and has an art studio in Southern California. If you are interested in his story I would definitely Google him for more details, it is an interesting one.
As you may know, I collect all former USC football player cards. However I collected Marinovich cards prior to going all in on the Trojans. He was the starting QB my first 2 years at USC and I recall some very good football memories of him. I also recall witnessing some pretty serious partying as well. It was rumored when he got on campus that he had never had a Big Mac. That may be true but he definitely indulged in alcohol (I personally witnessed that) and drugs (didn't personally witness but had a few friends that did). I once saw him passed out in the parking lot of a local bar laying in puddle of oil. It must be quite obvious why I was inspired to collect him.
I had most of Marinovich's cards from his playing day but recently found out he had a few Upper Deck releases in the past few years. Even better they feature him in his Trojan uniform. I have picked up 5 so I thought I would show them off.
The card on the bottom right was release in 2011 as part of the Upper Deck College Football legends set and is the base card. It is a nice up close picture of Marinovich under center and I have always been a fan of that simple but effective UD design. The two cards on the left are from 2012 UD Football. The bottom card is the base card and shows a great picture of him rolling out against who I believe is Washington State. The top is an insert in the style of 1997 SP - this is my favorite card of the 4. The final card in the upper right is from 2012 SPX Football. Probably my least favorite of the 4 with a zoomed in repeat photo of the 2012 UD base card. I was pretty happy to pick up these for a buck a piece with free shipping.
My final pickup is an autographed parallel of the 2011 College Football Legends card. I am so happy to have a Marinvich Auto in my collection. He played prior to the insertion of Autos regularly into football products. This is listed as an SP in the set although I am not sure how short printed it is. I scored it for under $12 shipped which I was happy to pay. He has 3 more recently released cards (2 Autos and a Sepia glossy parallel /10 to his 2012 UD card) which are going to be hard to track down but I will keep my eyes open. I also have some holes in my collection of his cards from his playing days that I may try and track down but those too are pretty rare (lots of Wild Card stripe cards on the want list). Overall I am happy with these new additions and hope he pops up in a few more sets.
Happy Father's Day once again!
Yup. As a Raiders fan, I remember Marinovich all too well.
ReplyDeleteWe used to chant for him from the stands, but as you said, he was a flame out when he got his chance. A sad story indeed.