Age of Beware-of-Us for This Flower Child

Next season, when Todd Marinovich is whipping footballs to (wishful thinking) Rocket Ismail, the excitement could be such that the Raiders will sell out the Coliseum even before the place gets remodeled.

Next week , more urgently, when the Raiders will be a thousand or more miles from home, their quarterback might or might not be young master Marinovich, who made the most of his maiden voyage in Sunday’s otherwise exasperating 27-21 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

I suppose that both he and we should understand why the Raiders wouldn’t want to play Marinovich in the playoffs, if they don’t. He is a beginner. He’s raw as sushi. He’s green as grass. He’s such a kid, the Raiders probably bought his uniform at Toys R Us.

But come on.

Play him again, man.

I mean, you saw him.

Can the kid play, or what?

Was he prepared to play, or what?

Did he turn pro Sunday, or what?

He was sharp. He was sure. He was “exactly what I knew he would be,” Al Davis said afterward. “Rusty and afraid at first, then confident and tough. Kid did a hell of a job.”

He sure did. No interceptions. No sacks. No fumbles. Three touchdown passes. It took Jim Everett of the Rams a month to throw that many.

Sunday was Marinovich’s football bar mitzvah. The boy became a man.

In one day, toddler Todd repaired much of the damage to his reputation. He returned to his old college field, after a year off for bad behavior, and gave us a USC flashback.

It sure isn’t his fault that the Raiders won’t be playing next weekend on the same field.

So, even if Jay Schroeder is fit to play, let’s see more of Marinovich.

The kid might be feeling some pressure, but hey--the kid also applies pressure.

Tim Brown, who caught two of Marinovich’s touchdown passes, really got a kick out of him:

“He was definitely relaxed. You know Todd. You know what kind of guy he is. Totally relaxed. Totally laid back. We call him Flower Child. We tell him he should have been born in the ‘60s. All Todd needs to be happy is his surfboard. ‘Dude!’ ‘Way to play, dude!’ ”

That’s probably pretty much the way Todd described his first day on the job to his friends. As ‘way cool.’

Before the game, Marinovich had every reason to be nervous. To some, he might have looked as out of place as the Grateful Dead crashing a Christmas party at Dan and Marilyn Quayle’s.

But he was anything but shy. For the introductions, Marinovich came bounding out of the Coliseum tunnel onto the oval track, flapping his arms like a seal, asking the audience for noise. Football was back in his life. He probably had forgotten how much fun it could be.

Then he went out into the world to earn a living.

His first pass wasn’t much. Wobbled and died.

“I was nervous the first snap,” Marinovich said. “But I’ve never played a football game where I wasn’t nervous before it started.”

He flipped a 26-yard touchdown pass to Brown as casually as a boy tossing a Frisbee to a puppy.

After which, he leaped into 280-pound Steve Wright’s arms like a child onto Santa’s lap.

Later, Marinovich threaded one seven yards to Ethan Horton for a touchdown on fourth down. Equally impressive, though, were the passes he threw on second and third downs.

They sailed far over the heads of the intended receivers, way beyond the end zone. Too long, yes. Uncatchable. But safe. There was no way either pass could be picked off. If Todd’s receivers couldn’t catch them, nobody could.

“It was just a great feeling to be playing football again. It was everything I imagined,” Marinovich said later, dressed in an olive T-shirt and matching fedora that made him look like somebody whose Jeep with a rifle-rack must be double-parked.

He doesn’t know if he will be the starter next week. “You have to ask Coach Shell. He hasn’t said I’m not yet, so I’m not going to worry yet.

“The last thing a team wants before a playoff game is a controversy. I’ll just do what the coach says.”

One thing for sure: We haven’t seen the last of him.

The only real adjustment Raider receivers had to make was to the spiral of a ball thrown left-handed. Both Brown and Horton made references to that. Brown also mentioned that Marinovich throws “a softer ball than Jay’s, but I don’t know whose ball is easier to catch.”

Said Horton: “There’s something about Todd. He’s a special kid. I think he showed everybody today that he’s special, that he’s going to be a great player.”

Maybe next season.

Maybe next week.