BLACK MARKET An Insider's Journey into the High-Stakes World of College Basketball

The author is a former college basketball player who, as a recruiter of player-representatives for Nike, saw firsthand how colleges exploited young athletes, often manipulating them to become part of the money-making machines that college sports have become. Narrator James Shippy's masculine voice and big-city vocal personality work well to convey Merl Code's intelligent perspectives, as well as his moral rectitude. As a shoe company marketing executive, the author says he often funneled money to student-athletes under the table, in no small part to redress their having been used and manipulated by college athletic departments without compensation beyond their scholarships. With his pitch-perfect phrasing and palpable empathy for the author's moral journey, Shippy's performance infuses Code's finely honed observations with pathos and dignity. T.W. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2022]