Overview
From a former college basketball player and Executive at Nike, a ""riveting"" (Sports Illustrated) insider's account into the business of college basketball exposes the corrupt and racist systems that exploit young athletes and offers a new way forward For Merl Code, basketball was life. In college he played point guard for Clemson before turning pro. Later, when he pivoted to marketing, he found himself thrust into a startling world of profit-driven college basketball programs. He realized that the NCAA's amateurism rules could be used to exploit young athletes, and athletes of color in particular. Now, for the first time, Code will share his side of the explosive story of college basketball's dark reality--a system that begins with young talent in AAU programs and culminates at the highest levels of the NBA. Propulsive, urgent, and eye-opening, Black Market exposes the truth to offer a more just way forward for both colleges and athletes.
Full Product Details
Author: Merl Code
Publisher: Hanover Square Press
Imprint: Hanover Square Press
Edition: First Time Trade ed.
Dimensions:
Width: 13.20cm
, Height: 1.60cm
, Length: 20.00cm
Weight: 0.200kg
ISBN: 9781335449450
ISBN 10: 1335449450
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 14 March 2023
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Available To Order
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Reviews
Riveting... pulls back the curtain on how the sport operates. --Sports Illustrated Masterfully reveals how the business side of college athletics actually operates. [An] eye-opening account. --SLAM For years while working at Nike and Adidas, Merl Code was one of the most powerful figures in college basketball. Now he delivers the insider account about how the sport really works--and how the federal case against him made no sense--that every fan should read. Well-written and well-paced, this memoir reads like a novel. --Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports columnist and bestselling co-author of Sole Influence Both fascinating and right on target, a much-needed look at the often bizarre path that youthful basketball talent travels. --Roland Lazenby, author of Michael Jordan: The Life Everybody who believes in justice and fairness for all those used and abused by the college basketball money making machine, should thank Merl Code for telling his story now--and for telling it so colorfully and engagingly. Merl paid a high price for the actions of the powers-that-be in the federal bribery scandal. The truth about the exploitative system, as he has experienced it from all sides, is long overdue. Black Market is required reading. --David Steele, award-winning sports journalist and co-author of Silent Gesture: The Autobiography of Tommie Smith There is no person, in the basketball space or otherwise, that I respect more than Merl Code. His book is a penetrating insider's account of the big business of basketball, and a much-needed expose of a system that hurts young athletes the most. --Shammond Williams, former NBA point guard and shooting guard Black Market is an explosive, honest, and essential account that will reframe the way you think about competitive basketball at every level. It is at once an intimate, compelling memoir and an urgent and necessary call for change. --Jay King, staff writer at The Athletic
Author Information
Merl Code served as a director at Nike and consultant for Adidas. He is a former professional basketball player and played Division I basketball for Clemson University. He lives in South Carolina with his family. Black Market is his first book.
