Sole Influence - Basketball, Corporate Greed and the Corruption of America's Youth (Electronic book text, illustrated edition)

A private war is being waged on city playgrounds and in high school gyms in the never-ending search for the next big player--and the potential millions in sales that player could bring to the major athletic shoe companies by endorsing their products Far from the glamour of the NBA or the NCAA Final Four, the sport has changed into a high-stakes war of greed and includes such tactics as expensive gifts, pampered perks, grade fixing, standardized-test fraud, and kickback recruitments. For every legitimate spokesman like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant (the respective endorsers for Nike and adidas) there are dozens of teenage kids all over America who are lavished with brand new sneakers, expensive clothes, new athletic gear, or free trips (parents included) in an attempt to gain their athletic shoe brand loyalty. And that's just where this sordid story begins.