Doug Merlino has 2 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 2 narrators. The most-rated is Beast.
The Hustle
Summary
The experiment was dreamed up by two fathers, one white, one black. What would happen, they wondered, if they mixed white players from an elite Seattle private school and black kids from the inner city on a basketball team? The team's season unfolded like a perfectly scripted sports movie: The ragtag group of boys gelled together to win the league championship. The experiment was deemed a success. But was it? How did crossing lines of class, race, and wealth affect the lives of these 10 boys? Two decades later, Doug Merlino, who played on the team, returned to find his teammates. The result is a complex, gripping, and at times unsettling story. An instant classic of narrative nonfiction, The Hustle tells the stories of 10 teammates set before a background of sweeping social and economic change, capturing the ways race, money, and opportunity shape our lives.
©2011 Doug Merlino (P)2013 Audible, Inc.
Beast
Summary
Mixed martial arts is America's fastest-growing sport - around the country, new gyms open their doors as enthusiastic viewers tune in to UFC matches. Although some dismiss it as brutal combat, its fighters are among the most dedicated athletes in any arena. But MMA also takes a heavy toll on the body, and it's a rare fighter who can earn a living in the sport's top ranks. Beast follows four high-level fighters at one of the sport's elite gyms, Florida's American Top Team. Doug Merlino had unprecedented access, training alongside the men for two years, traveling to their matches, and eating in their homes. Mirsad Bektic, a young Bosnian refugee who started in karate as a boy in Nebraska, dreams of stardom. Jeff Monson, a battered veteran at 41, is an outspoken, tattooed anarchist enjoying a bizarre burst of celebrity in Russia. Steve Mocco is a newcomer - a former Olympic wrestler from a close-knit, intellectual family. Finally there's Daniel Straus, who, from a life short on opportunity, fights his way up to title contention. All will experience electrifying highs and career lows, and Merlino takes us along every step of the way while also examining the history, culture, business, and meaning of professional cage fighting. An audiobook for both the uninitiated and the hardcore fan, Beast offers a fascinating journey into an often misunderstood world.
©2015 Doug Merlino (P)2015 Audible, Inc.