Million Dollar Arm

Can't help thinking this movie would be stupid. What do you mean to tell me searching a billion people you can find raw talent good enough to play pro baseball? "Can't be done", says the clip. What is the whole movie them trying to stop them deficating out of moving car windows and laughing at how sick they get seeing people eat meat?

I dunno Dukes of Hazzard's Catherine Bach had Million Dollar Legs. And that was TV!

Quote: onenickelmiracle

Can't help thinking this movie would be stupid. What do you mean to tell me searching a billion people you can find raw talent good enough to play pro baseball?

Well, it's possible, but you have to realize that bowling in cricket and pitching in baseball have very little in common. Pitching requires (a) bending your arm and (b) getting the ball from one point to another in the air - two things that pretty much every schoolboy learns from a young age are very serious no-nos in cricket bowling. (One of the worst things you can say about a bowler is to call him a "chucker" - i.e. somebody who throws the ball with a bent arm rather than bowling with a straight one.)

Then again, Mick Luckhurst turned rugby skill into a reasonably decent NFL career as a kicker.

With a billion people, they could find enough people with enough natural athletic ability to replace the entire league if they wanted is the plot hole to me. It's not like those people are duck-billed platypuses.

Quote: onenickelmiracle

With a billion people, they could find enough people with enough natural athletic ability to replace the entire league if they wanted is the plot hole to me. It's not like those people are duck-billed platypuses.

Riiiight, because guys throwing 95 mph fastballs, for strikes mind you, grow on trees

Quote: onenickelmiracle

With a billion people, they could find enough people with enough natural athletic ability to replace the entire league if they wanted is the plot hole to me. It's not like those people are duck-billed platypuses.

Then explain why every sport isn't 100% Chinese players.

"Natural athletic ability" isn't enough - you pretty much have to be brought up playing the sport.

Quote: onenickelmiracle

Can't help thinking this movie would be stupid. What do you mean to tell me searching a billion people you can find raw talent good enough to play pro baseball? "Can't be done", says the clip. What is the whole movie them trying to stop them deficating out of moving car windows and laughing at how sick they get seeing people eat meat?

Just so people will understand this thread its about a movie, Million Dollar Arm, from Disney that began principal photography in mid 2013 and premiered on May 14, 2014. Its storyline is a based on fact trip by an American Sports Agent to India where he used reality TV to screen candidates to be brought to USC and taught baseball, particularly how to pitch. I have no idea how the two reality tv show winners actually did as American pitchers.

It seems a major part of the film involves cultural transitions.

Perhaps this is a good time to remind people that Satchel Paige played baseball for years with an injured arm muscle.

One of them washed out, the other is with the Pirates' AA farm club and is considered a marginal prospect.

Edit: it looks like Singh didn't make the AA club out of spring training; he was released.

Just something I will add... having the ability to throw a ball fast does not make you major league caliber. Any hitter in college could hit a major league all star if he only threw fast balls. The difficulty is that major league pitchers have typically developed at least 3 or 4 different pitches (curveball, change up, slider, etc..) to trick hitters. What makes most pitchers great is their ability to have the exact same arm speed, yet throwing the balls with different grips to change the velocity and add movement to the pitch.