It’s probably a good thing I don’t live in a city with a major or minor league baseball team, because I would most likely be broke and single after spending many nights at the ballpark. Baseball is the most beautiful of all the major sports with a long history, many stories and a major place in the social fabric of America.

In his book, The World is Flat (should be a must read for teachers), Tom Friedman looked at how evolving technologies, travel and geopolitics have created increased possibilities for individuals from many areas of the globe.  Geography is meaning less and less when it comes to opportunity.

Friedman didn’t specifically mention sports, but yesterday I was drawn to this story of two young Indian men who are now pitching in the Pirates organization.  Like everything else in Asia, when you have a few billion people, someone is bound to have hidden talents that aren’t necessarily valuable locally but can be sourced using the power of the web and traditional techniques.

They have been matched with a mentor, USC pitching coach Tom House, who notes that their inexperience is not necessarily a bad thing.

“The idea is that getting somebody brand new, with no bad habits, would be easier than trying to teach somebody to undo bad habits,” House said.

Kind of reminds me of the Jamaican Olympic bobsleigh team from a while back, but now it’s about BIG money driving the search.  Wonder what will be skill-sourced next?

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