"What if's" of sports history

[BruiserBrody]

John Brockington: Greatest Running Back of all Time

I have a signed photo of him. Ironic, since he played for rival teams in college and the pros.

I'm amused by a 1994 NFL Preview magazine I have that proclaims Reggie Cobb the Packers savior at running back.

 

[snuffbox]

And now a different Cobb (Tex) is the heir apparent to Donald Driver.

 

[Czech]

What if Congress was able to enforce the NFL's antitrust exemption, part of which states that as a condition of the NFL-AFL merger, no team could relocate? We could see the Baltimore Colts attempt their midnight move and then have to go right back. There'd be no L.A. Raiders, which means much less Raiders/gangsta rap synergy. Super Bowl XXXIV would really be a Hollywood ending.

So with no abandoned markets, how does the NFL get to 32 teams? For the '95 expansion, Charlotte was a can't-miss, but they probably wouldn't have chosen Jacksonville with Phoenix open (and with the antitrust exemption, they couldn't withhold it from expansion to use for relocation like they did with Baltimore). So let's say we have the Phoenix Jaguars now.

Let's say that in 1999, the team that's now the Cleveland Browns ends up being a consolation prize for Bud Adams, who rather than moving the Houston Oilers to Nashville, sells the Oilers to the league in exchange for an expansion team to be placed in Nashville. This actually works out quite well since the real-world Oilers spent those two years in purgatory before their real stadium opened in '99. Now, our alternate-universe Tennessee Titans are a sucky operation that only ever managed a single playoff loss, rather than a mediocre operation that lost a Super Bowl in dramatic fashion.

The tricky part is where the 32nd team (our Texans) goes. Indianapolis? Would the NFL expand to Indianapolis and the shitty RCA Dome in 2002? Would Jacksonville still have looked attractive by then? (Why did it ever, anyway?) San Antonio, maybe? Toronto? Either way, someplace else winds up with a team that goes 8-8 every year, Peyton Manning is a Baltimore legend, Ray Lewis brings a Super Bowl to Cleveland, Kurt Warner brings one to Los Angeles while the Oilers wind up on the wrong end of the Longest Yard, and St. Louis's reputation as D'aww-Shucks-Super-Supportive-Sportytown-USA is pushed to the limit with another twenty years of unrelentingly shitty football Cardinals.

 

[BruiserBrody]

Sorry for so many Packer ones, but its my most familiar topic:

What if Reggie White follows through with his intent to sign with the 49ers in 1993?
Does Dallas have a chance to win in 93 and 95? Will Deion still take off with Reggie chasing QB's into tossing him gifts? Do the Packers flop without Reggie rallying free agents to the cause or is solid drafting enough to get the Packers over the top?

 

[still fly]

If Reggie White doesn't go the Packers, Green Bay remains where black players don't like to go.

 

[Broward83]

What if Houston doesn't trade the core of their NBA title run for Barkley?
How different would the Cubs be if Selig and his men let Cuban buy the team?
What if the Astros don't let Nolan Ryan walk and sign with the Rangers?

 

[still fly]

What if Bartman doesn't catch the foul ball? Do the Cubs get over hump and win the NLCS? Do they beat the Yankees in the World Series?

What if the NFL and AFL don't merge? Does the AFL overtake the NFL with the vertical game? Does Al Davis become the beloved comish like Rozelle?

What if the Dodger hire Mike Scioscia in 2000 instead of Davey Johnson? Does he lead the Dodgers to glory in the 2000s?

What if Frank McCourt doesn't buy the Dodgers?

 

[Broward83]

I wanted to do the Bartman one, but there was still an inning or so left in the game much less an extra game or two left in the series, no?

 

[still fly]

I believe the Cubs were up 3-1 in the series when that happened.

 

[BruiserBrody]

If Reggie White doesn't go the Packers, Green Bay remains where black players don't like to go.

Well I thought about this:

Super Bowl:

Favre - trade in 92
Bennett/Levens/Henderson - drafted
Brooks/Freeman/Mayes drafted - Brooks was hurt so Rison signed up after washing out in Jacksonville - had Reggie not signed one may argue the Packers wouldn't be contenders enough to sign Rison
Churmura - Drafted
Keith Jackson - didn't want to be here and probably wouldn't have been had his old team mate Reggie and the Packers winning convinced him

Earl Dotson/Aaron Taylor/Adam Timmerman/Rivera- drafted
Frank Winters - signed in 92/93ish
Bruce Wilkerson - vet signed in 96

Gilbert Brown - signed from Viks in 93 or 94 as a rookie
Santana Dotson - I think Reggie can get credited with convincing him to join the team
Sean Jones - Ditto here - signed from Houston to get the double and triple teams off Reggie

Keith McKenzie Bernardo Harris George Koonce Wayne Simmons Brian Williams - drafted
Ron Cox - journeyman Free Agent from the Bears

Newsome/Evans/Tyrone Williams/Leroy Butler drafted
Mike Prior - journeyman FA from Colts
Eugene Robinson - traded from Seattle for DE Matt LaBounty - would Eugene want to accept this trade?

Reggie probably had a pretty big Impact on the D-line recruiting but much of the team would remain intact

That being said, The pack wouldn't win the Super Bowl with Gabe Wilkens, Gilbert Brown, Jurkovic, and Keith McKensie D-line

 

[CanadianGuitarist]

I believe the Cubs were up 3-1 in the series when that happened.

Bartman has to take a large bulk of the blame, but six runs in that inning and more games?

 

[alkeiper]

The Cubs were up 3-2. They had been up 3-1 but Bartman occurred in game 6.

 

[CanadianGuitarist]

The Cubs were up 3-2. They had been up 3-1 but Bartman occurred in game 6.

Good call, though my now-edited post still applies, I feel.

 

[CanadianChris]

Alou wasn't catching that ball anyway, and Bartman wasn't the one who booted an easy ground ball that probably would have ended the inning. He deserves pretty much zero blame.

 

[alkeiper]

The one thing I wish was pointed out is that Bartman was not the only fan who reached for that ball.

 

[Agent of Oblivion]

No, but only that motherfucker touched it and screwed up a sure out.

 

[wnyxmcneal]

No, but only that motherfucker touched it and screwed up a sure out.

But it wasn't a sure out. Alex Gonzalez's error was worse.

 

[teke184]

What would have happened if newly-hired LSU football coach Bo Rein hadn't died in a plane crash in 1980?


Rein, an Ohio State alum who had most recently coached NC State, had been the subject of a year-long "Help Mac Pack" coaching search to replace long-time coach Charles "Cholly Mac" MacClendon, who had worn out his welcome with the fans.

Rein had enough time to come in and hire his set of assistants before going on a recruiting trip and dying in a plane crash, a la Payne Stewart, because the cabin had depressurized.


Rein's death meant that they had to bring in a new coach willing to take on all of Rein's assistants since the program had agreed to pay for one more year of Mac's assistants so they could qualify for a state pension.

The choice ended up being LSU alum Jerry Stovall, a Heisman runner-up from the 60s who had been an NFL star with the Cardinals.

Stovall had four seasons with the Tigers, producing two solid campaigns and two losing campaigns, before being fired, which lead to a series of coaching hires such as Bill Arnsbarger, Mike Archer, Curley Hallman, and Gerry DiNardo before finally landing on Nick Saban in the late 90s.



If Rein had lived, I contend that a number of things would have worked out differently, one of which being that Steve Spurrier would have been the coach at some point.

Spurrier interviewed for the job around the time Archer became coach in 1987 but was rejected because the players wanted Archer to be promoted. That interview has become famous in local circles since then because Spurrier LOVED to run it up against LSU whenever he got the chance after that.

 

[Agent of Oblivion]

No, but only that motherfucker touched it and screwed up a sure out.

But it wasn't a sure out. Alex Gonzalez's error was worse.

Alou had that ALL DAY.

Baseball's Greatest Moments: The Bartman Incident

People remember where they were when Kennedy was shot, I remember where I was during the Bartman play: screaming "FFFFFFUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" At the absolute top of my lungs in a crowded Applebees and staring at the TV utterly wild with rage, until despair sank in that THAT was the moment when I knew they'd totally blow it.

 

[wnyxmcneal]

Alou has said himself he didn't know if he would've caught the ball.

Don't you think the error was much worse?

 

[Czech]

Gotta blame Alex Gonzalez, Alex Gonzalez, Alex Gonzalez, Dusty Baker, Kyle Farnsworth, and Mark Prior before you can blame Bartman. Why didn't Dusty calm down Prior? Why did Prior keep putting so many baserunners on? Why did Dusty put Kyle freaking Farnsworth into an important game?

 

[the max]

The Cubs still had Kerry Wood start game 7 and had a lead.

Bartman is just the lightning rod so people can't blame the players (GONZALEZ) who were really responsible.

 

[Czech]

Not blaming the players makes me think of the 2004 Cubs, one of the most unlikable teams I've ever seen. The Cubs have done far worse than 89 wins since then, obviously, but they've never as a team been so thoroughly unpleasant. Dusty Baker never should've managed again after that season.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

What if the Cubs never kicked out the billy goat in 1945? Maybe they would have won 20 World Series by now.

 

[Czech]

What if the Cubs weren't owned by rich people who wanted a toy, a major corporation that wanted a TV show, and an incompetent boob who used all his dad's money just to buy the team? What if at some point in the last 80 years they were operated as a bona fide baseball organization? WHAT IF?

 

[snuffbox]

The real blame needs to go to the manager. Why on earth would he have a fan, Steve Bartman, come in to pitch, play defense, and hit during the rest of the game and the next game? Just plain crazy if you ask me.

 

[Red Baron]

What if Maurice Richard never got suspended for the rest of the 1955 season?

 

[Smues]

On the same vein as the Bartman discussion, what if that kid at Yankee stadium in 1996 shits his pants in the top of the 11th and is in the bathroom in the bottom half and doesn't give Jeter a homerun? Do the Orioles win the series? Do they even win that game? I really want to believe that without that kid everything is different, but I don't know that things wouldn't have turned out pretty much exactly the same. It wasn't like the Orioles had the lead, and that would have only been the first out in the inning. The Yankees could have still very likely won game 1, it just wouldn't have had the demoralizing factor of having a fan steal the game.

 

[A Happy Medium]

I recall going to a few Cubs games over the years, and the crowd would always get more tense as Farnsworth warmed up in the bullpen. There was always dread when he took the mound in the close game. He would always fuck up. Always.

Moises Alou having a gigantic meltdown in left field didn't help the situation, either. It just wasn't Bartman's fault.

 

[Czech]

That Farnsworth has had a semi-successful career after leaving the Cubs is just baffling. I can't think of a reliever more universally reviled than he was.