If you could change any championship outcome, Which would it be?

[DG_ThenNowForever]

1 hour ago, crashcarson15 said:

Everyone’s friendly reminder that Wondolowski was flagged for offside on that play.

 

Everyone’s similarly friendly reminder that Wondolowski should never be anywhere near a U.S. squad, but here we still are.

 

Really? That's not how I remembered it at all. (Go to 11 seconds)

 

 

 

That was the first I'd seen it since it happened. Ugh.

[crashcarson15]

3 minutes ago, DG_Now said:

 

Really? That's not how I remembered it at all. (Go to 11 seconds)

 

That was the first I'd seen it since it happened. Ugh.

I mean, he was onside, but I’m almost positive the assistant referee’s flag went up anyway.

 

And same. Sigh.

[ltjets21]

Giants lose every super bowl they play in other than 07

Pats lose every super bowl they play in other than giants rematch

Mets beat Yankees in 2000

Jets AFC Title in 2010...Roethlisberger incomplete to Bryant turns the ball over...Jets go down with best comeback in championship sunday history

Butler in 2010...wouldve shown that the little guy could actually pull it off

 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

You know what? The US had it right there against Belgium. They had their heads up their assess against Mexico last summer but still almost won. They played the number 3 team in the world -- Colombia -- pretty well. They have world-class talent, yeah? They can hang in there with anyone. It's just taking that next step that's killing them.

 

I'm not a soccer guy, but I try. Klinsmann is a huge fan of shaking up his roster and formation game after game. Is that normal? Do other national team coaches do that? I get that rosters are seldom the same match to match, but it seems like Klinsmann's basic philosophy changes every other game. If I were a player, I'd have to be frustrated by it all.
 

[See Red]

I would change the Broncos-Seahawks Super Bowl outcome.  Really, though, I'd settle for the Broncos not getting stomped and instead losing a closely contested game.  Although if the Broncos don't get physically man-handled by Seattle in XLVIII, I'm not sure they win Super Bowl 50.

[Sykotyk]

14 hours ago, See Red said:

I would change the Broncos-Seahawks Super Bowl outcome.  Really, though, I'd settle for the Broncos not getting stomped and instead losing a closely contested game.  Although if the Broncos don't get physically man-handled by Seattle in XLVIII, I'm not sure they win Super Bowl 50.

Manning rides off into the sunset if he won against Seattle. I really believe he understands 'image' as much as anyone. And going out on top is the way to say you left on your terms.

[Coast2CoastAM2006]

Excluding picks from teams I follow, the one I would change isn't even a finals championship game but conference finals game. 1998 Vikings vs. Falcons NFC championship game. I so badly wanted to see a Vikings/Broncos Super Bowl, possibly ending with Cunningham getting his first Super Bowl win. I was Cunningham fan and I was rooting hard for him that year with the Vikings. 

[IceCap]

1993 NHL Campbell Conference Final. Leafs over Kings. I'll take my chances with those Leafs against the '93 Canadiens in the Stanley Cup Final. 

[-kj]

I didn't remember the keeper being so close on that Wondo miss.  I still think it's overblown by everyone.

 

Mine: 2012 NASL Championship.  My worst sports memory ever: sitting on the grass berm at Al Lang Stadium after the Minnesota Stars lost the title on penalties, wondering if we'd just watched the last professional soccer game for a Minnesota team.  The team was owned by the league, and at that time there seemed to be no hope for new ownership in sight.  Little did we know that discussions were already underway for a new ownership to buy the team; that ownership group renamed the team to Minnesota United and put it on a trajectory towards MLS and a new stadium.

[DnBronc]

On 6/6/2016 at 3:09 PM, Sykotyk said:

Manning rides off into the sunset if he won against Seattle. I really believe he understands 'image' as much as anyone. And going out on top is the way to say you left on your terms.

 

I don't know about that. I think that there were some milestones that he wanted to achieve. Plus, he probably understands the way fans look at him in comparison to Tom Brady (i.e, the rings argument). That SB win would have only been his second. Tom still would have had one more than him.

 

OK. Back to scenarios I would change:

 

1. 1982 NHL Playoffs: The puck doesn't bounce over Randy Carlyle's stick, and the Pens find a way to hold off the Isles in Game 5 of their first-round series. And, the Oilers don't lose to the Kings in the first round. Edmonton goes on to win their first Stanley Cup two years earlier (over Quebec in an all-WHA final).

 

2. 1998 Big 12 Title Game: Kansas State doesn't have that BS collapse against Texas A&M when they were up by 17. They go on to beat Tennessee in the Fiesta Bowl for their first National Title, giving that heartwarming turnaround story the chapter that it deserved.

 

 

[B-Rich]

2012 BCS National Championship.  Have it so that Alabama, who did not win their division OR the conference title, is not in the championship game in a rematch with a team who beat them earlier that year.  Instead magically have Oklahoma State come out ahead in their only loss ( they lost in overtime), or have them selected for the #2 spot and placed in that game instead of Bama.   LSU would have taken care of them, I'm sure.

 

Second is any other 'Bama championship under Saban: Clemson, Notre Dame, or Texas (Colt McCoy gets knocked out of the game on their 1st drive-- without that it'd been  a very different game).

[jigokusabre]

Super Bowl XLII. 

[Sport]

On 6/8/2016 at 5:15 PM, B-Rich said:

2012 BCS National Championship.  Have it so that Alabama, who did not win their division OR the conference title, is not in the championship game in a rematch with a team who beat them earlier that year.  Instead magically have Oklahoma State come out ahead in their only loss ( they lost in overtime), or have them selected for the #2 spot and placed in that game instead of Bama.   LSU would have taken care of them, I'm sure.

 

I forgot about that travesty and I'd change that one too. Having a rematch in the NCG is just so wrong in ways I won't get into. I didn't watch college football the next two years and it took the new playoff format to get me to pay attention again. At least now those two teams would've had to earn their way to play each other again. 

 

 

 

 

My own teams are obvious. The Bengals were so close in both of their Super Bowls. There was a 4 down goal line stand that they couldn't score on in XVI and then XXIII has a handful of what ifs. Lewis Billups dropped an interception in the fourth quarter that changed everything. Tim Krumrie breaking his leg. Stanley Wilson getting coked up in Miami and disappearing the night before the game. So much went wrong for that team it's amazing they were even in the game. They brought the no huddle offense to the NFL. That kind of innovation should've been rewarded with a championship. 

 

Other championships I'd change if I could. I won't get into all of them: 

Super Bowls:

Seahawks over Patriots - would've had the day off work for the parade, was really looking forward to that

49ers over Ravens - turns out those Ravens were a bad team full of awful people

Cardinals over Steelers 

Seahawks over Steelers

Eagles over Patriots

 

 

Stanley Cup

Rangers over Kings 2014 - St Louis' story, Lundqvist achieving that cup winning goaltender status

Oilers over Hurricanes 2006 

Ducks over Devils 2003 

Stars over Devils in 2000 - I gave the Sabres the cup in 1999, but that Stars team was too good not to get one so I'm giving them this one

Sabres over Stars 1999 - It's Buffalo's turn and to face a team from Dallas in a championship round again and lose again, especially in the sport they care about more, was just criminal

Bruins over Oilers 1990 - It was a great moment for Bourque to finally win one with Colorado in 01, but he should've had one in Boston and the Oilers didn't need a 5th cup. Nobody even remembers that one anyways.

 

World Series

Rangers over Cardinals 2011 - The Cardinals only reached the playoffs because of an epic collapse by the Braves, then game 6 is the luckiest non-loss I've ever seen a team pull off. This WS for St. Louis really cemented their place as the most annoying fans in baseball because it made them believe they exist on a level superior to all other fans. They might be right. After that game 6 when they faced a 2 run deficit, down to the final strike, TWICE, and won, they might have the lord on their side. 

 

Rockies over Red Sox 2007 World Series - if Boston just had the one, 2004, then they'd be tolerable, but 2007 (and later 2013) turned them into such babies

 

Tiger over Cardinals 2006 World Series - the Cardinals had the 11th best record in baseball and had no business being the playoffs let alone the World Series

 

Padres over Yankees 1998 World Series - I wanted Tony Gwynn to get a ring

 

 

 

[-kj]

1 hour ago, McCarthy said:

World Series

Rangers over Cardinals 2011

 

Blah blah blah blah...

 

I consider that to be the first day of the two best sporting days ever; the next day, I flew to Ft. Lauderdale to watch NSC Minnesota (now Minnesota United) win the NASL title in the pouring rain.  Somehow beer tastes better when you're drinking it from a championship trophy.

[Shumway]

I'd actually change the result of the 2009 ALCS. My favorite team (Angels) vs. my hometown team (Phillies) in a World Series would be incredibly fun.

 

On top of that, Vlad and Torii Hunter (and I guess Bobby Abreu) might get a ring.

[DnBronc]

Quote

Bruins over Oilers 1990 - It was a great moment for Bourque to finally win one with Colorado in 01, but he should've had one in Boston and the Oilers didn't need a 5th cup. Nobody even remembers that one anyways.

 

For that one, I would have Winnipeg eliminate Edmonton in Round 1 instead of blowing a 3-1 series lead. Then, I would have had them make a Cinderella run to the Stanley Cup where they lose to the Bruins. Does it keep them in Winnipeg six years later? I don't know, but it may not have hurt.

[MrAstrodome]

For Houston it would be:

1. The 1997 Western Conference Finals. Stockton doesn't sink the three. We have Rockets vs. Bulls. No asterisks. No BS. Hakeem vs. Jordan and he was one of the few people that gave his Airness trouble. 
2. 2005 World Series. In order to change that outcome, we go into Game 5 of the NLCS. Puhols doesn't homer against Lidge. Lidge doesn't go through a Heroic BSOD that took a move to the Phillies to shake off. And the Astros go into the World Series not with the skin of their teeth but confident and beat the ChiSox for their first Commish's Trophy.
3. 2016 ALDS. That 7th inning. 
4. No Comeback. There might not even be a Tennessee Titans had this not happened. 
5. At least one of the MLS Cup matches vs. Beckham. 
6. EDIT: 2011 AFC Divisionals. Texans could have kicked in the door in 2011 and T.J. Yates would have been more than a nostalgia trip.; He would be The Guy.

 

As for non- Houston teams:

 

The 2014 World Cup

On 6/6/2016 at 11:08 PM, DG_Now said:

You know what? The US had it right there against Belgium. They had their heads up their assess against Mexico last summer but still almost won. They played the number 3 team in the world -- Colombia -- pretty well. They have world-class talent, yeah? They can hang in there with anyone. It's just taking that next step that's killing them.

 

I'm not a soccer guy, but I try. Klinsmann is a huge fan of shaking up his roster and formation game after game. Is that normal? Do other national team coaches do that? I get that rosters are seldom the same match to match, but it seems like Klinsmann's basic philosophy changes every other game. If I were a player, I'd have to be frustrated by it all.
 

I'll go back further and erase the Portugal goal, sending that team home and us winning the group. That would put us vs. Algeria, then beat a lazy France, a wounded Brazil and possibly lead us to a rematch vs. Germany who we could have tied the last time. A US win at the World Cup would biggest marketing campaign that MLS would have had handed to them. HANDED TO THEM.

 

EDIT Also:

1. Super Bowl XLIX; Seahawks should have gone back to back.

[4_tattoos]

As much as I love "the tackle" I think I would change the end result of Super Bowl 34 (Rams vs Titans). To my knowledge no Super Bowl has ended on a game winning touchdown pass as time expired. Would have been nice to see it happen there.

 

Also, I was never a fan of the Greatest Show on Turf Rams. Despite being a great team, something about them bored me. The 1999 Titans just seemed like a much cooler team to me at the time. To be fair I was a high school freshman that year lol.

 

In addition to that, a friend of mine at the time bet on the Titans to win. Unfortunately, he was unable to pay his debt and ended up getting beat up pretty bad. Would've preferred for that not to happen. Although I did learn a valuable lesson. Being underage doesn't save you from the consequences of street debts.

[greyraven8]

Sabres fan so the obvious one is 1999 Finals.

 

1994 World Series actually happening and preferably the Expos winning.  Won't be too greedy and say all the Yankees world series wins - so I'll let the Yankees can keep 3 of the championship they won; they can even pick which ones.

 

Not really a Bills fan but I'd pick Super Bowl XXV anyway.

[Krz]

I would change both Rangers WS fails and give Dez Bryant the catch in that famous Cowboys playoff game