Alternate SPORTS! History Thread

[Unocal]

What if the Eagles win the NFC East in 1989, get a first-round bye?

They would have either played the Giants again whom Buddy's boys did well against (in the NFC East during Ryan's peak Eagle years, the only team they struggled against was Washington) or a Rams team that, with an extra week-.... well, they couldn't have done any worse against the Fritz Shurmur zone defense.... right?

If they probably just win that Charger game (far and away their most inexcusable loss if you look at W-L record compared to their other 4 defeats in '89)

I mean.... maybe they keep the final margin of defeat under 27 points against the 49ers in an NFC-G and maybe a playoff win means Buddy gets another year and he can't screw up the 1991 defense that Kotite kinda sorta did?

[Mitch B]

What if the WFL hadn't signed Czonka, Kick, and Warfield in the 70's? Would the Dolphins had won more than 2 Superbowls? What if the '74 Dolphins (with their better record) had hosted the Oakland Raiders in the divisional playoffs? Would they have won the "Sea of Hands" game? Would they have beaten the Steelers in the AFC Championship?

[DnBronc]

On 11/6/2014 at 1:30 PM, tigerslionspistonshabs said:

I think the biggest NBA 'what if' would have to be What If Portland, or Houston for that matter, took Jordan over Bowie or Olajuwon. I think it would've changed the course of NBA history. Jordan goes to Houston, Olajuwon to Portland.

What if the Rockets don't tank down the stretch that season? Or, what if the Clippers don't win their last game of the season against Utah:

 

http://www.sportingnews.com/nba/story/2014-06-09/1984-nba-draft-rockets-sixers-hakeem-olajuwon-michael-jordan-charles-barkley-pat-williams

 

No matter how the flip went, Jordan ends up in Philly, leaving Olajuwon for the Blazers.

[Kevin W.]

What if the Bills won even one of their four straight Super Bowls?

[Unocal]

If they win at least the first one, it's more of a 'Could have been more, but at least they struck it hot the first time' thing ala the 1985 Bears.

[DnBronc]

On 1/6/2015 at 1:19 AM, CRichardson said:

What if the Bills won even one of their four straight Super Bowls?

 

Norwood hits the kick. The Bills still have the same success the next year, and get back to the SB. They still lose to Washington, but in a much closer game because Kelly would have been less likely to play impatient and force bad throws.

 

The next year, they are a little less motivated with one SB win, and win 9 games instead of 11 (they lose to SF and NO on the road like they should have, anyways). That knocks them out of the playoffs, and they come back in 93 a little hungrier.

 

The Bills get back to the SB, and they play looser against Dallas than they did in reality. That enables them to steal a second SB ring in four years, put a kink in the Dallas dynasty, and keep their own dynasty aspirations going.

[Topherlee2]

What if the Kansas City Scouts didn't move and became a playoff-caliber team after their first two seasons? Also, what if the Kansas City Kings beat the Houston Rockets in the Conference Finals, would they still stay in KC? I personally say yes because I'm from KC.

[Gold Pinstripes]

What if the WFL hadn't signed Czonka, Kick, and Warfield in the 70's? Would the Dolphins had won more than 2 Superbowls? What if the '74 Dolphins (with their better record) had hosted the Oakland Raiders in the divisional playoffs? Would they have won the "Sea of Hands" game? Would they have beaten the Steelers in the AFC Championship?

Even with the three players staying in Miami for 1975, there's no way that team would have beaten the '75 Steelers. The 1972 Steelers were inferior to the 1974 club, and that team pushed Miami to the limit in the 1972 AFC Title Game. By 1974, Bradshaw was emerging, and the team added four future hall of famers. Also, most the returning players were improving. Good question about the 1974 AFC Title Game, perhaps the Dolphins with the home field, do prevail. But even with a home field the following week, can't see them beating the '74 Steelers.

[2001mark]

What if the San Francisco Giants had moved to Toronto as originally planned during the 1970's.

The Toronto Giants & Montreal Expos would've had to share the NL in Canada. The Giants would've definitely been realigned to the NL East. Toronto Blue Jays took over the Canadian tv share during the 80's, would the Expos have even been as competitive into the 90's??

We would never have had one of the classiest professional sports organizations in the world, the Blue Jays, & the Giants would be already onto their 3rd team of existence.

The Dodgers would've had eternal bragging rights there, not to mention an NL stranglehold on California (sorry Padres).

The Dodgers-Giants rivalry would not be as heated as it is now... though surely, gang fights & deaths in the parking lots would've been negated which is pretty crazy to think about for the victims.

I guess any team from the Bay Area would've fit the bill there, as it's as much a NoCal v SoCal rivalry yes?

Toronto Giants... does not roll of the tongue.

[2001mark]

re. the Bills, I think if they had won that first SB in 1991, they'd not have returned say more than once 2-3yrs later (& still been destroyed by Dallas).

90' champion Bills would right now be just another random titleist lacking the eternal 4-SB-trips-to-lose in a row aura. To those who weren't around when it was happening, going to 4 straight Super Bowls in a row & losing all 4 games, doesn't even seem comprehensible. Mowing down the AFC & being pwned when it really mattered... have to wonder wtf was the matter with the rest of the AFC lols.

[Unocal]

The weird thing about those Bills is that from 1990-1993, they were 14-2 in regular season games against the NFC (the two losses were week 17 games in which Buffalo had nothing to gain).

Also, if they had won that, it would have felt different when Denver finally snapped the NFC's SB invincibility in 1997 (Would have been stopped at 6 straight instead of 13)

[DnBronc]

What if the WFL hadn't signed Czonka, Kick, and Warfield in the 70's? Would the Dolphins had won more than 2 Superbowls? What if the '74 Dolphins (with their better record) had hosted the Oakland Raiders in the divisional playoffs? Would they have won the "Sea of Hands" game? Would they have beaten the Steelers in the AFC Championship?

Speaking of the Dolphins, what if Bear Bryant takes their HC job in 1970 instead of Don Shula? He was offered it first, from what I hear. If Bryant was their coach, I don't see them having the same success that they had under Shula.

[Tigers6884]

What if the 1994 Expos are able to play in the World Series that year, but they lose?

[2001mark]

Yeah, I'm not full on some defacto '94 Yankees v Expos WS as if no other team would get in their way.

[Unocal]

What if the 1995 AL Playoffs were seeded differently? The two best teams record-wise (Indians and Red Sox) played in the ALDS.

Suppose you went with the seeding they did in later years, and we had Yankees-Indians and Red Sox-Mariners? We're deprived of an epic ALDS, and who knows how things turn out for Seattle?

[nash61]

What if Frank Lampard had actually signed with NYCFC?

Too soon?

[Unocal]

What if NC State had not rallied from 6 points down in the final minute against Pepperdine in the 1983 NCAA tournament first-round game?

What happens in the tourney if the Wolfpack get knocked out early? Does UNLV/pEPPERDINE beat Virginia in the regional final? How might the Cavs or Rebels have fared against Georgia in the Final Four or Houston in the title game?

Does Phi Slamma Jamma still win the title if they have to face the Cavs with Ralph Sampson? Might Tark the Shark have won a title seven years earlier?

[DnBronc]

What if NC State had not rallied from 6 points down in the final minute against Pepperdine in the 1983 NCAA tournament first-round game?

What happens in the tourney if the Wolfpack get knocked out early? Does UNLV/pEPPERDINE beat Virginia in the regional final? How might the Cavs or Rebels have fared against Georgia in the Final Four or Houston in the title game?

Does Phi Slamma Jamma still win the title if they have to face the Cavs with Ralph Sampson? Might Tark the Shark have won a title seven years earlier?

UNLV probably gets to the West final, but loses to VA. I also don't see the Cavs beating Houston. N.C. State may have been a better overall team than the Cavs.

Here is another WI, and it deals with the next year: What if SMU knocks off Georgetown in that low-scoring early round game?

[goalieboy82]

WI Georgetown wins the 1985 NCAA tournament (going back to back in 84 and 85). WI they lost to Princeton in 89 (#1 Seed losing to #16 Seed).

[DnBronc]

What if the Houston Oilers did indeed knock on the door, beat on the door, and then kick the SOB in against Pittsburgh in the AFC title game? Big Earl "Skoal, brother" Campbell gets more than a handful of yards in the AFC title game and the Oilers go on to disrupt the Steelers dynasty? If they would've been able to beat Pittsburgh, there's a solid chance they win at least one Super Bowl. Bum Phillips would have been in Houston until he decided to retire, and the Oilers would definitely still be in Houston, in my opinion, in spite of having the worst owner in football. Luv ya blue.

Would Nashville have ever been awarded a team via expansion?

Sorry, but Art Modell had to have the title of worst owner in football. Speaking of expansion, I recently watched A Football Life: Walter Payton on NFL Network and towards the end they talked about how Sweetness, along with a group of other investors, tried to get St. Louis a football team, before the group fell apart and the NFL decided to expand instead to Jacksonville and Carolina. My question is: What would the repercussions have been if St. Louis had been awarded one of those expansion teams? Do the Rams stay in Los Angeles? Do they win a Super Bowl? Does the "Greatest Show on Turf" still come together? Would Mr. Payton have been a good team owner for St. Louis, at least before his health problems set in? Would we view his legacy differently?

I read that Jacksonville almost gave up on trying to get an expansion team sometime in the summer of 93, but decided to keep going. What if they gave up? Who gets the other team? St. Louis or Baltimore? Or, since Tags had bias against Baltimore, does Memphis come back into the fray?