Alternate SPORTS! History Thread

[Jimmy!]

What if Drew Bledsoe doesn't get hurt in 2001, thus Tom Brady never gets called in to start? Bledsoe probably continues to play another couple of years with the Pats, and who knows if Brady even sticks around? Maybe another team scoops him up when he first becomes a free agent.

The Pats probably don't win the Superbowl that year, and the snowball effect that leads to the Pats dynasty that still continues today doesn't happen to the extent it did.

If he doesn't get hurt, we may never know the "legacy" of Tony Romo.

[rams80]

*What if the Marshall plane crash never happened?

MAC takes them off suspension after the 1970 season as scheduled. Marshall continues to soldier on as a middling MAC team before a mid-1990s rise results in their being grabbed by C-USA after the early 2000s Big East raid.

Youngstown State adds to the legend of Jim Tressel with the 2nd of what will be 4 consecutive Division I-AA titles and 5 in 7 seasons...a streak only broken up by Montana doing unspeakably awful things to just about everyone that they played in 1995 and 1996.

Matthew McConaughey makes a terrible movie about the 1970 Wichita State football team in 2006. Despite the awfulness of the picture, the renewed interest it generated results in Wichita State restarting football as a member of the newly renamed Missouri Valley Football Conference in 2010. As of 2014, there are occasional discussions of bumping football up to FBS and trying to join the Mountain West Conference. They are still winless against North Dakota State.

[smzimbabwe]

What if Wayne Gretzky never signed with the WHA and went into the NHL via the regular entry draft?

[Coast2CoastAM2006]

I touched on this in the alternate Super Bowl fields concept thread but I wonder what would have happened in the Music City Miracle game if Doug Flutie started instead of Rob Johnson? Does the MCM still happen or does the Bills defeat the Titans and ride a wave of momentum into the AFC title game?

*yes I'm still pissed that Flutie never won a Super Bowl.

[jrodsep]

I touched on this in the alternate Super Bowl fields concept thread but I wonder what would have happened in the Music City Miracle game if Doug Flutie started instead of Rob Johnson? Does the MCM still happen or does the Bills defeat the Titans and ride a wave of momentum into the AFC title game?

*yes I'm still pissed that Flutie never won a Super Bowl.

Saw the Flutie Football Life and the Bills were complete chicken $hit benching Flutie for Johnson.

[OnWis97]

What if Jim Kelley is in the playoff comebaack vs the Oilers?

[Cosmic]

What if Jim Kelley is in the playoff comebaack vs the Oilers?

He was a sports writer... the Bills would have been completely screwed.

[Topherlee2]

What if the Kansas City Scouts & Kings succeeded in KC and won a couple championships, would they still be in Kansas City playing in the Sprint Center? I'm very biased, so I say yes they do.

[DnBronc]

What if the Broncos were successful in being able to tank when they started Tim Tebow three years ago, and ended up with Andrew Luck #1 overall in 2012?

[Tigers6884]

What if Wayne Gretzky never signed with the WHA and went into the NHL via the regular entry draft?

I wonder if the WHA merger still happens. It might still happen though, since the Howe trio starred in Hartford*.

*It saddens me that Gordie didn't just finish his career as a Red Wing. His 1979-80 season was obviously for publicity.

[DCarp1231]

What if the Broncos were successful in being able to tank when they started Tim Tebow three years ago, and ended up with Andrew Luck #1 overall in 2012?

Colts pick RG3 with the 2nd pick

Redskins stretch it with the 3rd pick (after trading up with the Rams) and choose Ryan Tannehill

Miami waits until the 3rd round skipping over Weeden (selected by Cleveland) to select Russell Wilson

Seattle then selects Nick Foles

Peyton Manning chooses the Cardinals over the Titans

Carson Palmer to stay in Oakland, but gets traded to Tennessee

Luck leads the Broncos to 2 straight Division Championships, including a Superbowl in his second year AND a win over the Cardinals

Colts find moderate success with RG3, leading to a division champ in the first year. Nothing more.

Redskins don't get much out of Tannehill his first year as he's still a developing QB, in his second season, he helps the Redskins win the Division at a 10-6 record over the 8-8 Cowboys.

Russell Wilson finds success in South Beach, winning the AFC East over the Patriots, goes to the AFC Championship game his first year, but lose to eventual Superbowl champs, the Ravens. His second year he leads Miami to the AFC Championship again, but loses to Luck and the Broncos

Seattle finds some success with Foles, but are constantly shut out by Arizona (Manning) and 49ers (Kaepernick). Finishing both seasons in 3rd in the NFC West, but each year have a 10-6 record.

Peyton Manning essentially chooses his second choice in Arizona now that Luck is with the Broncos, First year he falls short of the Superbowl to the 49ers, second year, he makes it to the Superbowl, but lose to the Luck-lead Broncos, ironic right?

Palmer just never finds his groove in Oakland and is forced to give up his job, then gets traded to Tennessee, where he finds some success, only bright spot was winning the AFC South his second year at a cool 9-7 record over the 6-10 Colts (yes the AFC South is that bad that year)

[Cosmic]

If the Colts weren't getting Luck, they might very well have stuck with Manning. Then, they might have drafted Trent Richardson at #2 to give Peyton a weapon. Woof. Maybe it would have worked for a year or two before Richardson turned back into a pumpkin.

[rams80]

What if Wayne Gretzky never signed with the WHA and went into the NHL via the regular entry draft?

I wonder if the WHA merger still happens. It might still happen though, since the Howe trio starred in Hartford*.

*It saddens me that Gordie didn't just finish his career as a Red Wing. His 1979-80 season was obviously for publicity.

Read The Rebel League. The merger didn't happen because of the talent locked up in the WHA. The merger happened as a result of a coordinated grassroots campaign of intimidation that targeted a select few Canadian institutions that also happened to own NHL teams and were critical votes against all of the other merger proposals. Molson, for example.

That said Detroit would never have taken all of the Howes and wasn't terribly interested in Gordie anyway, and that was the requirement for getting him.

[BelfourThibault]

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?

[tigerslionspistonshabs]

If the Colts weren't getting Luck, they might very well have stuck with Manning. Then, they might have drafted Trent Richardson at #2 to give Peyton a weapon. Woof. Maybe it would have worked for a year or two before Richardson turned back into a pumpkin.

Yea I think it was Luck or nothing. Would've stuck with Peyton.

[tigerslionspistonshabs]

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?

I think the Oilers are definitely still in Houston if they build off that. I don't think Nashville gets a team. Would the 2002 expansion even happen? Houston wouldn't need a team and L.A. wasn't prepared whatsoever.

[Tigers6884]

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?

[BelfourThibault]

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?

Art Modell was pretty bad, too. The thing that made me really consider Bud Adams such a bad owner is something that I remember reading. He supposedly had to personally sign off on every purchase the club made over $200. And you bring up great points in your post. I remember being hyped up for the Stallions in that expansion, which obviously never happened. I don't think the Rams would have stayed in LA either way, at least not for the long haul, but it's interesting to speculate as to where they may have gone instead.

But if we're talking about bad owners, the fan in me has to point the finger at Stan Kroenke. If the Rams leave (and I'm not optimistic about that), I seriously think I'm done with the NFL...for a long time, anyway.

[DnBronc]

If the Colts weren't getting Luck, they might very well have stuck with Manning. Then, they might have drafted Trent Richardson at #2 to give Peyton a weapon. Woof. Maybe it would have worked for a year or two before Richardson turned back into a pumpkin.

Yea I think it was Luck or nothing. Would've stuck with Peyton.

Good point. And then, the Skins would end up with RGIII, who is turning into a bust.

Luck leads the Broncos to 2 straight Division Championships, including a Superbowl in his second year AND a win over the Cardinals

It's very possible. And, with Luck, they may have more of a reliance on the run today than they do with Peyton.

[Unocal]

Two what-ifs from the last day of the 1995 season:

1. What if Yancey Thigpen doesn't drop a winning TD in Lambeau?

2. What if the Falcons don't beat the 49ers?

That would have given Detroit the NFC Central title, San Francisco the #1 seed, and made the NFC Wild-Card Games Green Bay-Philly and Chicago-Detroit?