Legendary Sports Moments Had Things Gone Differently

[tBBP]

Before I get to "the one"...

 

- An old-guy kicker named Andersen won the 1998 NFC title game.  It should have been the old-guy kicker named Anderson. Recall (for those old enough to remember) that '98 Vikings squad was absolutely STACKED on offense...no one was able to stop or even stay with them. They were the '07 Patriots before the '07 Patriots--and a certain WR who was a rookie with the Vikes in '98 played a prominent hand in '07: one Randy Moss. But doggone Gary Anderson, man...he makes that FG and I don't know that the '98 Broncos defense would've had a prayer of stopping Moss (or Cris Carter, or Jake Reed--and can we all please quit forgetting about him?--or Robert Smith, or Randall Cunningham). That probably was the Vikings' best shot at winning a Lombardi, but old man Anderson...I was tight off that one. Everybody I knew was tight off of that one.

 

- Speaking of best chances to win a title, that's exactly what the Nashville Predators were robbed of two or three years back. Y'all saw the Finals...y'all seen how they took two Predators goals off the board, one claiming P.K. Subban's toe was on the line, negating the ensuing goal, and my man Colton Sissons getting broad-daylight robbed in front of the crease, having a wide open goal waved off because the ref "couldn't see the puck". Either or both of those goals stand, and Lord Stanley would've had a great chance of parading through lower Broadway. But alas...

 

- This is for the guys older than me: if Jackie Smith hadn't have dropped that easy TD pass in that Super Bowl...y'all know the one. Speaking of which...

 

-"The One". At some point I really need to let this go, but...

 

 

 

Okay, few things here.  First of all, that catch should have stood. There, got that out. Secondly, that catch was for I believe a 17-yard gain and a crucial Tampa Bay first down that would've probably let them run out the clock and win them the '99 NFC title, placing them in their first Super Bowl three years before they actually got there. And based on how the Titans fared in the SB that year, that probably would have been one of the ugliest Super Bowls known to mankind, but Tampa could have won it. And had that happened...

 

- Tampa Bay would have won its first Super Bowl

- Tony Dungy would've won his first title with Tampa, forever cementing him as a legend and probably would've boosted him to HoF-level status

- Shaun King would have been the first rookie QB to both start and win a SB

- Tampa might have been able to run off a little mini-dynasty of their own (okay maybe not since they didn't really have an offense but...its fun to think about)

 

But alas, the refs negated all that speculation by ruling Bert Emanuel's catch incomplete--even after replay--ruling that because the nose of the ball had touched the ground, he did not maintain control (despite the clear evidence that his knee touched well before his hands or the ball ever did, and one knee = two feet.) So instead a former grocery store clerk won his first SB title and MVP, the Rams completed their own worst-to-first turnaround saga, Sick Vermeil cried even more than he already did previously, and Mike Jones officially stopped Steve McNair and Eddie George's best shot at winning a championship.  Oh, what could've been, if not for what was.. 

 

(Bonus note: all the silly little ancillary "completing the process" rules that determine what constitutes a catch--the ones that robbed Calvin Johnson and the Lions, the most-robbed team of all time, of a game-winning TD--all that can be traced right back to that gif above.)

[TrueYankee26]

Someone mentioned Scott Norwood so I will mention another 1990s Buffalo heartbreaker.

 

Brett Hull scores! Stars win the stanley cup! Then after further review, No Goal! And then the Sabres go on to win the Stanley Cup in 1999, the first championship for a Buffalo team other than the Bills winning back to back pre-Super Bowl AFL Champions.

[AustinFromBoston]

Who could also forget this moment, where Calgary was robbed of the Cup in Game 6 the 2004 Finals.   

[MJWalker45]

2 hours ago, neo_prankster said:

Art Modell sells the Browns in exchange for a Baltimore expansion team. Would that Baltimore team have a little bit of success?

The Drive or the Fumble. Denver fails and the Browns make their first Super Bowl. Whether they win or not, they'd be able to make sure the city gives them a new stadium and the Indians probably move to Florida. Then if Byner scores and the Browns get to two Super Bowls in a row, Modell might get even more, especially if the Browns have one or two Super Bowl wins. 

[TrueYankee26]

Browns would have 3 or 4 SBs if you add up the 2 the Ravens won after they moved from Cleveland.

[Kramerica Industries]

1 hour ago, AustinFromBoston said:

Who could also forget this moment, where Calgary was robbed of the Cup in Game 6 the 2004 Finals.   

 

If someone wants to argue that the play should've been reviewed, I won't disagree. The lack of a review was a problem in and of itself.

 

But there are just a few things here:

 

1) It was ruled no goal on the ice. There was no conclusive angle that would've overturned that call. No, your angle above isn't conclusive. The puck was also in the air, not on the ice, which further skews things. Perhaps, in the interest of all fairness, if it had been ruled a goal on the ice, there would've been difficulty overturning that call also. But it wasn't. 

 

2) Would that have been ruled a "distinct kicking motion"? I have no idea because the NHL has never had a consistent definition for what that is. Not in 2004 and not today, though the rules against that in general were more strict back then than they are now. In any case, I never see anyone mention that and, sorry, but that's kind of a big deal. In my opinion, that's not a distinct kicking motion, but I've seen goals called back for stuff just like what he did before, and my personal interpretation has always been on the lighter side anyway. Others may disagree.

 

3) There were 6 1/2 minutes left in the third period at that point. The Lightning were the third-highest scoring team in the NHL that season. Nobody can sit here and pretend that them scoring a goal in those last 6 1/2 minutes would've been some kind of impossible thing to overcome. This wasn't overtime, so it's always been simplified to an extreme degree to paint this as a would-be Stanley Cup winning goal.

 

So, you know, sorry but I'm not the least bit sorry about any of that. 

[sportsfan7]

If Marino puts the laces out or Finkle hits the kick, then Ace Ventura never gets made

[goalieboy82]

4 hours ago, neo_prankster said:

Art Modell sells the Browns in exchange for a Baltimore expansion team. Would that Baltimore team have a little bit of success?

i am surprise the NFL didn't make him do this (1999 would be the Baltimore Ravens first season)

[TrueYankee26]

Just watched a reair of The Timeline on NFL Network on the 1991 Atlanta Falcons. If they kept Brett Favre, Deion Sanders, and Andre Rison, would they have won a Super Bowl in the 90s?

[~Bear]

Surprised no one has mentioned Larry Fitzgerald's TD in Super Bowl 43. Had the Steelers not marched downfield and scored, that catch goes from one of the all-time forgotten plays to an all-time great play. On top of that, if the Cardinals stopped the Steelers, the Santonio Holmes catch also wouldn't have happened, and Ken Whisenhunt becomes a SB-winning coach  

[MJWalker45]

6 hours ago, TrueYankee26 said:

Browns would have 3 or 4 SBs if you add up the 2 the Ravens won after they moved from Cleveland.

With Belicheck given time in Cleveland they could've had a long run in the playoffs as well.

[tBBP]

5 hours ago, ~Bear said:

Surprised no one has mentioned Larry Fitzgerald's TD in Super Bowl 43. Had the Steelers not marched downfield and scored, that catch goes from one of the all-time forgotten plays to an all-time great play. On top of that, if the Cardinals stopped the Steelers, the Santonio Holmes catch also wouldn't have happened, and Ken Whisenhunt becomes a SB-winning coach  

 

OK, since we done went here--and by the way, I agree with you--imma tell you where the Cardinals went wrong and thus jacked up the legacy of one of the greatest wideouts ever to walk the face of planet Earth:

 

Ken Whisenhunt tried to "get cute" on his old team and thus sabotaged the Cardinals' chances of winning that SB before the team ever even took pre-game warm-ups.

 

I knew it during the interviews leading up to that game.  If they're still out there in cyberspace somewhere, go find the videos of where media was interviewing Whisenhunt...one interviewer in particular asked Whisenhunt about the game plan, to which he responded, almost hesitantly but definitely not confidently, "we feel good about our game plan--we feel confident about our game plan". As soon as I heard that, I knew instantly that he was gonna try to beat the Steelers at their own game i.e. run the ball and beat them at the line of scrimmage (bear in mind Whisenhunt was hired by the Cardinals from Pittsburgh, where he was their OC for a while)--never mind the fact that the Cardinals M-O all season long was throw, throw, and more throw. That "plan" failed miserably, and its why the Cardinals found themselves getting ran over through most of the first three quarters.

 

Oh, and let's also mention James Harrison long return for TD in that game--if the refs had called even one foul on the Steelers' defenders during that return, Pittsburgh doesn't get that extra 6 going into halftime--and there were at least three that could have been called, two being illegal blocks in the back if I remember right.

 

Anyway, If Ken Whisenhunt doesn't catch temporary insanity and try to "stick it" to his old team, and instead keep to what got the Cardinals there in the first place, the Cardinals win that game by at least a touch, and he, Fitzgerald, Edgerton James, Adrian Wilson,  Anquan Boldin and the Arizona Cardinals hoist their first SB trophy (Kurt Warner already had his).

 

Oh, what could have been, if not for what actually was...

[DnBronc]

If the Soviets win the Miracle on Ice, does hockey sink to all-time lows in popularity in the US?

[See Red]

9 hours ago, Kramerica Industries said:

 

If someone wants to argue that the play should've been reviewed, I won't disagree. The lack of a review was a problem in and of itself.

 

But there are just a few things here:

 

1) It was ruled no goal on the ice. There was no conclusive angle that would've overturned that call. No, your angle above isn't conclusive. The puck was also in the air, not on the ice, which further skews things. Perhaps, in the interest of all fairness, if it had been ruled a goal on the ice, there would've been difficulty overturning that call also. But it wasn't. 

 

2) Would that have been ruled a "distinct kicking motion"? I have no idea because the NHL has never had a consistent definition for what that is. Not in 2004 and not today, though the rules against that in general were more strict back then than they are now. In any case, I never see anyone mention that and, sorry, but that's kind of a big deal. In my opinion, that's not a distinct kicking motion, but I've seen goals called back for stuff just like what he did before, and my personal interpretation has always been on the lighter side anyway. Others may disagree.

 

3) There were 6 1/2 minutes left in the third period at that point. The Lightning were the third-highest scoring team in the NHL that season. Nobody can sit here and pretend that them scoring a goal in those last 6 1/2 minutes would've been some kind of impossible thing to overcome. This wasn't overtime, so it's always been simplified to an extreme degree to paint this as a would-be Stanley Cup winning goal.

 

So, you know, sorry but I'm not the least bit sorry about any of that. 

 

Also, while I don't think it should factor into how a call is made, it's better to have what's going to be a controversial call (no matter which way it goes) extend a series than end one.

[TrueYankee26]

In honor of Andy Dalton going to the Cowboys

 

What if the Bengals lost to Baltimore in week 17 of 2017. Bills playoff-less streak extends for another 2 seasons until 2019, Ravens make the playoffs and as usual they would threaten to make the Super Bowl. But they probably won't get Lamar Jackson..

[crashcarson15]

 

6 hours ago, TrueYankee26 said:

In honor of Andy Dalton going to the Cowboys

 

What if the Bengals lost to Baltimore in week 17 of 2017. Bills playoff-less streak extends for another 2 seasons until 2019, Ravens make the playoffs and as usual they would threaten to make the Super Bowl. But they probably won't get Lamar Jackson..

 

This is something that's been going on a lot here, but I think this post completely misses the point of the thread. This isn't a thread for generic "what if?" questions or alternate histories, it's a thread for a specific purpose:

1.  A huge, potentially legendary play happened
2. Something later in the game/series/season happened that kept that huge play from being important in the end

 

Think about the difference between how we look back on Mario Chalmers' 3 in the 2008 national championship game and Marcus Paige's 3 in the 2016 game. Both similar moments, but one is a legendary shot and one isn't -- all because of what happened the rest of the way.

 

That's what we're trying to get at here -- the plays like Marcus Paige's shot, not "what if this actually legendary moment never happened?" or "what if the Bills didn't make the playoffs in 2017?"

[habsfan1]

What if Barry Bonds won the World Series in 2002?

[Red Comet]

3 hours ago, crashcarson15 said:

 

 

This is something that's been going on a lot here, but I think this post completely misses the point of the thread. This isn't a thread for generic "what if?" questions or alternate histories, it's a thread for a specific purpose:

1.  A huge, potentially legendary play happened
2. Something later in the game/series/season happened that kept that huge play from being important in the end

 

Think about the difference between how we look back on Mario Chalmers' 3 in the 2008 national championship game and Marcus Paige's 3 in the 2016 game. Both similar moments, but one is a legendary shot and one isn't -- all because of what happened the rest of the way.

 

That's what we're trying to get at here -- the plays like Marcus Paige's shot, not "what if this actually legendary moment never happened?" or "what if the Bills didn't make the playoffs in 2017?"

 

Took the words right out of my mouth. Thanks.

 

EDIT: Elimination of superfluous explanation

[TrueYankee26]

Should have made it clearer then from the jump

[johnnysama]

1999 Stanley Cup Finals: If the controversial series-winning goal by Brett Hull been waved off, the Sabres would have won the game and the series.