In an Alternate Universe... (Sports Edition)

[Roadgeekteen]

Dwight Clark does not make "The Catch".  The Niner dynasty does not launch so well while Dallas keeps on going so future games with SF see enough Dallas wins to keep Landry around longer.  In our timeline, "The Catch" shot down the Cowboys for a decade or so while SF did become a genuine dynasty.  Any sort of "what-ifs" from this play not scoring the winning TD could be plausible to some extent. 

Rick

Who wins the Cowboys-Bengals super bowl?

[jp the roadgeek]

-how the Toronto Maple Leafs would had done if they didn't got Harrold Ballard as owner of the team? I'm so tempted to nickname the Leafs as "Dead Leafs" as a nod to the nickname "Dead Wings" applied to the Detroit Red Wings between the eras of Gordie Howe and Steve Yzerman.

Speaking of Yzerman: if the Whalers had drafted him in 83 instead of Sylvain Turgeon, would they have won more and still be in Hartford instead of Raleigh?

What if the Pats had drafted Rick Mirer instead of Drew Bledsoe, and then if Mo Lewis didn't cause the severe hit to Bledsoe in 2001?

[Stephane Dumas]

Speaking of Yzerman: if the Whalers had drafted him in 83 instead of Sylvain Turgeon, would they have won more and still be in Hartford instead of Raleigh?

Chances then Yzerman could have been traded to Pittsburgh in 1991 instead of Ron Francis and speaking of Ron Francis, some wonder what if Francis didn't go to Pittsburgh?
https://hfboards.mandatory.com/threads/what-if-pittsburgh-hartford-undid-the-ron-francis-trade.2788913
https://hfboards.mandatory.com/threads/worst-trades-in-nhl-history.1823879

[WillWeaverRVA]

VCU defeats Butler in the 2011 Final Four, then goes on to crush an offensively inept UConn team to win the national title. VCU becomes known as the Gonzaga of the East, and Shaka Smart remains the coach to this day while VCU becomes a mainstay in what is now the American Athletic Conference.

[Alps]

VCU defeats Butler in the 2011 Final Four, then goes on to crush an offensively inept UConn team to win the national title. VCU becomes known as the Gonzaga of the East, and Shaka Smart remains the coach to this day while VCU becomes a mainstay in what is now the American Athletic Conference.

[thspfc]

Part two

October 5, 2015: the Lions trail the Seahawks 13-10 with 1:51 left in the game. Their offense has a 3rd and 1 from Seattle's 11-yard line. Stafford completes it to Calvin Johnson. He is just inches away from the end zone when he fumbles. Seahawks linebacker K.J. Wright hits the bouncing ball out of the back of the end zone. This was an illegal play by Wright, and the Lions should have gotten the ball at the one-yard line as the result of a penalty, which NFL officiating VP Dean Blandino later admitted. However, the Seahawks were not penalized. They took over and needed only one more first down to win the game.

. . .

February 22, 2019: the Bears released Cody Parkey. Because the Double Doink didn't happen in the alternate timeline, the Bears don't release him.

Rewind a year.

January 1, 2018: the Lions fired Jim Caldwell. This was a controversial firing already, as Caldwell had posted a winning record with two playoff appearances in four years, coaching for a franchise that historically has been much, much worse than that. In this alternate timeline where the Lions make the playoffs in 2015 at 8-8, Caldwell has now led the team to the playoffs in 75% of the seasons he has coached, and he has never had a losing regular season record. Firing him at that point would have been silly. So in this timeline, Caldwell sticks around.

Februrary 5, 2018: the Lions hired Matt Patricia. In the alternate timeline this doesn't happen because Caldwell doesn't get fired at this time. He stays as New England's DC for the 2018 season.

January 14, 2018: the Titans fired Mike Mularkey.

January 20, 2018: the Titans hired Mike Vrabel. Vrabel is a much better coach than Patricia, but it may not have seemed that way at the time. There's a good chance that the Titans, in looking for a former Patriot, go with Patricia instead.

September-December 2018: Patricia disappoints and the Titans go 7-9 or 8-8.

September-December 2019: Patricia proves to be a really bad hire. Titans go 6-10.

December 30, 2019: this is where things go crazy. The Titans fire Patricia after back-to-back losing seasons. In the alternate timeline, the Falcons have now been mediocre at best, and missed the playoffs, in three straight seasons (remember, as a result of Blair Walsh not being the Seahawks kicker). Bye bye, Dan Quinn.
In a similar fashion, the Lions have now missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons (Caldwell is undoubtedly a better coach than Patricia, but the Lions were too bad to be helped in '18 and '19). Caldwell is fired.
The teams with head coaching openings now are . . .
- Carolina
- Cleveland
- Giants
- Football Redskins
- Lions
- Falcons
- Titans
The Cowboys would follow on January 5.

My guesses are that some of the hires stay the same. Joe Judge to the Giants, Kevin Stefanski to the Browns, and Mike McCarthy to the Cowboys stay the same because those were pretty unexpected. The Panthers were pursuing Matt Rhule for quite a while before any other teams were. That leaves the Titans, Football Redskins, Lions, and Falcons. The Lions' recent hires have shown that they tend towards old-school, "tough guy" coaches. I think Ron Rivera, a very sought-after coaching candidate following his firing from Carolina, fits that mold. If given the choice, Rivera, an offensive coach, would almost certainly decide to take the Lions job instead of the highly unattractive Washington job. That leaves the Titans and Falcons.

Fast forward to January 15, 2021: the Falcons hired Arthur Smith, the offensive coordinator for the real-world Mike Vrabel Titans. So had Atlanta been looking for a HC during the 2020 offseason, they would have wanted an offensive guy.

Rewind back to January 2020: Falcons hire Chiefs OC Eric Bienemy. The Titans continue in their theme of defensive coaches, and hire 49ers DC Robert Saleh. Washington has only the leftovers to pick from because of how terrible their team, owner, and organization as a whole was at this time. They hire former Cowboys HC Jason Garrett.

February 1, 2020: Ryan Tannehill wins Comeback Player of the Year. In the alternate universe where he is on Matt Patricia's team, he does not. Jimmy Garoppolo wins instead.

March 17, 2020: in real life, Ryan Tannehill signed a four-year extension with the Titans. In the alternate timeline, after posting a losing record in 2019 with mediocre stats playing for Tennessee's bad offense, he does not sign this extension, and is released.

Late March 2020: the Titans own the 10th pick in the draft. In need of a quarterback, they trade Marcus Mariota, the 10th overall pick, and their second round pick (42nd overall) to the Chargers in exchange for the 6th overall pick.

April 23, 2020: the Titans draft Justin Herbert; the Chargers draft Mekhi Becton at #10 and Laviska Shenault at #42.

I'm just going to leave it there for now, it's impossible to know how all of this would have played out.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Scott Norwood makes the field goal. The Bills win Super Bowl 25 and Giants DC Bill Belichick is left regarded as a pretty good coordinator but maybe not head coach material for some teams, and his path takes a different arc where he doesn't end up in New England, resulting in Brady never getting a chance.

I can't take credit for this one, but the Bert Emanuel no-catch ruling in the 1999 NFC title game. If it's ruled a catch, it sets up the Bucs possibly beating St. Louis, extinguishing the GSOT Rams before it goes anywhere. Bucs probably smother Tennessee to win the Super Bowl, so Tony Dungy doesn't get unceremoniously jettisoned for Jon Gruden after 2001. Kurt Warner never has the triumph, tribulation, triumph arc to his career as a result, so the Cardinals never get that long-awaited taste of success. That no-catch had major implications immediately for TB, STL, and OAK, and a ripple effect on Arizona.

[hotdogPi]

In an alternate universe... a decent number of non-players (owners, coaches, and referees/umpires) are female.

I believe we currently have zero across all three categories I mentioned above across four major sports.

[NWI_Irish96]

In an alternate universe... a decent number of non-players (owners, coaches, and referees/umpires) are female.

I believe we currently have zero across all three categories I mentioned above across four major sports.

There are female referees in both NBA and NFL. Becky Hammon will be an NBA head coach within the next few years. Not sure we'll see a majority owner anytime soon.

[nexus73]

Remember the original version of the movie "Rollerball"?  It is set around 2020 and there is no more pro football.  Hard to imagine given our real timeline!  Now let's go back to 1975 when the movie came out and see what would need to happen for pro football to end and be replaced by rollerball. 

Rick

[Takumi]

In an alternate universe... a decent number of non-players (owners, coaches, and referees/umpires) are female.

I believe we currently have zero across all three categories I mentioned above across four major sports.

There are female referees in both NBA and NFL. Becky Hammon will be an NBA head coach within the next few years. Not sure we'll see a majority owner anytime soon.

Baseball has a couple as well. Kim Ng is currently the general manager of the Marlins and has had prominent roles in baseball for decades, and the Giants have a female assistant coach, Alyssa Nakken.

[Stephane Dumas]

What if BASEketball as shown in the movie of the same name starring the creators of South Park, really took off in popularity?

[Henry]

Going back to Super Bowl LI, in which the Falcons led the Patriots by a 28-3 score, only to lose in OT...

What if Atlanta held on to win? What would become of Tom Brady and the dynasty, then?

[Roadgeekteen]

Going back to Super Bowl LI, in which the Falcons led the Patriots by a 28-3 score, only to lose in OT...

What if Atlanta held on to win? What would become of Tom Brady and the dynasty, then?

Brady is the disputed goat, not the undisputed goat.

[webny99]

Going back to Super Bowl LI, in which the Falcons led the Patriots by a 28-3 score, only to lose in OT...

What if Atlanta held on to win? What would become of Tom Brady and the dynasty, then?

Brady is the disputed goat, not the undisputed goat.

I think it changes perceptions of the Falcons much more than it does the Patriots.

The Pats still had 5 other Super Bowl wins and 8 other appearances in the Brady era besides that one.

[jeffandnicole]

Going back to Super Bowl LI, in which the Falcons led the Patriots by a 28-3 score, only to lose in OT...

What if Atlanta held on to win? What would become of Tom Brady and the dynasty, then?

Steelers will be able to claim more SB victories.

[Roadgeekteen]

Going back to Super Bowl LI, in which the Falcons led the Patriots by a 28-3 score, only to lose in OT...

What if Atlanta held on to win? What would become of Tom Brady and the dynasty, then?

Steelers will be able to claim more SB victories.

Although would the Pats losing in 2016 change 2017 and 2018?

[ftballfan]

What if the Blue Jays and Raptors weren't owned by Canada's largest media conglomerates? Would one or both of them have announced a permanent relocation to a US city by now?

IMHO, if this were the case:
1. The Blue Jays would either relocate to Buffalo or Charlotte and remain in the AL East (there would be some minor league moves as both cities are home to AAA teams). The team would likely adopt the current nickname of their city's AAA team.
2. The Raptors would relocate to Seattle for the 2021-22 season (sharing an arena with the NHL expansion Kraken) and become a reactivated Sonics. With the new Sonics moving to the Western Conference, one of the Timberwolves, Grizzlies, or Pelicans would move to the Eastern Conference.
3. Toronto is granted expansion franchises in both MLB and NBA between 2023 and 2025, which would inherit the names and records of the previous Blue Jays and Raptors respectively. (Also, the expansion Blue Jays would get a new baseball-only stadium.) This would get both leagues to 31 teams, so to even things out (and get both leagues to 32 teams to match the NFL and NHL), MLB grants an expansion franchise to one of Las Vegas (depending on the A's), Nashville, Memphis, or Charlotte (if the old Jays relocated to Buffalo) while the NBA grants an expansion franchise to St. Louis, Las Vegas, or Nashville.

[Stephane Dumas]

I saw a interesting stuff about the AHL Cleveland Barons. https://records.nhl.com/history
http://www.greatesthockeylegends.com/2008/05/1953-unexpected-challenge-from.html

1952-53 In May of 1952, City of Cleveland applied for NHL franchise. Application denied. In March of 1953, the Cleveland Barons of the AHL challenged the NHL champions for the Stanley Cup. The NHL governors did not accept this challenge.

A surprise challenge for the Stanley Cup came from, Jim Hendy, owner of the AHL Cleveland Barons. Hendy reckoned the trophy was originally a challenge trophy and he tried to get through any loophole he could. The challenge was dismissed for two reasons: The Barons had not yet won their own league championship, and AHL teams were considered to lesser teams than NHL teams. The original Stanley Cup challenge rules stated that any challenger must be of equal caliber.

Ironically, a bit later the Cleveland Barons won the Calder Cup. What if the NHL had accepted the challenge of the AHL Cleveland Barons?

[SP Cook]

- Robert Moses and Walter O'Malley work together to either build the park O'Malley wanted in Brooklyn or he accepts the stadium Moses wanted to eventually build in Queens (Shea). 

- No teams ever move to California.  Rather the Pacific Coast League just slowly evolves into a major league, MLB recognizes this and keeps balance by adding a 4th major league made up of the cities expanded or relocated to in OTL.  Each maintains itself as a separate 8 team circuit, with playoffs and a World Series.

- In the AFL-NFL merger, rather than transferring BAL, CLE, and PIT, the NFL transfers 3 of the 4 1960s expansion teams (MIN, DAL, NO, ATL),

- Or it transfers either 2 or no teams, with quicker expansion to fill the AFC up to even by 1980 or so.

- Same era, the NFL decides to have a baseball like format, with an NFL and an AFL playing in separate leagues, meeting only in the Super Bowl.

- In OTL the AFC owners agreed on geographically logical divisions in 5 minutes.  The NFC owners argued for a month until they just had a secretary draw out of a hat.  DAL was in the east only in one of the five plans in the hat.  Any other plan DAL is not playing the big east coast cities and is not on TV all the time.

- Montreal is not awarded the Olympics.  It thus keeps its promise to build the Expos a proper stadium by 1972.  Said stadium is designed by someone who had actually seen a baseball game and does not try to build an unproven retractable roof that didn't work.

- The Commissioner of Baseball simply tells the Cubs and Braves that this superstation thing is in violation of the Basic Agreement and thus the two teams are not on TV nationwide every day for over 20 years.

- GHW Bush wins reelection.  Thus the NLRB is 2 to 1 Republican, rather than 2 to 1 democrat.  As such the 2 to 1 vote that the owners had engaged in unfair labor practices is reversed.  The owners win the baseball strike and, like every other sport, baseball has a salary cap.

- The geographically illogical original divisions of the NL, done to give the Cubs and Cardinals less late night games, are not agreed to.  Braves and Reds in the east in the 1970s and 80s.

- MLB either does not expand to SEA in 69, or the team is better funded, or it follows through on its original plan to not expand until 72 (giving the city time to build a proper stadium).  The Pilots never go broke, and Bud Selig does not turn them into the Brewers.  Baseball, having already failed there once, never gives MIL, and Selig, a team and he is never involved in baseball.

- Cuba avoids the communist take over, and continues on the path it was on in the 1950s, meaning it would be a first world level country by 1975 or so.  Havana gets an MLB team. 

- Baseball never expands to Florida or Arizona.  Rather a special package of TV games is set up there, with all teams sharing the $$. 

[Scott5114]

How does a baseball stadium in New York keep the Batista government in power or change the result of the 1992 election?

[Stephane Dumas]

With the recent passing of former goaler Tony Esposito, a thought come in mind. 

"Tony O" played 13 games with the Habs before being drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks due to having lots of goaltenders like Rogatien "Roggie" Vachon, Gump Worsley, Phil Myre and an upcoming goaler named Ken Dryden. We could wonder what if the Blackhawks had drafter Roggie Vachon or Phil Myre instead of Tony O?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR96fup7Vs0

The Bruins and the Leafs also passed on another good goaltender who'll have his heydays with the Flyers, Bernie Parent. What if Bernie never played with the Flyers?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_txuHcvr94

[Takumi]

How does a baseball stadium in New York keep the Batista government in power or change the result of the 1992 election?

Clearly Castro, notably a former baseball player himself, sees an opportunity to run a team in California and thinks "you know, maybe this political revolution thing isn't so great after all" .

Or maybe it's just wishful thinking of a noted righty.

[KCRoadFan]

I was just thinking: what if the Red Sox beat the Yankees in that game in 1978 (the Bucky Dent game)? How would things have changed for both teams, as well as for baseball as a whole?

[Henry]

I was just thinking: what if the Red Sox beat the Yankees in that game in 1978 (the Bucky Dent game)? How would things have changed for both teams, as well as for baseball as a whole?

Not quite a lot, as the Yankees would just sign big names like they always do for the sole goal of winning a championship, and the Red Sox would probably lose to the Dodgers/Phillies in the World Series, if not to the Royals in the ALCS. Remember, the Curse of the Bambino was still ongoing in those years.