Alternate 2000's Scenarios

This thread is inspired by some threads that we did back around 2009-10 for the 70's, 80's, and 90's. If you want to revive them, be my guest:

1990's: https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=131674&highlight=Alternate+1990%27s+Scenarios

1980's: https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=131207

1970's: https://www.alternatehistory.com/di...p?t=130107&highlight=Alternate+70's+Scenarios

Now, on to the 2000's (I will start with these four):

1. No hanging chads on Election Day 2000.

2. 9/11/2001 is just another day.

3. On draft day 2000, the Cleveland Browns come to their senses in the sixth round after comparing stats of two QB prospects, and decide to draft Tom Brady instead of Spergon Wynn.

4. ESPN sells Playmakers to Spike TV in early November 2003 before NFL gives them official word to cancel it.
 
FOX decides not to cancel shows too early, like Firefly, Arrested Development, and Undeclared. Also, Marissa Cooper doesn't die in that accident, and the OC lasts until 2008.

Tim Duncan, Grant Hill, and Tracy McGrady all decide to sign with the Orlando Magic in the summer of 2000.
 
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2. 9/11/2001 is just another day.

You change the entire trajectory of the decade if you do that. What happens in America depends on what happens after 9/11 in that world - does the push by the states for greater rights in the Middle East (and trying to settle the Israeli-Palestinian problems) succeed? If so, you probably also get a rapprochement with Iran years ahead of OTL. Without terrorism to use as a boogeyman for society, what societal changes do you get in America as a result is a total crapshoot.
 
FOX decides not to cancel shows too early, like Firefly, Arrested Development, and Undeclared. Also, Marissa Cooper doesn't die in that accident, and the OC lasts one more season.

Don't forget Dark Angel on that canceled-too-early list - if it stays on a couple seasons longer, you dramatically change the career trajectories of Jessica Alba, Michael Weatherly, Jensen Ackles, Alimi Ballard, Martin Cummins and Ashley Scott. The show had a third season planned and partially written, and James Cameron (whose idea the show was in the first place) was getting more into it. The third season coulda been sick, but that would force Firefly to move....maybe a sci-fi night on Fox? :cool:
 
  1. No Iraq war
  2. Kerry wins 2004-see my sig for my take on that idea.
  3. Great Recession avoided
  4. Bush chokes on a pretzel
  5. No Obama
  6. War with Iran
  7. Great Recession becomes Second Great Depression-there are a lot of PoDs that could make this happen
  8. Y2K Happens
 
Bin Laden caught at Tora Bora

No Hurricane Katrina dissipates over Florida rather than going back into the gulf and hitting La. In addition to the political ramifications, this would tremendously affect natural gas prices and the subsequent shale revolution.

Kobe and Shaq get along

The Detroit Pistons draft: Carmelo Anthony

The 49ers draft local hero Aaron Rodgers (as a Packer fan: egads!)

The Iraq War is launched with the 500k troops recommended by the JCS

John McCain wins in 2008 but dies 10 days after the inauguration. Sarah Palin is sworn in as President (the title of this TL has to be "You Betchya!)
 
Kobe and Shaq get along

Or, on the flip side, they don't come back against the Blazers in Game 7 in 2000.

Blazers go on and beat Indiana in six for their first NBA Title in 23 years.

As a result, the Lakers don't gain the mental edge that they had from 2000-02, and the Blazers have a totally different vibe.

While Portland goes on to win two titles in a row (beating SA in the WCF and sweeping Philly and AI in the Finals), the Shaq-Kobe feud boils over, especially after their second-round exit against the Blazers.

Shaq is fed up. He says "Either Kobe goes, or I go".

So, in July 2001, a blockbuster is announced: Kobe is sent back home to Philly, and AI goes to the Lakers.
 
1. The Obama campaign implodes after the Jeremiah Wright scandal.
2. Roberts votes to strike down Obamacare
3. Kennedy flips on the Windsor and Obergefell decisions.
4. Romney upsets McCain for the GOP nomination in 2008.
5. John Paul Stevens and William Rhenquist both died in the summer of 2005 after O'Connor's retirement.
6. Bush handles Katrina better
7. Bush negotiates a 30-year Status of Forces Agreement with Iraq in 2005.
8. The United States captures Ahmed Hikmat Shakir during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
9. George W. Bush makes Iraqi support of terrorism, not weapons of mass destruction, the main reason for Operation Iraqi Freedom.
10. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and not Antonin Scalia, suddenly died in February, 2016.
 
6. Bush handles Katrina better

That was more a failure of Louisiana and New Orleans officials than it was Federal Government. Bush made several PR gaffes but emergency response for these types of things always starts at the local and state level.
 
That was more a failure of Louisiana and New Orleans officials than it was Federal Government. Bush made several PR gaffes but emergency response for these types of things always starts at the local and state level.

That is what I was thinking. After Katrina, Bush manages the PR better - and he is also more vocally critical of Nagin and Blanco. The iconic moment is when he calls Kanye West's comments about him "bullshit."
 
Week 17, 2000: Paul Edinger of the Bears misses the FG, sending the Lions to the playoffs. As a result, the Matt Millen error is avoided.

2002: Charley Casserly learns something from the expansion Browns and the struggles of Tim Couch, and takes Julius Peppers #1 overall instead of David Carr (sparing him from many beatings).

2005: Early in the AFC Title Game, Champ Bailey returns a Roethlisberger pass for a INT TD (In OTL, the ball bounced off his shoulder and into the arms of Hines Ward). The Broncos take advantage of the early momentum, and beat the Steelers to go to SB 40, where they beat the Seahawks.

As a result, Jake Plummer retires (on 104.3 The Fan in Denver, he said that he would have retired if they won it all that year), and the Cutler era begins without nearly as much controversy. Shanahan doesn't lose the locker room (since Plummer isn't around to bench), and he isn't fired by 2008 (which butterflies away the McCheater era).
 
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