Sports-related AH Discussion Thread


NFL_Stallions.gif
VS
http://www.biocrawler.com/encyclopedia/Image:New_England_Patriots_helmet.png


St. Louis wins its bid for an expansion team in '93, they're inaugurated in '95, and after several years of low valleys and high peaks, they square of with the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVIII. The Stallions would win this game 24-13 thanks in large part to the legs of former heisman winning running back and perennial all pro Rashaan Salaam who gashed a normally stingy Patriots defense for 182 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns on 19 carries.​
 
Interesting answer...

Continuing with Baltimore-themed sports ATLs, let's imagine for a moment that B-more was awarded an NBA expansion team to fill the void left behind after the Bullets moved across the Potomac to Washington. How long do you guess it would have taken for the expansion club to become a bona fide playoff contender?
 
You could always have college football fragment and have soccer take over, or have one of the many variants become popular en masse. So a more 'footballing' game becomes dominant by the turn of the 20th century, and the game is soon adapted to the English variant. Perhaps those who disapprove of switching to the English rules splinter into 'American football', much like Rugby today.

Make it more interesting and have Naismith choke on a peach pit as well. You could end up with a national team featuring Shawn Marion in the net and Allen Iverson playing striker. And you can target LeBron James with your corner kicks. The smaller players in the NBA would make better soccer players than NFL stars, assuming they grew up kicking a ball instead of bouncing it.
 

Xen

Banned

NFL_Stallions.gif
VS
http://www.biocrawler.com/encyclopedia/Image:New_England_Patriots_helmet.png


St. Louis wins its bid for an expansion team in '93, they're inaugurated in '95, and after several years of low valleys and high peaks, they square of with the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVIII. The Stallions would win this game 24-13 thanks in large part to the legs of former heisman winning running back and perennial all pro Rashaan Salaam who gashed a normally stingy Patriots defense for 182 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns on 19 carries.​

Ah a classic, lets stick to this TL shall we?

Unable to relocate to St Louis, the Rams seriously consider moving to Baltimore for the 1995 season but are stunned to learn the Raiders will be moving back to Oakland. The Rams abandon Anaheim Stadium for the Rose Bowl, and make a commitment to remain in Southern California.

Several months later Art Modell announces he will move the Browns to Baltimore, this leads to mass protests across the league and a compromise is eventually reached. Art Modell will be allowed to go to Baltimore, but he can not take the Browns, in a franchise trade with Robert Irsay, Modell takes the Colts back to Baltimore where they belong, and Irsay takes over the ownership of the Cleveland Browns.

Oilers owner Bud Adams is rejected in his effort to move his team to Memphis until a new stadium is built in Nashville and has to play two lame duck seasons in Houston, when he moves he does so with the knowledge he has to leave behind the Oilers name, history and colors, and renames his team the Tennessee Titans.

In 2001 two new teams entered the league, the new Houston Oilers playing in the brand new Reliant Stadium and the San Antonio Texans playing in the 8 year old Alamodome.

In 2001 the league changed formats to look like the following
NFC East
1) Dallas Cowboys
2) New York Giants
3) Philadelphia Eagles
4) Washington Redskins

NFC North
1) Chicago Bears
2) Detroit Lions
3) Green Bay Packers
4) Minnesota Vikings

NFC South
1) Atlanta Falcons
2) New Orleans Saints
3) St Louis Stallions
4) Tampa Bay Buccanneers

NFC West
1) Arizona Cardinals
2) Los Angeles Rams
3) San Francisco 49ers
4) Seattle Seahawks

AFC East
1) Buffalo Bills
2) Miami Dolphins
3) New England Patriots
4) New York Jets

AFC North
1) Baltimore Colts
2) Cincinnati Bengals
3) Cleveland Browns
4) Pittsburgh Steelers

AFC South
1) Carolina Panthers
2) Houston Oilers
3) San Antonio Texans
4) Tennessee Titans

AFC West
1) Denver Broncos
2) Kansas City Chiefs
3) Oakland Raiders
4) San Diego Chargers
 
Football's my game

Someone should make a timeline(s) where......

The NFL-AFL merger never happens, or the NFL folds into the AFL.

Tom Brady stays healthy throughout 2008.

Scott Norwood's last minute field goal wins Super Bowl XXV for the Bills.

Eli Manning bows to pressure and the Patriots hang on to win Super Bowl XLII.

American Indians force the Washington Redskins to change their name.

Michael Vick finishes his career at Virginia Tech. :):eek:

Cumberland college actually defeats Georgia Tech in 1916. (real score= 222-0 Georgia Tech)
 
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A great DBWI would be "Ryan Leaf, a draft bust?". This DBWI will happen for lulz.

The ATL Ryan Leaf would have the following stats:

TD: 393
INT: 141
Passing Yards: 51,103
Consecutive games played: 176 (at end of 2008 season)
2x Super Bowl Champion (2001, 2006)
9x Pro Bowl selection (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 ,2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008)

*Known for his unusually steady hands, excellent accuracy and ability to make plays.

*Known for his durability and ability to play through injury and punishment.

*Also known for his extremely abrasive, combative personality. Has a poor reputation with both the Chargers front office and their fanbase. During one particularly poor performance in a home game, he gave a one fingered salute to the crowd. Frequently has to be restrained from assaulting his adoring fans by his teammates. Well known for nearly getting into a fistfight with equally ill-tempered Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis. Fortunately, teammates of both players rushed to intervene before anything serious could happen. It took linebacker Junior Seau, as well as strong safety Bob Sanders and tight end Todd Heap to hold down the angry Leaf.

*Married to wife Nicole, a former Chargers cheerleader (I'm surprised he doesn't beat her regularly).
 
Someone should make a timeline(s) where......

The NFL-AFL merger never happens, or the NFL folds into the AFL.

Scott Norwood's last minute field goal wins Super Bowl XXV for the Bills.

American Indians force the Washington Redskins to change their name.

Michael Vick finishes his career at Virginia Tech. :):eek:


I am currently writing a TL with a sports part to it and many of these will be apart of it. I thought it could be wise to ask a few questions....What If....
The Philadelphia Eagles are named something else? (The were named after FDR's New Deal insignia.

The Cleveland Rams are sold to Arthur McBride, founder of the Browns, in 1942 and don't move to LA? How does this effect the NFL/AAFC. Too note this likely butterflies the clause that gave the Colts to Irsay meaning a better chance the Colts don't leave Baltimore and that Los Angeles Dons would be involved in the NFL-AAFC merger.

The NFL causes a divide amongst the 6 original AFL owners (Dallas, Houston, Minnesota, Denver, NY and LA) breaking the league before it ever played a game and brokered a plan for expansion. Dallas and Houston enter in 61, Minnesota and Denver enter between 62-64. Wisemer and Hilton given shares in the Giants and Rams respectively.
What is the overall legacy of the AFL and its original owners, is it still remembered as the "foolish club" or along the lines of the Continental Baseball League. It is safe to say the NFL wouldn't be as popular and be somewhat smaller yes?
In OTL the legacy of the AFL is bringing a more explosive style of play, creating jobs for colored players as well as players from smaller and southern schools, how would this be different with the evolution of the single senior league?
If Minnesota entered at a different time (and with a different GM thanks to butterflies) what would a viable alternate nickname be?

What overall effect did the AFL have on the overall sporting landscape without a successful AFL, would the ABA, WHA, WFL and USFL have the guts and wherewithall to form?

What if the Redskins were forced to drop the nickname?
 
Someone should make a timeline(s) where......

The NFL-AFL merger never happens, or the NFL folds into the AFL.

After the Jet win in SB III, I heard something about how the AFL didn't want to merge after all, and keep the leagues separate. However, Paul Brown, the Bengal owner, wouldn't hear of it. When he was awarded the Bengals, he wanted an NFL team, and he only took the AFL team because of the merger. If they didn't want to merge, Paul Brown would have filed a lawsuit. What might have to happen is that, to keep the leagues separate, maybe Brown trades teams with Art Modell and gets back in Cleveland.

Tom Brady stays healthy throughout 2008.

The Pats win the East with a 12-4 record, but lose at Pittsburgh in the AFC Championship game. Cassel never starts, and Cutler and McDaniels aren't having their current feud in Denver over Cutler trade rumors. Stay tuned to this story.

Scott Norwood's last minute field goal wins Super Bowl XXV for the Bills.

The Bills still go to the SB in 91, but lose to the Redskins in a much-closer game. Then, in 92 and 93, the Oilers end up representing the AFC. They beat Dallas in 92, and lose to them the next year. Buffalo uses these playoff failures as impetus to improve their team on defense and the line of scrimmage, make it back to the SB in 95, and beat the Cowboys. The Oilers end up not leaving Houston, and Warren Moon retires an Oiler in 97 or 98 with Daunte Culpepper or Jake Plummer as his successor.

Eli Manning bows to pressure and the Patriots hang on to win Super Bowl XLII.

People would be referring to the undefeated 07 Pats as the best of all-time(although I wouldn't have agreed with that).


Michael Vick finishes his career at Virginia Tech. :):eek:

In the 01 Draft, the Chargers still take Tomlinson #1 overall. The Falcons take Richard Seymour with their #5 pick, and, still needing a QB, trade up with the Broncos. They get the #24th pick in round 1, and the Broncos get their second and third rounder. The Falcons take Brees with the 24th overall pick. The next year, the Texans take Michael Vick first overall, the Lions take David Carr third overall, and the Chargers take Joey Harrington #1.

Here are some other WI's?
1. What if the St. Louis Blues move to Saskatoon in 1983? They came close in OTL.
2. What if the New Jersey Devils got Mario Lemieux #1 overall in 1984 instead of the Penguins?
3. What if Archie Manning was traded to the Packers in 1974 in lieu of the ill-fated Hadl trade(that almost happened, but Archie's backup got hurt).
4. What if the Bulls won the coin flip in 1979 instead of the Jazz(who had to give their #1 overall to the Lakers for an earlier trade) and took Magic Johnson?
 
Okay, sports fans. How about some discussion related to sports--sporting events that never got to happen, games that could have gone a different way?
Maybe this could be the place.
Okay, first off: I found this on Wikipedia and thought it was interesting.
If the Quebec Nordiques had never left for Colorado, this would have been their new logo for the 1996 season:
QuebecNordiquesNew.png

Enjoy, discuss, come up with your own scenarios.
What if the Nordiques managed to achieve their dream and became "Nordiques du Québec" instead of "Nordiques de Québec"?
 
Challange: preformance enhancing drugs allowed.

I like this, as it has nothing to do with Ameriwank or Soccerwank.

Personally, I've never seen a major difference between steroid use and use of advanced diets/training technologies or the most modern equipment. All give athletes who are able to take full advantage of them an unfair advantage over a those who don't or can't. So I would expand/revise this to:

All chemical, scientific, and mechanical means to enhance performance are allowed in sport.

Could this lead to different levels of competition based on how "pure" the compltitors are? Level 1 (the purest) would feature athletes who are prohibited from using any drugs (including legal ones like caffiene and pain killers), who perform essentially nude, who may only eat standard "normal" foods, and who can only train with free non-mechanical aids (running, simple weights, etc - no equipment, trainers, medical advice, dietary advice, nutrition suppliments, etc). The purpose would be competition on pure innate ability. Level 2 might be open to athletes who are provided equal access to the exact same type of advanced training equipment, diets, nutrition, medical care, performance enhancing drugs etc. The purpose would be to establish completion of identically augmented athletes. Level 3 would be no-holds barred pursuit of a performance advantage, making full use of of any and all technological means the athlete or his/her sponsors could afford. Imagine chemically and genetically augmented football players (either kind) with power-assisted limbs, wireless impants for communication, kelvar armor, etc . The purpose would be a test, not only of the individual athletes, but the skill and resources of the organizations fielding them.

Call me an American, but I suspect Level 3 would be what most people would pay 100 bucks to see!
 

MacCaulay

Banned
Okay, I'm bumping this thread with my idea, here's hoping all the right people see it:

A little while ago, there was another (weaker) AH sports thread that was definitely not as meaty as this one. It was mostly concentrating on, if I remember correctly...fencing.

But I got stuck on this whole "what if there had still been a forward pass ban" and I can't get off of it. Now me? I'm a Bears fan. And that only spells Victory with a capital V for my boys from Chicago.
As far as I can see, no forward pass means a heavy rushing game which plays directly into the Bears' strength (defense) and away from their weakness (god help them, but they can't pick quarterbacks).

So, how about the rest of your teams? I'm only rabidly obsessed with the upper-midwest teams, and as such would like to know what something like this would do to the other teams around the nation.


I throw it open to my esteemed colleagues from the AFC and NFC east, west, and south...
 
Forward Pass

Okay, I'm bumping this thread with my idea, here's hoping all the right people see it:

A little while ago, there was another (weaker) AH sports thread that was definitely not as meaty as this one. It was mostly concentrating on, if I remember correctly...fencing.

But I got stuck on this whole "what if there had still been a forward pass ban" and I can't get off of it. Now me? I'm a Bears fan. And that only spells Victory with a capital V for my boys from Chicago.
As far as I can see, no forward pass means a heavy rushing game which plays directly into the Bears' strength (defense) and away from their weakness (god help them, but they can't pick quarterbacks).

So, how about the rest of your teams? I'm only rabidly obsessed with the upper-midwest teams, and as such would like to know what something like this would do to the other teams around the nation.


I throw it open to my esteemed colleagues from the AFC and NFC east, west, and south...

I think that football would be severely crippled. Who knows if it would have been as successful in the pro ranks without the forward pass. That would have had dire consequences on the AFL, if it would have even existed at all. No AFL, no Super Bowl, and the modern game a lot different, and worse, than we know it to be.
 
Okay, I'm bumping this thread with my idea, here's hoping all the right people see it:

A little while ago, there was another (weaker) AH sports thread that was definitely not as meaty as this one. It was mostly concentrating on, if I remember correctly...fencing.

But I got stuck on this whole "what if there had still been a forward pass ban" and I can't get off of it. Now me? I'm a Bears fan. And that only spells Victory with a capital V for my boys from Chicago.
As far as I can see, no forward pass means a heavy rushing game which plays directly into the Bears' strength (defense) and away from their weakness (god help them, but they can't pick quarterbacks).

So, how about the rest of your teams? I'm only rabidly obsessed with the upper-midwest teams, and as such would like to know what something like this would do to the other teams around the nation.


I throw it open to my esteemed colleagues from the AFC and NFC east, west, and south...


This creates just too many butterflies, especially as regards the NFL. Football was only played in colleges when the forward pass was legalized in the early 20th century so it is hard to predict what whould have happened to the game if this change was never made. Personally, I think that, given the public pressure to reduce injuries and deaths in football, other rule changes (such as elimination of blocking, mandating very wide spacing between linemen, or allowing forward passes but having them treated as fumbles if not caught by the receiver) might have occured instead. UD Football might now look more like Rugby
 
Football

In short, Football - forward passing = Baseball is still the National Pastime.

But, here are some other good Sports What if's:

1. What if ESPN never went on the air in September, 1979? How would sports be today without it?

2. What if Gale Sayers would have signed with the KC Chiefs instead of the Bears in 1965 when both drafted him?

3. What if Mike Renfro didn't get jobbed by the officials and have his TD catch taken away late in the third quarter of the 1979 AFC Championship? With the score tied 17-17 going into the fourth quarter, would the Oilers have upset mighty Pittsburgh?

4. What if the Texas Rangers don't blow game 2 in the 1996 first round and go on to beat the Yankees? Do the Yanks ever win anything under Torre?
 

MacCaulay

Banned
In short, Football - forward passing = Baseball is still the National Pastime.

But, here are some other good Sports What if's:

1. What if ESPN never went on the air in September, 1979? How would sports be today without it?

2. What if Gale Sayers would have signed with the KC Chiefs instead of the Bears in 1965 when both drafted him?

3. What if Mike Renfro didn't get jobbed by the officials and have his TD catch taken away late in the third quarter of the 1979 AFC Championship? With the score tied 17-17 going into the fourth quarter, would the Oilers have upset mighty Pittsburgh?

4. What if the Texas Rangers don't blow game 2 in the 1996 first round and go on to beat the Yankees? Do the Yanks ever win anything under Torre?

1. I couldn't even begin to think about a world with no ESPN. It's like a few weeks ago when two folks asked about 'no Simpsons' and 'no Law and Order'. It's just too scary. :)

2. Seeing as I'm a Bears fan, I'm happy he did what he did. But personally, I think it'd would've been a waste. The Chiefs didn't need him like the Bears did.

3. If I knew more about the Oilers in the 70s, maybe I could guess. But most Super Bowls go to whoever has the most umph behind them, and getting a touchdown stolen from you takes the wind out of your sails.

4. I hate the Yankees. I'm a Blue Jays fan. And the Yankees basically took away our World Series streak in the 90s. But Joe Torre was an amazing coach. I think he could've come back. Besides, not to be smarmy, but the Rangers couldn't write checks like the Yankees. Even in the 90s. And that was their heyday: Palmero, Ryan, jesus. Between them, the Yankees, and the Blue Jays, that was just about everyone worth having in baseball.
 
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