Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread III

[ejpsan]

With no American participation in the ITTL European and Pacific Wars in the 1940's, there is apparently some massive butterflies in the collegiate football world that changes how post season bowl games are selected.
That could means that the Rose Bowl is the de facto National Championship Game that pits the No. 1 vs. No. 2 teams against each other, another possibility is that the Ivy League doesn't decide to deemphasize athletics and they are still national powers.
Maybe ITTL, Woody Hayes doesn't punch a Clemson player in the 1978 Gator Bowl and Ohio State is still running its "Three Yards and a Cloud of Dust" offense that would play directly into Navy's strength on defense.

 

[HaroldWinthrop]

Chapter Two Thousand Eight Hundred and Eight

Dublin, Ireland

There were moments where everything turned on a dime. As Ed was watching the game, he couldn’t say what exactly but the instant the snap occurred he knew with sickening certainty that the Buckeyes Offense had just made a big mistake. One of the Navy’s Tackles managed to get through into the pocket as the Buckeye’s QB had gone back for a pass and was looking for a Receiver. Under pressure, the QB threw the ball down field seconds before the other player smashed into him. As soon as the ball left his hand Ed just knew what was about to happen as it took a high arcing trajectory right into the hands of one of the Navy’s Safeties. The Buckeyes managed to stop the Safety before he ran it in but that left Navy in possession on First and Goal. Ed just knew that last play had just changed the momentum of the game.

Go Little Mike!
Probably one of those moments where he saw with perfect clarity what he needed to do and then he did it.

His initiative, taking charge and putting his body on the line to change the run of play will no doubt be noticed by those at the Academy.

 

[ejpsan]

His initiative, taking charge and putting his body on the line to change the run of play will no doubt be noticed by those at the Academy.

By now Little Mike should have already received his first post-Academy assignment, but that play may put him on some bigwig's radar and he could find himself as an Admiral' Aide-de-Camp.
Or with the apparent expansion of the US military Special Warfare units, Little Mike could be getting the hard sell to sign up for BUD/S training as officers are needed, especially ones from the Academy.

 

[Rinasoir]

NGL, even with the advanced state of rocketry, the idea of a pub anywhere in Dublin having (presumably) satellite TV in 1980 is something that bends one's suspension of disbelief. Never mind that they would be willing to be the Yank bar to show the games, that's perfectly normal, just a hell of a lot more likely that its a case of someone showing tapes of the games than it is to deal with all the headaches that would need to be overcome to be willing to show the game live.

Basically you'd have a chicken and the egg situation in that you'd need a big enough audience to make the money to afford the TV and receiver equipment to broadcast the game to have the audience. Not impossible by any means, but just out of the ordinary enough as to be something to raise an eyebrow.

The alternative is that RTE broadcast the game, but that's the sort of thing that would be so much less likely as to be beyond the point of bending suspension of disbelief into the realm of shattering it into a million pieces.

 

[HaroldWinthrop]

By now Little Mike should have already received his first post-Academy assignment, but that play may put him on some bigwig's radar and he could find himself as an Admiral' Aide-de-Camp.
Or with the apparent expansion of the US military Special Warfare units, Little Mike could be getting the hard sell to sign up for BUD/S training as officers are needed, especially ones from the Academy.

I reckon he’s headed for ASW school via a stint in the ‘boats’, rather than the ‘ships’. The ability to ‘read the play’ and surprise your opponent is just the skill needed to hunt German missile submarines in the Atlantic.

 

[jlckansas]

The Navy has a history of letting their good sports players with an offer to play pro sports have an out, Roger Staubach and David Robinson are examples IOTL, and let them do their required service in a way that does not initially affect their proteams. Then they would put them in the USN reserves for a proper amount of time. This allows them to use the publicity of them being both a pro sport athlete and serving as a Naval Officer with the USN. The US Army has also did this with there football players especially having them serve as an active duty officer then letting them go to the reserves after a year or two.

 

[ejpsan]

Roger Staubach did his full five year commitment in th Navy after his graduation from the Naval Academy, he became a supply officer after it was found out that he was color blind which disqualified him from being a Line Officer.
David Robinson had a growth spurt between his Third Year and Second Year (sophomore and junior years) when he grew to 7'0 and that made him ineligible to become a Line Officer.
He had the chance to transfer out of the Naval Academy without penalty, but he chose to stay in, he did two years active service as a civil engineer, then he was transferred to the Reserve.
The Naval Academy did have a very good running back in the 80's named Napoleon McCallum, he was drafted by the Los Angeles Raiders when he was station at Long Beach and he played one season before he was transferred to Alameda to a ship that did a cruise in the Indian Ocean which prevented him from playing for the Raiders.
He also fulfilled his five year post Academy graduation requirements before rejoining the Raiders.

With the earlier introduction of television ITTL, the possibility of satellite transmission also happening earlier is very plausible.
Nevertheless, I remember in the late 70's seeing homes with six foot and ten foot diameter satellite dishes, and this was at a time when the signals were not encrypted and they would be getting the raw feed from the networks.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Eight Hundred and Nine



7th January 1980

Dublin, Ireland

Jack had been listening to his daughter Jaqueline complaining about Marie Alexandra for months. Mostly those revolved around the effect that Marie’s presence had on her personal life and some of the truly strange “Continental” habits that Marie had. It seemed that almost all of the young men Jaqueline had gotten involved with lost all interest in her the instant they met Marie, curiously because of what these young men thought they knew about those strange habits. It was through Jaqueline that Jack was getting a clearer picture of Kat von Mischner’s youngest daughter beyond what those who didn’t really know her thought of her. Introvert, prude, snob, and very likely a lesbian had been the terms that he had heard used to described Marie. According to Jaqueline, Marie being an introvert was the only thing among those terms that was actually true. Otherwise Jaqueline wouldn’t be so annoyed, clearly seeing Marie as a competitor, albeit a competitor with extremely high standards. When Bridget had suggested that those two move in together Jack had been incredulous. They had needed Marie to take care of herself and for Jaqueline to well, not behave like a female version of Jack when he was younger. Putting the two of them under one roof insured that they would cheerfully police each other out of spite if for no other reason.

A few days earlier, Jack had submitted the brief to the High Court stating his intent to pursue a lawsuit against the Republic of Ireland, the Catholic Church, as well as various individuals and institutions who had profited handsomely through protracted, and continued, violations of Irish Labor Law. He also stated his opinion that the matter was also in breach of the European Law Accord’s ban on involuntary servitude which had gone into effect at the start of the year. To say that this had caused a firestorm was if anything an understatement. Marie had been acting as his investigator for months and that had not gone unnoticed. Suddenly, it seemed like every reporter in Ireland was on the lookout for a young woman with red hair with what they presumed spoke with a German accent. Jack found that amusing right up until he saw that Marie had been forced to sneak into the office, oddly disguised as one of the very reporters who was laying in wait outside the front doors. Regardless of that, Jack had a press conference scheduled and he needed Marie as herself next to him because of optics, it seemed that having a man of Jack’s age delving into the topics involved wasn’t a great look. Marie’s presence would offset that even if she wasn’t going to be doing any talking. What he had not figured on was that it took a bit more than a change of clothes and having Marie wash her face, which was why she was in the bathroom of Jack’s office. It was clear that she wasn’t happy about any of this though as she stepped out of the bathroom.

“You asked me to come in today?” Marie asked in German, knowing full well that while Jack could understand, he couldn’t really reply. Considering the situation, he was lucky that she wasn’t speaking Chinese. One of the Secretaries gave them a quizzical look as she passed the door to Jack’s office. The firm’s staff had heard Marie’s voice more in the last five minutes than they had in the last year. “Without mentioning those vultures downstairs” Marie concluded acidly.

“I was afraid that you wouldn’t come in” Jack replied, in English. “I also figured that you were resourceful enough to figure out a way to get past the press. I wasn’t wrong.”

Marie gave Jack a sour look. He had long suspected that what Marie really wanted was to be invisible and she had gotten very good at it. She just didn’t like it when that was pointed out to her.

“All of this comes at a bad time” Marie finally said after a long pause, switching to English. “The Christmas Holiday was horrible, my brother is determined to climb a mountain that has killed most of the people who have tried, my mother and sister are still sniping at each other, across an ocean this time and my Aunt Marcella has joined in, and Suga wants me to travel with her when she visits Japan this summer.”

The cynical part of Jack’s mind recognized that he was seeing the Marie as a vulnerable young woman whose family drama was making an already difficult situation worse. It was exactly how the public needed to see her. That was going to be necessary because it was doubtless that the opposing counsel had figured out that their clients had revealed damning information to Marie and would be looking to paint her in a different light. Still, he had known Marie since she had been a newborn, so taking advantage of her at a bad moment would be exactly the same as treating Jaqueline that way. Something else would need to be done.

“If you don’t want to take an all expense paid trip to Japan and be a guest of Emperor Hirohito for a couple of weeks” Jack said, “Could you do me a favor and tell your Kaiserin that I would be perfectly happy to go in your place the next time you see her.”

“Is that a joke?” Marie asked.

“Hardly” Jack replied, “Four-star accommodation all the way, not to mention meeting with the big man himself. I’ve clients who would cheerfully kill for that opportunity, Hell, I would seriously consider it.”

Marie looked appalled that Jack would say such a thing.

“That is not how these things work” Marie said, “Just considering such a meeting an opportunity is proof that you would have no business being there.”

As Marie said that Jack figured that she was in the correct state of mind. Despite the protocol that had been drilled into her since she was a child, he knew Hirohito extremely well and that Marie would probably be quite surprised to learn that the Emperor of Japan liked talking business.

 

[Hoyahoo9]

My goodness, you are an astoundingly good writer. I’ve been reading this amazing TL since you began. I look for it every day. It’s as vital a part of my daily routine as coffee. And you never disappoint. I love Marie. Just as I love all the fascinating people you have brought to life. I just wanted to say, thank you.

 

[Dan]

Chekov's gun flashbulb has been loaded and is sat on the sideboard, completely ignored by everyone except Jack, who placed it there...

 

[ejpsan]

Hopefully some of Jaqueline's best traits, like being more outgoing will rub off on Marie and Marie's having more higher standards in regard to choosing potential partners will inspire Jaqueline to be a bit more discriminatory in the future.

If Marie has to be introduced at the press conference, then her name translated into Gaelic should be used as a way to throw off any interested parties.

 

[ejpsan]

Marie may have a lot on her plate this summer with the visit by Suga to Japan in the late summer, and with the 1980 Olympics starting July 19th, there may be a number of jobs offers for her language skills and more importantly for her proverbial Rolodex of Very Important People she has access to.
This time around, Sophie, Niko, and Bas should be staying in the Olympic Village without any issues that they can't handle.
Marie may be successful this time in being able to escape any obligations that she was forced in doing during the Montreal Olympics this last time around.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Eight Hundred and Ten



8th January 1980

Mitte, Berlin

The night before it had been a bit of a surprise to see Mialexa on television with whatever she had been caught up in blowing up into an international news story, one so big that it pushed the usual crime and crisis stories aside for a few hours. Malcolm had found it amusing, because anyone who knew her knew that it was the sort of thing that was bound to happen eventually. Malcolm had not really paid too much attention to what the story was, people not getting wages owed or something. He had entirely too much to do with the upcoming publication of his Doctoral Dissertation and preparing for the expedition to India in a few months. He also had another matter to attend to that involved returning a favor.

“They call them fitness studios here because gymnasium has a different meaning” Malcolm said as he led Fennel into the massive building, “This one is rather special.”

Mialexa had been true to her word about knowing people who could spring George Fennel out of Bedlam, the problem was that Fennel had been faced with same problem that everyone else had. What do you do with the rest of your life? Fennel’s mother had picked up the phone and called Malcolm to see if he had any ideas and next thing he knew Fennel was on his way to Berlin. Not that Malcolm minded, Fennel had been up K2 and he had not said everything that had occurred on that mountain. Things like how he had gotten down it alone was something that Malcolm was extremely interested in.

At first glance, the fitness studio looked exactly the same as any one of the dozens of similar establishments that had sprung up in Berlin over the last few years. Mialexa had told Malcolm all about the Montreal Ladies Athletic Club and he had realized that something like that was coming to Berlin at about the same time his mother had. That meant that while it had all the traditional features such as the swimming pool, weights, boxing ring, and whatnot, the key feature which made it unique and Malcolm had a hand in designing came into view as they entered the atrium. It wasn’t the first climbing wall in Berlin, that had happened years ago shortly after the idea had been popularized by King Leopold of Belgium decades earlier. This one was the tallest and most complex indoor wall in the City though and Malcolm had gone over many of the scenarios he had regularly encountered with the Architects as it had been going up. There were still key differences between this and real mountaineering. With the construction of concrete and steel the anchor points were all clearly marked, as were the paths which were marked with brightly colored paint.

“Bloody Hell” Fennel muttered.

“I figured that if you were interested in getting back on the horse as it were” Malcolm said, “This is a safe place for that.”

Fennel looked a bit annoyed.

“Last year my mother decided that me and Sophie were driving her crazy over the winter” Malcolm said, “She said we need somewhere to go.”

“And this was the result?” Fennel asked, “Who has the money to pay for all this, just to get you out of the house?”

“I wouldn’t say that she paid for it” Malcolm replied, “This was more of an investment. The space was sitting unused and as it turned out, every office worker in this part of the city wanted a membership before we opened. Then word got out that Sophie was going to be here and got the privilege of setting up the computer system.”

“Who is Sophie?” Fennel asked as they walked out of the atrium and into the offices, one of which Malcolm used.

“One of my sisters” Malcolm replied, “She’s a big deal in Women’s Cycling, you might have seen her in the Olympics a few years ago.”

“That’s a thing?” Fennel asked, reminding Malcolm that he had been in close proximity to Sophie for years and not everyone would be interested in what she did or had the time to follow it.

“Yeah” Malcolm replied, “And you wouldn’t believe how big a draw she is.”

Fennel just shrugged.

Malcolm knew that a lot of people totally discounted women’s sports, yet it would have been impossible for him to have done that in the house he had grown up in. Long before Sophie had come to live with them, he had seen how Contact-Combat and target shooting were important to his mother and the young women who she had taken in to be a part of her strange extended family. There was also lethal purpose behind that. The same could be said of many of the things that Mialexa was into. If she wanted to come here and teach Fencing or Swimming, Malcolm would hire her in a heartbeat.

Opening his desk drawer, Malcolm grabbed the envelope that he had prepared earlier. “This has a brochure that spells out everything we have to offer and a keycard that gives you access to everything we have to offer.”

It had taken some convincing to for Malcolm to get his mother to spring for the access system. Just giving people the cards with the magnetic strip made it easy to tell who had been someplace and when, as well as keeping them out of places they had no business being.

 

[ejpsan]

And Kat continues to profit by seeing things that are coming down the pike and keeping her mouth shut and listen to words that are floating in the breeze...

 

[Peabody-Martini]

The the earliest purpose built climbing wall mentioned in the last post was was commissioned in 1937 by Leopold III of Belgium and it is still there.

 

[ejpsan]

At this point IOTL there is a “Fitness Revolution” going on with Jane Fonda opening up her first workout studio, the Nautilist machines are going into gyms, Jazzercise and it’s non-trademarked Arobics equivalent are gaining popularity and gymnasiums are rebranding themselves as fitness centers catering to women.
Kat had already seen a glance of this when she visited Gia in New York, and did a workout in “Close Combat” in front of a newspaper reporter and photographer.
She also would had seen the potential when she visited her daughter Marie in Montreal and gone with her to the Women Athletic Club.
Sophie could be the face of the new fitness center by doing her strength and endurance workouts there, and the center could be sponsoring her and her teammates as a way to draw attention to both the center and the team.

 

[HaroldWinthrop]

And Kat continues to profit by seeing things that are coming down the pike and keeping her mouth shut and listen to words that are floating in the breeze...

Not to mention keeping her ears and eyes open to things her own children and her 'wards' are into that might turn a pfennig or two.

 

[Othala]

Not to mention keeping her ears and eyes open to things her own children and her 'wards' are into that might turn a pfennig or two.

Almost like her father did, isn't it?

Keeping an eye open for a business opportunity that is, not what his children are into - with him it was what come in and out of Berlin on rail.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Eight Hundred and Eleven



12th January 1980

Mitte, Berlin

New year, new decade, same old problems, and Zella was having a really bad month. She had been trying to get out of her role in managing the band, and the band was not letting her do that. This was after it had accidentally been named Hammersmith by record company who had mistaken a live recording that the band had done in that location before Ozzy and Ian had thought up a name they could live with, then couldn’t think of anything better. The job of the Manager was to keep the band pulling in the same direction and anticipating problems, not depending on random chance or dumb luck. Into this, Paul McCartney had sent her an advance copy of his latest solo album and as soon as Zella had listened to it, she had known that there was a serious problem. The title said it all, All the stuff that went before, and she just knew that the Moondogs were over. It was supposed to be an introspective album about growing older and the fragility of human relationships, but Zella could read between the lines. Paul was drawing a line under the Moondogs and there was no way that John was not going to go ballistic when he heard it.

Coming home and vegetating on the couch in front of the television had not turned out to be the sort of escape it usually was. The rerun of Star Trek that was the only thing on was the series finale titled The Final Directive. The episode revolved around how far the crew of the USS Constitution were willing to go to live according to their principles, as they learn that a planet outside Federation Space with a Pre-Industrial Civilization was threatened with invasion and assimilation by the Borg Collective. The fact that the Constitution might have sped off at maximum warp with none the wiser, instead they made the choice to stand and fight to enforce the Prime Directive. It was a battle where those that they were defending would have no idea what was going on and because the Constitution was overmatched, it was likely that the Federation would never know either. Where did duty and valor fit to during a battle that no one would ever know about?

In probably the most shocking turn, Captain Pike contrives a way to trick the Borg into a boarding action at the end of the battle as he evacuated the remaining members of his crew off the Constitution. The self-destruction sequence of the Constitution manages to destroy the Borg and their ship. The final scene is of Pike and his crew standing on the planet watching the wreckage of their ship burning up in the atmosphere while facing an uncertain future with there being a coda of a man from the alien race in a roadside tavern, telling the story of the “Men from beyond the stars” to the other patrons who told him that his tall tales needed work. Perhaps that was a disappointing ending of the series, but it did set the stage for the movie that was supposed to be coming out next year.



Annapolis, Maryland

“What do you mean you told them no?” Sam, who had shared a room with Little Mike since they had both started at the Academy. “Most of us would give anything for that.”

“Good thing I’m not most of you” Little Mike replied.

After the Army-Navy Game and Rose Bowl, Mike had been subjected to quite a lot of attention from scouts from various NFL teams offering him all sorts of enticements to go play in the Pros. The thing was that wasn’t what he wanted to be doing with his life, not since he had toured the USS Arizona a few times back when he had been in school. When he had tried to Enlist in the Navy four years earlier, the Recruiter had taken one look at him and asked if he played Football and would he be interested in playing for Annapolis. His parents had made clear that if he was going to be joining the Navy anyway, he would be a damn fool if he passed up the opportunity he was having handed to him on a silver platter. Now he was having to deal with the pushy scouts who were telling him all about the various ways that he could sidestep the service requirements and that was the exact opposite of what he wanted.

Next May, Mike was going to graduate as an Ensign and he already had a slot at the Surface Warfare Officers’ School in Newport waiting for him. The SWO pin and an Academy Ring would ensure his future, and after that he would be doing exactly what he wanted to be doing. It was something that no one seemed to understand. There were also the realities of playing Football too. Sure, he could go play for Dallas, San Francisco, Detroit, or whatever, but he also might blowout a knee at the next practice and that would be that. Then where would he be? Having to drag himself back to Los Angeles, where he would get to be the most overqualified burger flipper in all of Southern California. Seriously? Fuck that. His brother seemed to be the only one who understood Mike’s thinking but Derik was, to put it charitably, the biggest nerd that he had ever met. The thing with the comic books, Derik’s idea for a Black Superman… Of course, Mike had been warned that if he eventually got assigned to a Destroyer then his experiences in dealing with Derik would have prepared him to deal with pretty much all the men in ASW.

 

[matzeskatze]

Nice last chapter that got me thinking.

How is the difference, if there is one, between the German Empire and the USA in this TL in regards to race relations?
Because it seems to me after the last chapter that the USA is somewhat... lets call it painlessly on the way of OTL. So without OTL's WWII and the other conflicts that Imo forced the issue somewhat it is handeling it more peacefull then OTL. At least we have heared little of such problems after the MLK flare up.
On the other hand, we also have little on the German side. It seems to me rather peacefull and relaxed. But I could be wrong. Well with a Japanese Kaisering (and one not named Tanya... ) overt Problems would go the way of Poland... a Knobelbecher to the face.