Sporting What Ifs

[fw91]

What if Eli Manning was fine with playing for the Chargers?

[Marvelous1LUFC]

What if Leeds United won the champions league in 2001?
What if Leeds United didn't get relegated from the Premier League in 2004?
What if Leeds United won the 2006 play off finals to get back into the premier league?
What if Leeds United didnt finish bottom of the league the next year and get relegated to league one for the first time ever?
What if Leeds United didn't get promoted to the championship in 2010?
What if Leeds United didn't appoint Marcelo Bielsa as manager in 2018?
What if Leeds United didn't get promoted back to the premier league after 16 years away in 2020?

What if Erling Haalands dream becomes a reality and he manages to play for his birthplace club and the team he supports?

[DiBiase is Good]

What if Heysel never happened in 85 and English clubs weren’t banned from Europe for the rest of the decade?

Just going on the European Cup trophy itself I think Everton would have had a good chance of winning the 1986 European Cup as their team was as good as any team in Europe and if Steaua Bucharest could beat Barcelona in the final, Everton could have too. They would have had a decent chance in 1988 too and maybe Lineker wouldn’t have left in 86 to go to Barcelona if he had the prospect of playing in Europe with Everton.
I would have loved to see the Liverpool team of 1988 with Barnes, Beardsley and Aldridge in attack go against that AC Milan team with their Dutch attack of Rijkaard, Van Basten and Gullit.

There’s also of course English clubs losing players as they wanted European football. There were several players who transferred from England to play on the continent, Lineker, Rush, Hoddle to name a few and Rangers definitely benefitted from the ban as they would sign several former English club players and win the Scottish title nine years in a row.

There’s just so many ramifications from that terrible night. It seemed to be the low point for hooliganism amongst fans of English teams and football was falling out of fashion with the general public. Maybe it needed to have that dark period to start up a whole new love affair with the sport at Italia 90 and bring the interest back to the point where a new league could emerge, a Premier League?

[Lupin the Third]

What if the Music City Miracle was actually ruled an illegal forward pass?

[unc40]

What if the Orioles agree to the Reds first offer and give them Jim Palmer and Dave McNally for Frank Robinson?

[deezy]

What if Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace stayed one more season at UNC and teamed up with incoming freshmen Antwan Jamison and Vince Carter ?

[unc40]

When Wallace and Stackhouse where freshman they came off the bench and played behind Kevin Salvadori, Eric Montross, and Brian Reese. The same would have happened with Jamison and Carter their freshman year. I also recall that Carter struggled his freshman year.

[BRV]

Here's one that's pretty straightforward and doesn't unspool a ton of threads: what if Kansas City Royals third base coach Mike Jirschele waved Alex Gordon home in the bottom of the 9th of Game 7 of the World Series?

Had he waved him home, would Gordon have been safe, tying Game 7 and potentially forcing it into extra innings? Or would Gordon have been out at the plate, giving us perhaps the most exciting World Series final out ever?

[Cranjis McBasketball]

What happens if Gretzky gets selected for the shootout in Nagano? Hasek was playing lights out, but it’s the best player ever, game on the line, on the international stage, but he was never much good at one on one.

Only one thing is for sure, Crawford wouldn’t have to talk about it every day since 98.

[J. Hova]

What if Steve Bartman doesn't reach for the ball in '03 NLCS? Personally, I don't blame him for the collapse.

What if Dusty Baker doesn't sign to manage the Cubs?

What if Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire don't have the home run chase in '98? This opens a whole bag of worms with steroid use as well as saving baseball from the 94 strike.

What if the 94 strike goes longer?

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

What if Len Bias didn't die and got to play with the already championship Celtics squad

[karl100589]

Oct 6, 2021 3:28:28 GMT -5 DiBiase is Good said:

What if Heysel never happened in 85 and English clubs weren’t banned from Europe for the rest of the decade?

Just going on the European Cup trophy itself I think Everton would have had a good chance of winning the 1986 European Cup as their team was as good as any team in Europe and if Steaua Bucharest could beat Barcelona in the final, Everton could have too. They would have had a decent chance in 1988 too and maybe Lineker wouldn’t have left in 86 to go to Barcelona if he had the prospect of playing in Europe with Everton.
I would have loved to see the Liverpool team of 1988 with Barnes, Beardsley and Aldridge in attack go against that AC Milan team with their Dutch attack of Rijkaard, Van Basten and Gullit.

There’s also of course English clubs losing players as they wanted European football. There were several players who transferred from England to play on the continent, Lineker, Rush, Hoddle to name a few and Rangers definitely benefitted from the ban as they would sign several former English club players and win the Scottish title nine years in a row.

There’s just so many ramifications from that terrible night. It seemed to be the low point for hooliganism amongst fans of English teams and football was falling out of fashion with the general public. Maybe it needed to have that dark period to start up a whole new love affair with the sport at Italia 90 and bring the interest back to the point where a new league could emerge, a Premier League?

Not to mention UEFA cup runs for the likes of Oxford, Coventry, Luton, Wimbledon etc.

[RI Richmark]

With KG getting his number retired a couple of months ago and the Celtics getting ready to face Kevin Durant it brings to mind an interesting what if scenario:

What if the Celtics won the 2007 Draft Lottery

The 06-07 Season was one of the lowest points in Celtics history. They had some intriguing young players but finished 24-58. Only the Grizzlies had a worse record. The team was an afterthought in the Boston sports scene. And their star, Paul Pierce, had no interest in being part of a rebuild and was expected to be traded. The only thing that gave Celtics fans hope was the upcoming draft. The were two players predicted to be franchise cornerstones, Greg Oden and Kevin Durant.

But first the Celtics would have to go through the Draft Lottery. Many fans still recall waiting a whole year for Tim Duncan only to see him wind up in San Antonio. And it happened again! Three teams jumped into the top three knocking the Celtics down to 5th, the worst possible spot they could get. (Off topic here but I really F***ING HATE the Draft Lottery) But while Celtics fans raged, GM Danny Ainge went to work on plan B.

One of the teams that jumped the Celtics were the Seattle Supersonics who now getting ready for their own youth movement, were willing to trade All Star Ray Allen for that 5th pick and some players. Then he dealt a lot of their young players and picks to the Timberwolves for star Kevin Garnett. And just like that Boston had a new Big Three. (Amazingly through all that wheeling and dealing Ainge also managed to keep emerging point guard Rajon Rondo)

Lead by the new Big Three Boston went 66-16, the largest single season turnaround in NBA history and went on to win the franchise's 17th NBA Championship.

But what if the Celtics got one of those top two picks? Injuries kept Greg Oden from filling his potential but even if the Celtics got the top pick I believe Ainge would have selected Durant. Although he couldn't say anything he was dropping hints that he thought Durant was the superior player. But then what?

If Ainge got Durant does he still try to swing trades for Allen and Garnett? Or does he try to go young and build around Durant? Would Paul Pierce stick around or would he get traded since he and Durant essentially played the same position. If Ainge chose to go with Durant would he have been able to build a Championship team around him before Durant left in free agency like he did with OKC?

If the Draft Lottery turned out the way Celtics fans hoped the Celtics could still be searching for their 17th title. Or Durant could he led them to multiple championships. That's what makes this What If so fascinating.

[unc40]

What if Paterno gets his Eastern Football Conference off the ground?

[RadcapRadsley]

What if Greg Oden didn't wait until later in life to pick up a basketball? If he was a lottery pick getting drafted at age 46,he probably could have been an all time great and stayed healthy if he played the sport in his 20's

[HeyYo]

What if RG3 didn't wreck his knee?

[tirtefaa]

Secret Base did a great video on it, but I'll still say the mid 00's Suns should have won one or two championships with the talent they had. Even when they replaced a few guys, they still had the ability to go all the way, but instead they never got past the Western Conference.

Basically what if certain injuries, suspensions, and terrible trades didn't happen...

[ppl591]

Kind of piggybacking off a the previous Gretzky post. What if Mario Lemieux had a good team his first few years instead of carrying scrubs like Rob brown and Warren Young to huge numbers? Im not sure he passes Gretzky but give him even decent teams and of course the injuries and illness he dealt with. I think there's a good chance if he doesn't pass Gretzky the record books are a lot closer than they are now.

He was also notoriously lazy but he was so skilled he could be. Imagine if he had the work ethic of someone like Crosby. Undoubtedly he's top 2 based on talent alone. Lots of what ifs for his career.

[Nosnorb]

In my view, one of the biggest ones - What if USL Dunkerque had met the asking price for Jean-Marc Bosman in 1990?

[Push R Truth]

What happens if Gary Anderson doesn't have his 1 missed field goal of the season at the worst possible time in the NFC Championship Game?