Sports What Ifs.

[AltSptHst]

Recently, JaguarGator on You Tube posted this video about the 1967 NFL re-alignment:

In the comments, I said that the divisions should have been more geographical, like this:

Eastern Conference
Atlantic Division: Atlanta, N.Y. Giants, Washington, Philadelphia
Industry Division: Baltimore, Cleveland, Dallas, Pittsburgh

Western Conference
Central Division: Chicago, Detroit, Green Bay, Minnesota
Gateway Division: L.A. Rams, New Orleans, St. Louis, San Francisco

I called the second division in the East the Industry division because you have rust belt cities Cleveland and Pittsburgh in there, and Dallas has always been a business first town. Also, the Gateway division comes from St. Louis, obviously.

 

[Don Corleone]

Recently, JaguarGator on You Tube posted this video about the 1967 NFL re-alignment:

In the comments, I said that the divisions should have been more geographical, like this:

Eastern Conference
Atlantic Division: Atlanta, N.Y. Giants, Washington, Philadelphia
Industry Division: Baltimore, Cleveland, Dallas, Pittsburgh

Western Conference
Central Division: Chicago, Detroit, Green Bay, Minnesota
Gateway Division: L.A. Rams, New Orleans, St. Louis, San Francisco

I called the second division in the East the Industry division because you have rust belt cities Cleveland and Pittsburgh in there, and Dallas has always been a business first town. Also, the Gateway division comes from St. Louis, obviously.

They were rotating teams at the time. If I had to guess, I would say it was to get the Saints and Falcons to see all the other NFL teams as soon as possible. Kind of like what they did with the 1976-77 schedule.

 

[AltSptHst]

They were rotating teams at the time. If I had to guess, I would say it was to get the Saints and Falcons to see all the other NFL teams as soon as possible. Kind of like what they did with the 1976-77 schedule.

Yeah, they did do that with the Bucs and Seahawks (switch conferences). I wouldn't have done that. I think that the Seahawks should have stayed in the NFC West permanently.

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

As a Packer fan, I cringed at the thought of using founder names, because I immediately realized one of the 4 would have been the Halas Division. Yeah, given the rivalries I don't think they could have used the NHL's later idea of naming divisions after people.

Of course, then again, saying we won the Halas Division might give Packer fans some joy.

Players would have been interesting - the Thorpe Division could have had the Browns, Steelers, etc. (St. Louis being in there would have been nice as a shoutout to the Plains Indians.) Others could have been the Grange... nah, there's a Bear again.
Colors could have been used, too - Yellow (or Gold if they didn't want the coward association), Red, and Blue for the primary colors, and then add Green in.

Okay, we've kind of run out of what-ifs, so let's try something a little different, based on the Javier Baez crazy rundown - how could we get an all-time great in any of the major sports to have such a brain fart that he's remembered as still an all-time great but also as someone along the lines of Fred Merkle of Merkle's Boner or Jim Marshall of the wrong-way run. I'm not talkign just a strategic blunder (like Baby Ruth being caught stealing for the last out of the 1926 World Series) but a "My LIttle Leaguer said that was dumb" blunder. (Although if you can turn one into Bull Buckner for the '86 Red Sox that would also be interesting.)

 

[Don Corleone]

Players would have been interesting - the Thorpe Division could have had the Browns, Steelers, etc. (St. Louis being in there would have been nice as a shoutout to the Plains Indians.) Others could have been the Grange... nah, there's a Bear again.
Colors could have been used, too - Yellow (or Gold if they didn't want the coward association), Red, and Blue for the primary colors, and then add Green in.

Pollard and Thorpe could be two of the divisions.

Foss (for the AFL commissioner) and Bell (previous NFL commissioner). Or if you were doing it today, Goodell because he's egotistical enough.

One of the divisions could be the Tillman division if you went with NHL style names right now.

 

[AnonymousSauce]

As a Packer fan, I cringed at the thought of using founder names, because I immediately realized one of the 4 would have been the Halas Division. Yeah, given the rivalries I don't think they could have used the NHL's later idea of naming divisions after people.

Of course, then again, saying we won the Halas Division might give Packer fans some joy.

Players would have been interesting - the Thorpe Division could have had the Browns, Steelers, etc. (St. Louis being in there would have been nice as a shoutout to the Plains Indians.) Others could have been the Grange... nah, there's a Bear again.
Colors could have been used, too - Yellow (or Gold if they didn't want the coward association), Red, and Blue for the primary colors, and then add Green in.

Okay, we've kind of run out of what-ifs, so let's try something a little different, based on the Javier Baez crazy rundown - how could we get an all-time great in any of the major sports to have such a brain fart that he's remembered as still an all-time great but also as someone along the lines of Fred Merkle of Merkle's Boner or Jim Marshall of the wrong-way run. I'm not talkign just a strategic blunder (like Baby Ruth being caught stealing for the last out of the 1926 World Series) but a "My LIttle Leaguer said that was dumb" blunder. (Although if you can turn one into Bull Buckner for the '86 Red Sox that would also be interesting.)

I suggested a while back when there were still rumors of the Jags moving to St. Louis that the NFC could go back to the 66-69 division names (Capitol, Century, Central, Coastal) and that the AFC could adopt something similar: the East would become the Metropolitan since NY and Boston play there, the North would be the Millennium as a play on the Century (Pittsburgh and Cleveland played in the old Century, and the Ravens are the Eve to the Browns’ Adam), the South would be the Midwest since it would have teams in Indianapolis and St. Louis along with Tennessee and Houston, and the West would be the Mountain.

 

[Nivek]

and the Ravens are the Eve to the Browns’ Adam

That should not be Lilith?

 

[PGSBHurricane]

This might be contentious for understandable/justified reasons but what if the Group of 5 Conferences (American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, Mountain West Conference, and Sun Belt Conference) never received a guaranteed NY6 bid at the beginning of the College Football Playoff Era in 2014? How would that change things for College football (particularly FBS)?

 

[ejpsan]

This might be contentious for understandable/justified reasons but what if the Group of 5 Conferences (American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, Mountain West Conference, and Sun Belt Conference) never received a guaranteed NY6 bid at the beginning of the College Football Playoff Era in 2014? How would that change things for College football (particularly FBS)?

There would have been most likely an Anti-Trust suite against the Power 5 that would have resulted in either a big payday for the Group of 5(winning plaintiffs in Anti-Trust suites gets treble damages awards) or the whole colligate sports system would have imploded as schools from the non élite conferences would had to drop the level of competition in football because they can't get enough money from television contracts to pay for the scholarships for players.

 

[kinnikuniverse]

There would have been most likely an Anti-Trust suite against the Power 5 that would have resulted in either a big payday for the Group of 5(winning plaintiffs in Anti-Trust suites gets treble damages awards) or the whole colligate sports system would have imploded as schools from the non élite conferences would had to drop the level of competition in football because they can't get enough money from television contracts to pay for the scholarships for players.

Or they take a page from european soccer and basketball and all the big colleges leave the NCAA and form a college football super league.

 

[PGSBHurricane]

Or they take a page from european soccer and basketball and all the big colleges leave the NCAA and form a college football super league.

So what would happen to the G5 in that case? Do they all drop down to FCS?

 

[Colonel Zoidberg]

There would have been most likely an Anti-Trust suite against the Power 5 that would have resulted in either a big payday for the Group of 5(winning plaintiffs in Anti-Trust suites gets treble damages awards) or the whole colligate sports system would have imploded as schools from the non élite conferences would had to drop the level of competition in football because they can't get enough money from television contracts to pay for the scholarships for players.

Probably a mix of both, along with a complete restructuring of how the big boys even operate. Right now those schools are hampered by all kinds of expenses and Title IX considerations, but what if they went full-hog and the biggest programs separated themselves from their schools entirely? As in, the biggest Power 5 schools’ football teams become private companies a la an unofficial NFL minor league, operated similarly to how the leagues are run these days? I’m not sure where the line would have to be drawn for legal purposes (like if, say, the team based out of Columbus, Ohio can still call itself the Ohio State Buckeyes and use the same logos and claim the same team history.) But it seems like a logical conclusion, especially with the rulings about names and likenesses of players.

 

[Unknown]

WI the Minneapolis Lakers do a little worse in the 1955-1956 season and, as a result, manage to draft Bill Russell in the 1956 NBA Draft?

 

[Kerney]

As a Packer fan, I cringed at the thought of using founder names, because I immediately realized one of the 4 would have been the Halas Division. Yeah, given the rivalries I don't think they could have used the NHL's later idea of naming divisions after people.

Of course, then again, saying we won the Halas Division might give Packer fans some joy.

Players would have been interesting - the Thorpe Division could have had the Browns, Steelers, etc. (St. Louis being in there would have been nice as a shoutout to the Plains Indians.) Others could have been the Grange... nah, there's a Bear again.
Colors could have been used, too - Yellow (or Gold if they didn't want the coward association), Red, and Blue for the primary colors, and then add Green in.

Okay, we've kind of run out of what-ifs, so let's try something a little different, based on the Javier Baez crazy rundown - how could we get an all-time great in any of the major sports to have such a brain fart that he's remembered as still an all-time great but also as someone along the lines of Fred Merkle of Merkle's Boner or Jim Marshall of the wrong-way run. I'm not talkign just a strategic blunder (like Baby Ruth being caught stealing for the last out of the 1926 World Series) but a "My LIttle Leaguer said that was dumb" blunder. (Although if you can turn one into Bull Buckner for the '86 Red Sox that would also be interesting.)

It seems the even today, some of the divisions are well established long legacy divisions, like the NFC North and the AFC West with 60 year legacies, while a few other divisions seem thrown together in spite of past rivalries.

I would love to rename, say, the AFC South or the NFC West the "leftover" division or "spares".

 

[WB18]

WI the Minneapolis Lakers do a little worse in the 1955-1956 season and, as a result, manage to draft Bill Russell in the 1956 NBA Draft?

Well maybe the Lakers don't go to LA and maybe they have the dynasty the Celtics have since Bill Russell, Elgin Baylor and Jerry West is hard to beat especially considering the competition back then.

 

[brunohusker]

This might be contentious for understandable/justified reasons but what if the Group of 5 Conferences (American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, Mountain West Conference, and Sun Belt Conference) never received a guaranteed NY6 bid at the beginning of the College Football Playoff Era in 2014? How would that change things for College football (particularly FBS)?

I think you would see attempts for some of the bigger G5 teams to form a league. The AAC kind of has this but is weighed down by teams like Tulsa and East Carolina. Maybe if you could get over travel issues, have Boise State, SDSU and Fresno State and BYU join the AAC and kick out a weaker team to make it 14. The problem is that the Big 12 would just take the top AAC teams. UCF and USF would be big targets as would Cincinnati and maybe Memphis or Houston? Or they go west and get BYU and Boise State.

Besides expansion, I think you see the big 5 split off from the NCAA in some way shape or form, at least in football. Basketball could too but you’d leave out the Big East and Gonzaga and other notable teams. Granted maybe you see the Big East become a big league in basketball.

 

[AltSptHst]

WI the Minneapolis Lakers do a little worse in the 1955-1956 season and, as a result, manage to draft Bill Russell in the 1956 NBA Draft?

If the Lakers end up with the #1 pick instead of the Royals, it all depends on how badly they want to keep him. I think that St. Louis didn't keep him due to the race relations. If it's the same in Minneapolis, he still gets traded to Boston.

However, if they keep him, they probably win the 1957 and 59 titles, at least (and, they still move to LA), but they don't end up with franchise legends in the draft like Jerry West and Elgin Baylor because they are too good to get them. Russell wouldn't have had the supporting cast in LA that he had in Boston as the years went on.

Also, maybe the Celts are the ones who end up getting Wilt Chamberlain at some point, making them more devastating than they are in OTL, and changing his legacy for the greater.

 

[Unknown]

Chamberlain with the Boston Celtics?!? That would be interesting to have a reversal of the Celtics-Lakers rivalry with Chamberlain and Russell...

 

[AltSptHst]

This article mentions a potential Red Sox trade that would have happened in 1984 that could have changed history:

Boston teams have avoided some bad trades through the years, thank goodness

COMMENTARY Most clichés are rooted in a fundamental truth, right? That’s how they become clichés in the first place. Want to hear something deep? It’s even become a cliché to […]

www.boston.com

▪ Nov. 18, 1984: “What the Red Sox originally intended to do was determine if they could sign Jim Rice by Thanksgiving. If they couldn’t, they planned to trade him to the highest bidder at the winter meetings, dreaming of a package of, say, Brad Komminsk and Steve Bedrosian from Atlanta or Mookie Wilson, Randy Myers, and maybe even Jesse Orosco from the Mets. Or Dave Winfield.”

If that trade with the Mets happens, Mookie Wilson is with the Red Sox in the WS (if they still make it), and he isn't hitting a roller down first base that Buckner misses.

 

[Nivek]

1984 that could have changed history:

Red Sox are still cursed, was Orlando Cabrera who broke it. Still thanks Allah all the trade with red Sox fails, we would have loss degrom and Harvey for Mookie Betts (that wilpons would have traded anyway) and a no name catcher