What If: Sports

No, this is not me wanting to take the place of the entertaining, although fairly ridiculous, whatifsports.com. Rather, this is the first of what I hope to be a host of articles based on curiosity and wild speculation.

The format of the articles is as follows: I'll list a number of things I would like to see changed and take a stab at a potential new outcome of that change. Wanting to know the alternate outcome of something DOES NOT necessarily mean I would prefer the alternate outcome, it just means I'm curious. In this case my "what ifs" will be sports themed, and in this case I'd prefer most of the outcomes.

I hope you all join me with some of your own. Here's the catch though: You have to be as specific as possible with the event that would start the chain reaction to vastly alter history. "I wonder what would happen if the Twins beat the A's in the 2006 ALDS" isn't specific enough. "I wonder what would've happened if Torii Hunter doesn't give up a 2 run inside the park home run on a risky dive" is. I think you understand.

Anyway here we go:

What if Gary Anderson makes the field goal in the 1998 Vikings-Falcons NFC Championship?

I think Gary sort of gets an unfair shake in many ways with this kick. The kick has taken on such a lore you would swear that the Vikings were down 2 points with 1 second on the clock, do or die time, and Anderson managed to kick the ball straight sideways. In reality it would have just iced the game, and missed by nanometers up above the left upright. The Falcons still had to tie the game with a last minute touchdown and the Vikings still got the ball 2 times in overtime. Make no mistake though, that kick would have sealed the game.

The Vikings would have taken their once in a lifetime season to the Superbowl and would have had a good shot at winning it. The Falcons looked like a high school team against the Denver Broncos, the Vikings made a season out of making teams look like preschoolers. Would us Viking fans have gotten the monkey off our back? Would John Elway have retired if he lost that Superbowl?

What if the Vikings went without radio communications during 2000 NFC Championship 41-0 loss to the Giants?

I'm not outright calling the Giants cheaters. However, it should be noted that almost immediately following the game insurmountable evidence surfaced that the Giants were listening to the Vikings' communications throughout the game. (Also, they supposedly did so during their Eagles game)

The allegations weren't just a few Vikings related message boards either. There were national sports writers addressing the issue. The league even addressed the issue. Although, they addressed it by saying they weren't going to address it. It should be noted though that they didn't dismiss the claims. Tagliabue basically said "Unfortunately it probably happens all the time."

The thing about it is that they were like the kid who cheated a little too well on a test in class. The kid who was struggling to pass tests at all and then got 102%, including the extra credit question that got half cut off by the copy machine. If the Vikings blitzed they ran the perfect counter blitz play. If the Vikings ran they played run, if they passed they played pass.

Whether or not they cheated is a moot point. This is my "what if" list and I would be curious to see what would happen if the Vikings stopped giving them an opportunity.

The Vikings, though already outplaying their true talent level, matched up well against the Ravens and could have taken that Super Bowl. Would the media be ranting and raving about the Baltimore D, and Ray Lewis in particular, as much if that happened?

What if the Vikings didn't trade Randy Moss?

I was really depressed when the Vikings traded Randy Moss. I thought the addition via subtraction argument was moronic. Not only in this instance, but I think you would have a hard time making the case for any attitude based example for addition via subtraction in the sports world. People can pontificate all they want about the TO-less Eagles and how much better off they are. It's clear as can be looking at the stats that that claim just isn't true.

Here's the thing that doesn't get enough play when it comes to stellar receivers. They change the game regardless of whether or not they touch the ball. Did the Vikings ever truly have as good of a running game as it looked like they did during Moss's tenure? I suspect the fact that 3 guys kept Moss occupied, and started every play 20 yards off the ball helped everything else flow a little more smoothly.

Would Culpepper still be a Viking if Moss never left? Would they still be putting up numbers together? Will this trade have as big of an effect on history as the Herschel Walker trade? Does the Walker trade deserve its own "What If?"

What if J.C. Romero didn't give up a homerun to Troy Glaus in the 2001 Angels-Twins ALCS

To be honest I don't remember if this was the "closest" of the games the Twins lost during this series. All I know is that if they took game 3 the series would have gone back to the Dome, and who knows what happens from there? The "Contraction" Twins could have come out of no where to be the World Series champs. That would have made for quite the story. Thankfully either way the story didn't end with contraction.

What if Drew Pearson got flagged for offensive pass interference in the 1975 NFC Championship Game?

It's a cruel twist of fate that not only have the Vikings lost 4 Superbowls, but that perhaps their best two teams didn't even have a chance to even do that. In 1975 the Vikings went 12-2 after starting 10-0. They had the #4 Offense and the #1 Defense. They outscored their opponents 2:1.

The Vikings led the playoff game in question 14-10. The Cowboys found themselves with 44 seconds left on the clock and 4-16 from their 25, no time outs remaining.

Roger Staubach threw a pass to Drew Pearson who came down out of bounds. Dallas was awarded a pushout as it was ruled Nate Wright had nudged Pearson out of play.

With 24 seconds left Staubach threw what came to be known as the "Hail Mary." It was a 50 yard desperation bomb, again to Pearson. Pearson shoved Viking DB Nate Wright and bobbled the ball before managing to pin the ball between his elbow and hip.

Despite the Vikings' protest the play stood. The game was stopped after a referee was hit in the head by a rogue whisky bottle. Fran Tarkington would find out after the game that his father had suffered a heart attack during the game. Many speculated the non call had actually caused the heart attack.

Years later Pearson admitted to Vikings runningback Chuck Foreman that he did in fact, and intentionally for that matter, push off.

What if T.O. drops the Touchdown pass in the 1998 Packers-49ers Playoff game?

Many people believe that this is the moment that made Terrell Owens T.O. Prior to the game winning catch Owens had been dropping passes left and right. He had been absolutely killing his team all day. One has to wonder what it would have done to his ego if he got open and dropped that game winning touchdown. Can one play make a player into a "Superstar" or send them into oblivion? Who knows, but I would be curious to find out.

If Owens drops that pass (or the refs see Rice fumble the ball with his knees approximately 10 feet off the ground) the Packers win that game. They would have gone to Atlanta. Maybe they win, maybe Jamal Anderson or Chris Chandler get hurt. Maybe the Packers come to the dome for a 3rd and final drubbing of the season and Gary's kick doesn't take place at all.

What if Kirby Puckett doesn't get hit in the head by a pitch?

September 28, 1995, Dennis Martínez's pitch hit Kirby Puckett in the head knocking him to the ground. Kirby would suffer a broken jaw and a burst blood vessel in his mouth. The amount of blood at the scene was reportedly "unbelievable." It was the last regular season pitch of his career.

He tore it up during the following spring training until he awoke one morning with a large dark spot in one eye that would later be diagnosed 20/200. The doctors claim the two incidents are unrelated but it certainly couldn't have helped. My Dad was very upset when it happened because 3 of the bigger risks for glaucoma are, being Male, being black, and having trauma to the eye. Glaucoma screening should be a regular test anyway, let alone factoring in the recent eye trauma. It should have occurred to someone to check. (Glaucoma is treatable, so obviously they didn't catch it.)

Kirby could have gone on to play many more years. That gets said a lot, but I don't think people really put it into the proper context. Cal Ripken played 20 years. That would put Puckett's retirement in 2004. Mark McGuire played 15 years - that would be 1999. In other words it wouldn't be too inconceivable to put Puckett on that 2001 "contraction team". Makes you doubt the word contraction would have been brought up regarding the Twins at all.

Those who knew Puckett well said that he changed after that pitch. He was depressed and let his health deteriorate. Makes you wonder where he'd be now if he just retired a couple years ago.

What if Brett Favre Stayed A Falcon?

I've tried to focus on events that would have a large, direct, cause and effect. The "make or break" singular events that would have had a clear singular, different outcome. Whether the alternate outcome is assured or speculation is a moot point. So I haven't spent a lot of time going over "butterfly effects," that was somewhat on purpose. In this case I'm going to digress a bit.

I think it would be really cool to see how the NFL would look right now if Favre stayed put in Atlanta. First off obviously Green Bay Packer history would be drastically different. I couldn't even take a stab at who would be Quarterbacking there. If Favre did stay in Atlanta there's no guarantee he ever would have seen the light of day. He was a cocky disruption who partied too much (missing the team photo because he was out too late the night before) and who's only role on the team seemed to be the running butt of Jerry Glanville's jokes. (If there is a hell, and for some reason Glanville ends up there, he should be forced to watch one short clip repeatedly. The clip of him telling Favre, in full view of the rest of the team, there would need to be 'three train wrecks, a car accident, and a plane crash' before he would play. You may be hard pressed to find a clip that a coach comes off as a bigger jackass at the time, and a bigger moron when history has run its course. It also makes you wonder what sort of inefficient system the Falcons used to get their players to games.)

In fact, if you think about it, it isn't really a stretch to think it's a possibility for him to not have been traded to the Packers. If anything it's a stretch to think it DID happen. If a GM today pulled the trigger on a #1 pick for a jackass, party animal, 3rd string QB, who then failed the physical he would be on the street before the ink was dry.

Let's say for the sake of argument Favre did have a similar career in Atlanta to his one in Green Bay. Would Vick be a Charger and LT be a Falcon? Where would that put Rivers and Brees? If you then take into account the fact that teams would most likely have drastically different draft picks in the first place the league could look like shuffled deck of cards.

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I think I'll stop there, it's been fun. I'd really love to see some of your own (or taking mine and running wild with them.) Until next time.

-Jeremy Lindgren wonders 'What if he hadn't spent hours writing this article?'