What If we asked questions?
On August 11, 2021, the newest Marvel property, What If, will debut on Disney Plus. The premise of the series will revolve around Marvel-themed hypotheticals. What if Iron Man isn’t blown up? What if Agent Carter was Captain America? In honor of this TV event, which will likely be groundbreaking and entertaining, Infinity Sports chose to ask a few “what if” sports questions.
We have all done it. We have all asked the questions. In debates about who the GOAT is, we have all assumed what would happen if XYZ happened, or what would result be if ABC happened. It’s human nature to wonder how our lives would be different if we had made different choices, and for sports fans, that curiosity extends to our favorite franchises.
What if your favorite team drafted the other guy. What if the coach had thrown the ball at the two-yard line? The next few questions will ponder and play out some professional sports’ biggest mysteries.
What if Bo Jackson never got hurt?
This could be the biggest what-if question in sports history. Imagine that Vincent Van Gogh never finished Starry Night. Outlining and filling in the buildings below, but never swirling the brush into the night sky. Suppose Beethoven wrote those four ominous notes, but not the rest of the 5th symphony. So too is the mystery surrounding possibly the greatest athlete to ever walk the face of the earth.
Those who were fortunate enough to see this god among men perform at the highest level of two professional sports, to this day, still speak of his feats, the marvel, and luster as bright as if they just witnessed them. To a younger generation, he is nothing more than Paul Bunyan. A fairy tale or myth, over-embellished by old farts like myself. Though video evidence exists, we live in a world where even a teenager can apply George Lucas-like CGI to a cell phone video. Why would anyone believe their eyes when they see the highlights? We didn’t, and we witnessed it live.
Facts, Not Myths
Bo Jackson improved every season he played in both sports, culminating in being voted an all-star in both (winning All-Star MVP of the 1989 midseason baseball classic). A feat that is his, and his alone, to this very day. In his final season for the Kansas City Royals, he hit .272 with 28 home runs and 15 stolen bases in just 111 games. Over a full season, that’s 41 home runs and 22 stolen bases. He had been 30/30 the previous season. It is my contention, without injury, Bo Jackson would have been the first 50/50 player in MLB history.
In football, every draft that comes and goes, we have to hear about Bo Jacksons’ legendary 40 times at the combine. Clocked 4.12 seconds at his fastest, and 4.18 at his slowest, he would be the fastest player ever timed. And he was built like Junior Seau. A Greek statue, completely flawless in every way, comes to life as if guarded by Larry Daley of Daley Devices. Instead of roaming the Natural History Museum, however, he would take to a playing field, knock linebackers several yards backward like Derrick Henry, then accelerate past the fastest defensive backs in the league, like they were running in mud.
Answering a pair of what-if questions (What if he never got hurt? What if he only played football?) I would conclude that Bo Jackson would be the NFL’s all-time leading rusher. He would hold every rushing record in the book, and Barry Sanders would be number two on everybody’s GOAT list for running back. The idea of someone running for 3,000 yards in a season seems laughably unattainable today, but in the early ’90s, it could have been a very real possibility.
What if Wilt Chamberlain played today?
Speaking of the GOAT conversation, it seems the millennial crowd and the Gen Z playpens can’t stop arguing about whether MJ or LeBron is the greatest of all time, Sometimes a little Kobe gets sprinkled in. Yet somehow, the most dominating force in the history of the sport gets left out.
Wilt Chamberlain averaged 50 points per game in the 1961-62 season, which is pretty common knowledge, but it goes far beyond that. In terms of the highest scoring average for a season, he ranks first, second, third, fourth, and sixth. Most points in a game he is first (100), third (78), fourth (73, twice), fifth (72), seventh (70).
People think Michael Jordan had a lot of 50 point games in his career (31), and he has the second-most ever. Wilt had 118 of those. He’s the NBA’s all-time leading rebounder with 23,924 (22.5 per game), so it’s no surprise that he has more 30 points, 30 rebound games than anyone in history (124). Bill Russell is second with 3. He never fouled out of a game, averaging over 40 minutes per game, and led the league in assists in 1967-68. The sixers tracked his blocks and steals for a season, before the NBA made them official stats, to see just how big of an impact he had on the defensive end. On March 18, 1968, he had a stat line that read 53 points, 32 rebounds, 14 assists, 24 blocks, 11 steals (a quintuple-double).
Wilt in 2021
What if he played in today’s NBA? Fake news goes around about Wilt playing versus 6’5 centers in his day. In reality, however, the average center in Wilts day was 6’10. In the last 5 seasons, leading up to 2020-21, the average NBA center was 6’10. Wilts dominance was less due to his height, and more to his athleticism, which would transition well to today’s game. He stood 7’1 and had a 42″ vertical. While at Kansas, he ran track and ran the 100 meters in 11 seconds. He was rumored to bench press 600 pounds, and Arnold Schwarzenegger while working out with Wilt (then age 55) said he witnessed him put up 450 pounds. To sum that up, in today’s game, he’d be more athletic than anyone on the floor.
The game has changed quite a bit for big men. Wilt was not a strong shooter, and the hack-a-Wilt strategy would definitely be employed. In 2021-22, I would expect Wilt to average between 30-35 points and 15-18 rebounds a game.
What if Tim Tebow chose the Jaguars?
I know what you’re thinking. Tim Tebow IS on the Jaguars. I’m not talking about 2021, I’m talking about 2012.
On March 20, 2012, the Denver Broncos reached an agreement with quarterback Peyton Manning on a contract worth $96 million over 5 years. There was no question he was going to be the starting signal-caller in the upcoming season. The question was, “What do we do with Tim Tebow?”
The former first-round pick led a team to the playoffs that started 0-4, and won his first playoff start against the Steelers, throwing for over 300 yards and the game-winning touchdown versus the league’s top-rated defense. Despite his winning record and playoff performance, there was no room on the roster for both quarterbacks, especially with Tebow’s insatiable fan base. Even with Peyton Manning having an MVP season, they would start a riot over the benching of their savior.
A New Home
The decision was made to trade the former Heisman winner, and they let him pick his new team. It was between the New York Jets, and his hometown Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jaguars were starving for fans and a starting quarterback. Add in the fact that Tebow is the most loved human in the state of Florida, and it seemed like a match made in heaven. Tebow did not choose home though, instead opting for a bigger platform to spread his word in the big apple. The Jaguars rode it out with Blaine Gabbert, and Tebow never got to start a game for the Jets.
What if he had chosen differently? What would his career have looked like if he chose to go home? He would have been Jacksonville’s starter on the first day of camp. He would have gotten to continue to develop his reads and throwing motion under Mike Mularkey. It is the opinion of this writer that he would have led Jacksonville to the playoffs over and over again. For all his flaws, and questions about his mechanics, the one constant that exists in his career is, all he does is win. At every level, against every foe. He is a leader of men, and the only map he follows leads to victory.
What if players never took steroids?
The fallout in the answer to this question is twofold, and it is humungous. Let’s start with the fact that we may not even have baseball today, or at least not in its current state. The game was trending downwards, in a big way, after the 1994 players strike that prematurely ended what was looking like a promising season.
Fans stopped tuning to games and tuning in for millionaires who wanted more millions. America’s pastime was no longer the smell of leather gloves and the music that is the crack of a wooden bat. It was grown men refusing to play for the fans unless they were given bigger salaries to play a game.
Tony Gwynn was hitting .394 in 1994, and we will never know if he could have touched immortality and hit .400. The strike ended Michael Jordan’s baseball career, as he refused to cross the picket line, and went back to the Chicago Bulls. It ended the existence of the Montreal Expos (now known as the Washington Nationals), who had the best record in baseball that season. People were angry, and they were turning their backs on the game.
The Summer of 1998
A few pills and some injections would bring the game of baseball back from life support to must-watch TV. Steroids saved the game of baseball. We couldn’t get enough of the home runs. It’s not just chicks that dig the long ball. Dudes do too. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa chasing 61 was the most captivating thing the nation had seen since the Gulf war was put on TV. We couldn’t look away. We were terrified we might just miss something amazing. Mark McGwire was on the cover of Wheaties boxes and even appeared on Mad About You, a top-rated sitcom at that time. Sosa was the nation’s cuddly teddy bear. Baseball was back. Fans came out in droves, and TV ratings were the highest they had ever been. Steroids did that. Yay for steroids!
Bored with the record book
There are only so many times we can get excited about a guy hitting 60 home runs. Just like violence, it’s something we grow numb to. After seeing Sammy Sosa do it three times, and after seeing a guy like Brady Anderson hit fifty bombs from the leadoff spot, America started to get bored with baseball. When media advisory and miscast bad guy Barry Bonds launched number 73, he became public enemy number one. He became the target of the finger pointers, clamoring about all that is wrong with baseball. The human shield that MLB executives and the commissioner hid behind, taking on the heavy fire of public outcry.
He became the poster boy for synthetic muscle, inflated biceps, pecs, and offensive numbers. Number 756 became the reason the word asterisks started being thrown around like a double play for the first time since 1961. Nobody trusts the record book anymore. Nobody finds reality in the 40/40 seasons, consecutive games, or strikeout records. The biggest what-if question out of all of it is what the record books would look like without steroids.
For starters, Hank Aaron would still be the all-time home run leader with 755. Bonds was hitting 35-40 bombs a year before he ever saw a needle. But, what the juice did for Bonds, rather than increase his power, was extend his career. He was hitting 45 at age 39, and that is not supposed to happen. Without steroids, I’d venture that Bonds ends up somewhere in the 675 range.
The Real Record Breaker
Shattering record books? Well, that would be done by a toothpick skinny pitcher in Beantown. During the height of the dinger era, with offensive numbers at an all-time high, along with ERA’s, Pedro Martinez was mowing down hitters like he was playing against bums from 1955. From 1997-2003, he went 118-36. He had an ERA of 2.20 and led the league in WHIP 5 of 7 years. He was otherworldly. This stretch is widely considered one of the best by any pitcher in history. Now let’s imagine the guys he was pitching against didn’t have extra bat speed. Without Steroids, Pedro has an ERA under 1.50 during that stretch and averages 300 strikeouts per year.
What if Michael Vick didn’t go to jail?
We are not going to put a guy in a positive light and ask what if he got away with the murder of animals. We are asking here, what if he never did any of that, and just played football.
Michael Vick, alongside Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders, is one of the most electrifying players to ever put on pads. And he was a quarterback. They are supposed to be stoic and statuesque, standing bravely in the pocket as they stare down receivers. Of course, we had running Randall, but he was an anomaly, not the norm. Michael Vick is hardly ever compared to him because he possesses two things that Randall Cunningham did not.
Michael Vick Was Elite
For starters, he has a wide receiver’s speed (4.29 forty). Randall was fast, but he was not Deion and Bo fast. Michael Vick would turn the corner, and the sideline would become a blur behind him. That’s not hyperbole or colorful commentary, it’s fact. go watch the tape. Secondly, he was blessed with the biggest arm of any quarterback I’ve ever seen. Sure there are stories of Dan Marino breaking the fingers of his receivers, and Elway allegedly throwing a football 100 yards. With my own eyes, I witnessed Michael Vick roll to the right (he’s left-handed), then throw the ball across his body to the left sideline 30 yards down the field on a rope. He could break his receiver’s fingers on a 40-yard fly route. Nobody threw the football like him. He was raw and lacked the understanding of the game, or the touch a quarterback needs.
After spending 18 months in a federal penitentiary, Vick signed with the Eagles, and we started to see what he could have been. Perhaps he would have evolved on his own, or perhaps it was the time behind bars that sculpted the new him, but one has to believe his journey would have ended up here either way. If Michael Vick isn’t a criminal, and he plays out his record-breaking 10 years, $100 million contract, he becomes one of the greatest quarterbacks ever and even gets Atlanta a Super Bowl. Instead, he is a cartoon image in a blog. Instead, he is a what-if.
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