Storyline: The “What if?” game is a wonderful game–perfect for sports fans–for car rides, to kill time, for grab-a-beer games, and for so many other occasions. And what’s the best thing about the game? The infinite applications, that’s what. Written by Max Schouweiler, Los Angeles
DeflateGate is nonsense. I don’t care where, or in what foreign country, Greg Oden is playing. And every 10 seconds, it seems, another San Francisco Giant gets hurt. Those instances are great times to play the awesome, and simultaneously frustrating, “What if?” sports game.
Courtesy: nbaarena.com
My personal favorite is the 2010 NBA finals.
Up 3 games to 2, the Celtics were looking to close out the Los Angeles Lakers in Game Six on the road. Unfortunately, Kendrick Perkins (the good Kendrick Perkins, not the star of Shaqtin-A-Fool and catalyst for “How many nude photos of Scott Brooks/David Blatt does Perkins have?” tweets) tears his ACL in the 1st Quarter. The Lakers went on to win the next two games and were crowned champions. The rebounding numbers for Games 6 and 7: Lakers +26. But, for the first five games of the series, the numbers were Lakers +6. If the Celtics had won my guess is that Rajon Rondo (the good Rajon Rondo, not whatever-the-hell-the-Mavericks’ Rajon Rondo was) would have won Finals MVP. It would be a world where Rajon Rondo has a Finals MVP trophy. Crazy, isn’t it?
The “what if” game is a great game to play with friends. But why do we play it? Sometimes it’s to denigrate the accomplishments of all-time great players. Consider these examples….
What if the refs hadn’t called the Tuck Rule in the 2002 AFC Divisional game?
What if Ray Allen hadn’t hit the shot versus the Spurs in the 2013 NBA Finals?
What if the Saints hadn’t recovered the onside kick in the 2010 Superbowl?
What if all the teams in the 2015 playoffs didn’t suffer devastating injuries to key players, paving the way for the Warriors championship?
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Other times the game’s purpose is to make players–who’ve never won a championship–look better.
What if Dan Marino had played on better teams?
What if Clayton Kershaw was on a team with a halfway decent bullpen?
What if Malone/Stockton/Barkley had played at the same time as Jordan?
I know what it’s like to have a great “what if.” It’s great! You’ve come up with a phenomenal hypothetical that makes all your friends say, “Wow, I never thought of that!” So, to that person who wears a New York Giants jersey everywhere…well, he’s no match for my…“What if Brett Favre and Kyle Williams had not committed costly turnovers in the NFC Championship games.”
Well, Santa Claus isn’t real…or the Tooth Fairy…or the Easter Bunny. And what if your “what ifs” aren’t impressive to anyone but yourself?
The thing about “what ifs” is that there are an infinite amount of them. They could be about the weather, injuries, play calling, mid-season trades, and countless other things.
We’re all biased. I try my hardest not to be, but I am. And so are you. And so are all your friends, family members, and co-workers. And Skip Bayless, especially Skip Bayless: Seriously, Skip! Tebow stinks. Manziel stinks. Luck is miles better than RG3. Rodgers and LeBron are awesome. (And because this article has a cap on words–I could go on–but I’ll stop there.)
Courtesy: weeklychallenger.com
Face it. We see the “what ifs” we want to see. The Miami Heat fan probably thinks, “What if the A/C had not malfunctioned in game one of the 2014 finals?” That was huge. The extremely warm weather conditions exacerbated LeBron James’ cramps. Everything changes if the Heat win Game 1 of that series. But do these same Miami Heat fans think this? “What if Kawaii Leonard and Manu Ginobili had made their late 4th Quarter free throws in Game 6 of the 2013 Finals?” I’m guessing no.
Patriots’ fans talk about Wes Welker’s drop in the 2012 Superbowl: “What if Welker had caught it?” Yeah, it was a tough pass, but it was certainly catchable. The Patriots definitely would go on to win that game … an incredibly high percentage of the time. But remember two weeks earlier? Lee Evans had the ball in both of his hands before Sterling Moore knocked it away? Cundiff came in to tie the game at the end of the regulation … but misses the chip shot? That outcome isn’t probably crossing through their minds.
And there are many, many, many more of the same kind of circumstances. Like ….
“What if the refs didn’t completely screw the Kings in Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals?”
“Well, what if the Kings made free throws in Game 7 of the same series?”
“What if Bill Buckner had fielded the grounder cleanly and not choked the ’86 World Series away?”
“Well, what if John McNamara wasn’t the worst manager in baseball history? What if the Red Sox hadn’t left all those runners on base? What if Calvin Schiraldi had closed the game out? What if Mookie Wilson had beaten Buckner to the bag?”
Courtesy: rantsports.com
“What if Pete Carroll hadn’t called a pass play on the 1-yard line and given the Superbowl to the Patriots?”
“What if Jermaine Kearse had not caught one of the most ridiculous, absurd, logic defying passes in the history of football?”
“What if Kyrie, Love, Beverly, Conley, and Allen had not gotten hurt in the 2015 playoffs?”
“What if Westbrook and Ibaka had not gotten hurt in the 2013 and 2014 playoffs?
What if Derrick Rose and Dwight Howard had been healthy in the 2012 playoffs?
What if Jordan had not retired, making the Houston Rockets championships much harder to attain?
What about Patrick Ewing and the 8-seed Knicks in the lockout-shortened 1999 season?”
On and on and on…“what if” is a wonderful game. It’s perfect for big sports fans and creative types. It’s the quintessential car-ride game, kill-time game, grab-a-beer game, and it’s great for so many other awesome situations. And one of my favorite quotations applies to people’s opinions of their own “what if” thoughts:
“Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.” – Margaret Mead
Courtesy: defenseactions.com
But, before I forget ….
Trevor Ariza and Andrew Bynum were hurt in the 2008 NBA Finals, causing Luke Walton and Vladimir Radmanovic to play a huge number of minutes.
Garnett missed the 2009 playoffs.
Courtney Lee of the Orlando Magic missed a potential game winning alley-oop in Game 2 of the 2009 Magic-Lakers Finals.
God, I love this game!
