What if Zion Williamson was born Zionetta? What if Robert Kraft was content with happy endings only at Super Bowls? And what if a bunch of DFW athletes that did, actually didn’t?
From Tony Romo to Nelson Cruz to Jackie Smith to Dez Bryant and Dirk Nowitzki, sports’ small acts often come laced with monumental implications. A drop, a misplay and a front rim here. A dynamic, eternal franchise reroute there.
Tiny details. Titanic detours.
Destiny often calls shotgun as we approach fateful forks in the road. It could be decisions with negligible immediate impact, such as choosing paper over plastic. Or the time you overslept and missed your breakfast meeting, only to watch the restaurant – and both Twin Towers – crumble to the ground. In sports, it might be the Hail Mary that was caught, the Super Bowl touchdown pass that was dropped, the home run hero traded for dryer lint or the NBA Hall of Famer bypassed in the draft.
Hindsight is 20/20, but even more visionary when you play it forward. So put on your hypothetical hat and ponder a revisionist’s future born from a history that never happened.
What if … Cassius Clay had gone into the Army and Roger Staubach had stayed in the Navy? What if Adolf was born Hitlerstein? And what if Nelson Cruz had been positioned correctly?
ARLINGTON – Ensuring that one of the most productive and beloved players in franchise history would never wear a different uniform, the Texas Rangers christened their 2019 spring training by signing 38-year-old slugger Nelson Cruz to a two-year contract.
Since casually catching David Freese’s lazy fly ball on the warning track to win Game 6 in 2011 and clinch the Rangers’ first World Series, Cruz has been a fixture on one of baseball’s best teams. The Rangers, who went on to win three championships in the next five years, are expected to send four of their core players to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown: Cruz, Adrian Beltre, Michael Young and Josh Hamilton.
“It’d be scary to think where we might be had Nellie not caught that ball in St. Louis,” said five-time Executive of the Year, general manager Jon Daniels. “That moment – that night – totally transformed the trajectory of this franchise. He’s hit 254 homers and driven in 688 runs since then. I shudder to think of those coming for a different team. Who knows? We not have even gotten back to another World Series without Nellie and our nucleus staying intact. This franchise once traded Sammy Sosa for Harold Baines. We’ve learned from our mistakes.”
Manager Ron Washington, entering his 13th season in Texas, has high hopes for his club again this season, bolstered by a veteran offense and the dominant closing of the club’s all-time saves leader, Neftali Feliz. In 2020 the Rangers will move into Nolan Ryan Park, a retractable roof stadium/natural grass playing surface that will honor the legendary player and current CEO entering his 11th season in the front office.
What if … Earl and Tida Woods steered their son toward bowling, instead of golf? What if Adam, Eve and Elvis had will power? And what if Jackie Smith caught that pass?
DALLAS – Basking in the glow of yet another victory over the rival Steelers, the Dallas Cowboys are preparing for a run at their record ninth Super Bowl. With a regular-season finale win over Pittsburgh at Landry Stadium in Fair Park, the Cowboys continued a mastery that started with tight end Jackie Smith’s sliding touchdown catch and ensuing dramatic comeback in Super Bowl 13 in 1979.
“At the time it just seemed like a simple, easy catch,” said Smith, the Cowboys’ offensive coordinator under head coach Roger Staubach. “But looking back, I guess it was a real turning point. Thank God I didn’t drop it, huh?”
The Cowboys have dominated the NFL the last four decades, including winning championships in 2007 after Tony Romo’s routine hold of a game-winning field goal in Seattle and in 2014 via a playoff run launched by Dez Bryant’s diving catch in Green Bay.
Romo, the 38-year-old, three-time Super Bowl champ, continues to play at a Pro Bowl level while declining overtures from TV networks to join their broadcast booths. Meanwhile, the hapless Steelers have been relegated to a launching pad for other teams’ success. The Raiders won a Super Bowl after Franco Harris’ ill-fated Immaculate Deception, and the Bills beat Pittsburgh on their way to a title clinched when Scott Norwood sneaked a game-winning field goal inside the right upright against the Giants.
Unable to find family members willing to take over the floundering franchise, interim owner Mickey Rooney said he will seriously consider an offer from Arkansas oil man Jerry Jones. Apparently, Jones is considering any of 500 coaches, including Notre Dame’s two-time championship boss, Jimmy Johnson.
Meanwhile, the NFL has sympathetically decided to put former Packers coach Vince Lombardi’s name on a trophy – the England Bowl. Lombardi, you’ll remember, sent his franchise into a tundra tailspin by forgoing a game-tying field goal for a risky quarterback sneak late in the Ice Bowl against the Cowboys. Quarterback Bart Starr slipped on the frozen field, sending Dallas to its first title and ensuring the engraving of the Tom Landry Super Bowl trophy.
What if … Two-time All-Ohio receiver LeBron James accepted the football scholarship offered by Notre Dame assistant Urban Meyer? What if Jack Ruby didn’t pull the trigger? And what if the Mavs drafted Karl Malone?
DALLAS – The Mavericks today opened new Carter Coliseum by retiring the two most successful, inseparable jerseys in team history: Karl Malone’s No. 32 and Roy Tarpley’s No. 42. Malone, selected by Dallas over Detlef Schrempf in the 1985 NBA Draft, retired as a 15-time All-Star and the league’s second all-time leading scorer. And with his unique blend of speed, size and skill, Tarpley helped revolutionize the center position.
Sparked by Mark Aguirre’s gutsy performance with a sprained thumb in the 1988 Game 7 victory over the Lakers, the Mavs won four consecutive titles from’88-’91. It was Malone, remember, who took Tarpley under his wing and later formed the NBA’s most dominating duo.
“Without Karl, it’s scary to think where I would’ve ended up,” said Tarpley. “Throughout my life I’ve been tempted, but the only drug I’ve ever used is Rogaine.”
Owner Don Carter raised the banners alongside the one commemorating Dick Motta, the NBA’s all-time winningest coach. Thanks to Dirk Nowitzki’s clutch free throws in the final minute of Game 3, the Mavs also won the 2006 NBA Finals. Afterward, mayor Laura Miller and the City of Dallas were nationally admired for their innovative parade route. In other NBA news, bizarre billionaire Mark Cuban is buying the rights to “The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh” and petitioning the NBA for an expansion franchise in his hometown.
What if … the Red Sox never traded Babe Ruth, the Blazers didn’t pass on drafting Michael Jordan and Vince Young chose Texas A&M? What if kale tasted like chocolate? And what if Ed Belfour stopped the double-overtime puck?
FRISCO – Former Stars’ goalie Ed Belfour was today awarded the highest civilian award from Dallas police for his security efforts as owner of the swanky hotel, The Mansion on Turtle Creek. Belfour’s establishment has a 100-percent clean slate, according to police.
“At one point we had people getting drunk, arrested and making comical billion-dollar bribes to the cops,” said Belfour, a hockey Hall of Famer who won back-to-back championships for the Stars in 1999-2000. “Makes you wonder how their lives ever got to that point.”
Belfour was the hero of the 2000 Stanley Cup, when his diving glove save of a Jason Arnott shot looked as if it would win Game 6 in double-overtime and clinch the title for the New Jersey Devils. Instead, Belfour’s stop allowed the game to go into triple-overtime, where Mike Keane scored to force a Game 7. In the decisive game two nights later, Brett Hull scored from the crease in triple-overtime to secure Dallas’ back-to-back titles.
“I’m thankful every day that we avoided the embarrassment and horror of watching another team skate the Cup on our ice,” said Stars owner Tom Hicks, whose team’s success on the ice has kept it financially healthy. “You know, some teams never recover from that.”
What if … With the 198th overall pick in the 2000 NFL Draft the St. Louis Rams would have chosen not Iowa cornerback Matt Bowen, but the player taken with the next pick, Tom Brady? What if Hugh Hefner had been born gay? And what if Trevone Boykin completed that pass in Waco?
FORT WORTH – A football career highlighted by a Heisman Trophy, a National Championship and a stint in the NFL comes full circle today as Trevone Boykin was named assistant head coach at TCU.
Boykin, who will serve as Gary Patterson’s right-hand man, led the Horned Frogs to their greatest season in 2014. Key to the championship campaign was a thrilling 61-58 victory over Baylor in Waco in which TCU almost coughed up a 21-point lead in the final 11 minutes. Instead. Boykin led a heroic final drive – kept alive by his gutsy fourth-and-3 scramble and completion to Josh Doctson at Baylor’s 45 in the final minute – that ended in Jaden Oberkrom’s game-winning field goal.
The Frogs went on to a 12-0 season, a Big 12 Conference title, a berth in the College Football Playoff and a victory over Oregon in the national championship game.
“That play against Baylor showed Trevone’s character,” said Patterson. “When conditions were toughest, he played his best. He’s been a model citizen and upstanding representative of TCU since he stepped on campus. We stub our toe that day in Waco and we’d have put ourselves in jeopardy of not even getting into the playoff. Worst-case scenario, it could’ve led to a personal nosedive. Legal problems. Domestic disputes. Selling jewelry to make ends meet. One play changes everything.”
What if … everything in sports occurs not by happenstance, but for a pre-ordained purpose attached with far-reaching tentacles and incomprehensible, domino-effect ramifications?
Or, what if we’re just kidding ourselves?
Just like shit, sport happens.