'What Ifs' in NFL History

It's funny.
I've been an NFL fan since I was 9, which was 41 years ago.
During those 41 years, I've placed precisely 3 bets on NFL games, which averages out to one every 14 years.
And yet I keep hearing this fiction from people like Spnited who still are hacked that football has left baseball far behind.
Yeah, Spnited. It's all about betting. Which is why my wife, who still doesn't understand the over/under concept or how a point spread works, has seen every Pittsburgh Steelers game for the past 18 years.

 

Do you think there would have been a more exciting baseball player?

 

Not saying fantasy hasn't helped drive the league's popularity. Think the impact of fantasy and gambling is less than Spnited and his ilk suggest. Would guesstimate it's responsible for 10-20 percent of growth. The rest is the public's love for the game of football. If gambling/fantasy drives NFL, why is college growing at such a rapid pace despite crap championship system and absence of fantasy connection?

 

College is growing at a rapid rate in the South and Southwest where there are far fewer pro sports and people live and die with State U. etc.

Oh, and I know a ton of people who could give a shit about anything but what the line is on any college game.

 

Of course, fantasy is just as big a part of baseball's popularity as it is for football, but spnited likes to ignore that part.

 

So let me get this straight: There were more pro sports teams in the South 25 years ago, when college football's growth was basically flat?
I missed that day in Sports History class.

 

What if Sam Rutigliano decided to let Cockroft kick the field goal instead of giving Brian Sipe one more chance at the endzone against the Raiders in 1981. Either the Browns, the Chargers or the Eagles win a Super Bowl.

What if Murdoch doesn't decide to go after the NFL with Fox and the "three networks, three NFL contracts" keep TV contracts somewhat sane?

The refs don't give Testaverde the touchdown on the last play of the Jets-Seahawks game. The loss costs the Seahawks a playoff spot and Dennis Erickson his job, the Seahawks hire Mike Holmgren who eventually takes the team to the Super Bowl. Erickson ends up at Oregon State and takes the program to the next level (Ochocinco! and a BCS win over Notre Dame), leaves for SF, nothing happens there, he goes to Idaho and gets things going in the right direction, Robb Akey then takes the Vandals to their first bowl game since whenever, Erickson goes to ASU and doesn't really do much.
All because of one blown call.

 

The refs correctly call Deion Sanders for mugging Irvin on the key play in the 49ers win, stalling the Cowboys comeback. As hot at 4 straight SB wins, which had the achieved, a great claim as the best team ever.

 

What if Roger Staubach finds himself on the wrong end of some Soviet lead in the hands of some VC punk?

 

Unless that VC punk could swim that's highly unlikely. Staubach was in the Navy.

 

What if the Dolphins draft Brees instead of Jamar Fletcher?