Imagine for just a moment what might have been if the SuperSonics had stayed in Seattle, or the Spokane Indians remained Triple A, or the Seattle Seahawks ran the ball on the 1-yard line in Super Bowl XLIX.
Back in 2018, we launched a series called “The Great What-If,” stories that explored alternate endings to real-life sporting events: what if the SuperSonics had stayed in Seattle? What if the Spokane Indians had remained a Triple-A farm team.
On a crisp Sunday evening, almost half a century ago, nearly 6,000 people crowded into an aging structure just off Spokane’s East Sprague Avenue. Moments before 6 o’clock, they let out a full-throated roar. Turbulator, a dark bay gelding with a knobby right knee, punctuated his charge toward history with a dramatic victory in the Playfair Mile, the championship event for annual horse-racing seasons at Playfair Race Course.
Not that you need any reminders. It is the wound that won’t scab over, the acid reflux that won’t go away. In this part of the country, it’s the rebuke applicable to every folly – and requiring not a stitch of explanation.
In the annals of overhyped disappointments, the canyon fizzle holds a unique place. It had been touted for weeks in the newspapers, on television, on radio, in magazines. Evel Knievel sold the event as a celebrity-filled extravaganza. He had hired a legitimate space scientist to design a steam-powered rocket, the X-2 Skycycle.
It’s been 10 years since the Seattle SuperSonics left the Northwest to become the Oklahoma City (Stolen) Thunder. That’s 10 years of fans like me praying for a new NBA team and scoffing whenever ESPN shows the Spokane-like “skyline” of Oklahoma City.
“What if?” When it comes to sports, it’s hard to find two words as compelling. And it’s the inspiration behind an occasional new series that we’ll kick off this Sunday called “The Great ‘What If.’ ” Just as it sounds, the series will explore alternate endings to real-life sports stories and events.
