I would like to see what Have I Got News for You? looks like in this TL.
Into the Cincoverse - The Cinco de Mayo EU Thread and Wikibox Repository
- Thread starter KingSweden24
- Start date
Oh yeah. Chris Huhne is a wild fucking dude who flew under the radar OTL thanks to losing to Clegg but the media would have a field day with him as PM ITTL.
Oddly, the thing that I most look for in these is the hints on what the Cincoverse will look like in the 21st century. (For example, a Omani nationalist revolt against Persia) I'm not sure that had much beyond the fact that the Liberal party still exists...
That’s sort of what I shoot for; not too spoilery, but the right level of clues as to what our TTL selves see the world as
PRA Championship - End of Regular Season Power Rankings
End of Spring Season Power Rankings - PRA Championship 2022-23
- SportsNet.en 5/5/2023
The first weekend in May's traditional bye week for the Open Cup Final gives us a chance to look back at the 2022-23 season of the top flight of United States professional rugby, the PRA Championship, ahead of next week's preview of the six teams moving on to the Championship Final Playoff, and the annual Play-In for Promotion and Relegation to the Championship or dropping to the 2nd Division. It's been a wild, twisty year of rugby in the Championship - let's see how it all shook out after the final match day last weekend.
1. Eskimos RFC - The defending Halas Cup winners proved all the naysayers wrong with a tremendous performance this season, staying in the top position for the entirety of the Fall Season and trading places throughout the Spring Season with Philadelphia Eagles only to come out on top in the end. Eskimos have stayed focused and disciplined throughout, relying on the steady play of flanker Khalil Mack to win scrums and keep pressure on the opposition, and the emergence of fly-half Marcus Brown over the Spring Season has opened up huge opportunities for scoring that weren't there during the Cinderella run last year. Having won the Doritos Cup by virtue of their top position at the conclusion of the Championship, the side from Duluth looks well-positioned, if perhaps the favorite, to repeat their Final title on May 27th in Philadelphia.
2. Philadelphia Eagles - Gang Green in our nation's capital lost out on a Doritos Cup and opportunity for a Triple Crown on goal difference, and you can be certain when they head to Oakland this Sunday for the Open Cup Final they will not forget that. The top-scoring team in the Championship this past season looks to build on its daring title chase and put its surrendering of five points to lose the Doritos Cup over the course of May to Eskimos as it heads into May with a bye on the first weekend of the playoff to rest up after its Open Cup trials; Welshman Josh Adams looks ready to dominate the Playoff as he did all season long and build on his likely Most Valuable Player trophy with a Halas Cup won at home ground in Philadelphia to go with it.
3. New York Titans - A year after their Doritos Cup win and subsequent Playoff defeat, Titans are back in the third position in the Playoff and look retooled and ready for a Playoff push; this is a club designed for May rugby. A tricky match against Cleveland Rams looms on May 13th in Queens, but Julian Montoya, Chase Young and company are looking to meet the challenge once again, no matter what comes, before the club's Final window closes.
4. Metropolitan Rugby Club of New York - Titans' glitzier, more decorated cousin returns to the Playoff for the first time since its improbable 2019 Halas Cup run, in the fifth position but in fourth in our rankings; the surge starting in late March after a middling mid-table performance during the Fall Season suggests possibly the hottest team in the Championship with genuine momentum coming into the Playoff, rather than a roster of overpaid malcontents as is often the case in Midtown. A mix of international stars - Antoine Dupont, with the PRA's richest contract - and North American stalwarts including 2021 Rugby World Cup star Malcolm Brown have once again given Metropolitan Rugby an expensive, talented roster that could easily compete for a World Cup on its own. A match against an equally-resurgent Chicago Bears makes for an intriguing matchup between two of the most decorated clubs in the history of the sport, a jolt of blue blood to the Playoff in a year where the Doritos Cup heads to Duluth.
5. Chicago Bears - After years of mediocrity following the end of the Lovie Smith-era dynasty, Bears are back from hibernation, and though they struggled to maintain their third - at one point second! - position following a strong Fall Season start, Vic Fangio's club is nonetheless classic Chicago - disciplined, aggressive in the scrum, and well-balanced between forwards and backs. A deep playoff run is not out of the question, but this young and eager team looks ready to build on its experience this season before a push next year to bring the Halas Cup home to the club founded by its namesake.
6. Cleveland Rams - Last year's Open Cup champion and Final runner-up squeaks back into the Playoff in the sixth position after starting April in eighth; all that matters, though, is that you make the big dance. Rams look remarkably similar to the side that collected silverware last season and fought their way through a difficult Playoff schedule to San Diego for the final. Titans looms next weekend first, but Rams showed already this season why you don't want to bet against Cleveland when it comes to a late-season drive.
7. Chicago Cardinals - The South Side looked likely to advance to the Playoff for the first time since 2014-15 and only their fifth time in club history until dropping their last three games and being pipped by Rams; a lot of grim recriminations will be going around at 34th Street this month as Charles Taylor and company head to the golf course rather than Queens for a Playoff showdown. Cardinals at least have the future to look forward to, with a young and cheap roster, but dropping such an opportunity will sting all summer long until Fall Season begins.
8. Boston Redskins - Though removed from the absurd Triple Crown-winning season of 2019-20 in which Boston seemed utterly unstoppable, the aging and veteran Skins core still showed signs of life all season long after last year's poor Championship play, in which they nearly joined Seattle in relegation. Still, consistently mid-table is not the performance Boston fans are accustomed to after two Halas Cups in three years along with other silverware between 2018 and 2020, and do not be surprised if there is significant roster retooling to improve the forwards positions in Boston over the summer after Redskins had one of the worst rates of winning the scrum in any of the PRA's three levels.
9. Detroit Panthers - Mitch Peterson announced his arrival in nearly taking the scoring crown off of Josh Adams this season, and Detroit looked dangerous for much of the year even if consistently mid-table, including the stunning upset win at Eskimos in which Peterson scored four tries. A shaky Fall Season limited Panthers' upside, but this club could regroup and reload over the next few months to make a credible push next year, especially as Michigan rugby fans are starting to get expectations thanks to the recent success of the Michigan Wolverines
10. Oilers Los Angeles - Oilers have never quite figured out how to best take advantage of their powerful forwards and seem to be a West Coast version of Metropolitan - expensive wings, often from Europe or Australia, who can't gel and care more about the national side tournaments. Despite seeming to be a relegation threat much of the year, Oilers recovered in March to get out of the drop zone, but several difficult decisions about the future of this roster - in particular England's Owen Farrell - loom.
11. San Francisco 49ers - A year after falling just shy of a return to the Final, 49ers collapsed in Spring Season thanks to injuries and were lucky that they built a credible points bank over Fall because they looked likely to join West Coast clubs Oregon and San Diego in the drop zone for much of February and March. Do not expect Handre Pallard to be back, nor flanker Fred Warner; star winger Christian McCaffrey has already announced he'll return, but what will surround him seems an open question.
12. Green Bay RC - Another Playoff club from last year ravaged by injuries and roster turnover, the Packers announced on Black Monday they've sacked the majority of their staff and will be starting over from scratch; that fellow Upper Midwestern small-market rival Eskimos are thriving while Green Bay seems to be mired in midtable mediocrity is surely a major factor in frustrations in northern Wisconsin, even as Milwaukee remain tentatively stuck in the 2nd Division as compensation. Whether Canadian international Jack Edwards returns is the key question at Green Bay this summer; the head-and-shoulders best player at the club, Edwards' suspected departure to a bigger-money club such as Oilers or Metropolitan is a real risk for the Pack
13. Kansas City Chiefs - The Chiefs stayed one spot out of the drop zone and thus enjoy our 13th position in the Power Rankings. This was not a good year at Arrowhead, not helped by the departure of several starters from the creditable 2021-22 campaign nor by the frequent feuding between internationals Dan Biggar and George Ford over playing time. Chiefs have a terrific roster on paper that has never quite gelled; ideally, new management can help tap its potential.
14. Chargers RC - San Diego placed in the highest drop zone spot and thus earns the right to face the fourth-best 2nd Division team in next weekend's Play-In - in this case, perennial Play-In aspirant Los Angeles Aztecs. Chargers should be favored there and against whoever they square off against the next weekend as well to keep the final Championship spot, though Play-In history is littered with 14th-placed clubs flaming out and being relegated unexpectedly. How fly-half Justin Herbert performs for his club here will be the key.
15. Baltimore Colts - Colts are not good, nor have they been good in some time, but Colts are at risk of relegation for the first time since their dire late 1990s period having spent twenty-two consecutive seasons in the Championship. Felipe Burchesi will almost certainly leave the club in June if relegation occurs, and Chris Ashton is retiring regardless, thus denying Colts two of their best internationals; it has been made abundantly plain to manager Ronan O'Gara he is coaching for his job next Saturday. Ashton stated this week that he wants to end his career having kept Colts in the Championship and other players are certainly motivated, though Milwaukee Maroons poses a tricky challenge for a side that has been dire all season long.
16. Oregon Evergreen RFC - Nobody else belongs in this spot - the sole automatic drop from the Championship means you are, by definition, the worst team in the Championship, and Oregon fits that bill. All year long, it never went higher than 15th for a brief spell in two weeks in Fall Season, and they "secured" relegation on the last weekend of March, a record. The 2022-23 campaign by Evergreen is perhaps among the statistically worst in the history of the Championship, and as Oregon returns to the 2nd Division after five uneven seasons in the top flight, look for significant changes in Portland over the next three months bordering on burning the whole thing to the ground. Evergreen is up for sale, and there will certainly be a new scouting chief, new managers, and probably a whole host of new players signed or on loan; some Portland beat writers expect close to 70% roster turnover. Only question then is how much worse it can get at Evergreen before it gets better.
- SportsNet.en 5/5/2023
The first weekend in May's traditional bye week for the Open Cup Final gives us a chance to look back at the 2022-23 season of the top flight of United States professional rugby, the PRA Championship, ahead of next week's preview of the six teams moving on to the Championship Final Playoff, and the annual Play-In for Promotion and Relegation to the Championship or dropping to the 2nd Division. It's been a wild, twisty year of rugby in the Championship - let's see how it all shook out after the final match day last weekend.
1. Eskimos RFC - The defending Halas Cup winners proved all the naysayers wrong with a tremendous performance this season, staying in the top position for the entirety of the Fall Season and trading places throughout the Spring Season with Philadelphia Eagles only to come out on top in the end. Eskimos have stayed focused and disciplined throughout, relying on the steady play of flanker Khalil Mack to win scrums and keep pressure on the opposition, and the emergence of fly-half Marcus Brown over the Spring Season has opened up huge opportunities for scoring that weren't there during the Cinderella run last year. Having won the Doritos Cup by virtue of their top position at the conclusion of the Championship, the side from Duluth looks well-positioned, if perhaps the favorite, to repeat their Final title on May 27th in Philadelphia.
2. Philadelphia Eagles - Gang Green in our nation's capital lost out on a Doritos Cup and opportunity for a Triple Crown on goal difference, and you can be certain when they head to Oakland this Sunday for the Open Cup Final they will not forget that. The top-scoring team in the Championship this past season looks to build on its daring title chase and put its surrendering of five points to lose the Doritos Cup over the course of May to Eskimos as it heads into May with a bye on the first weekend of the playoff to rest up after its Open Cup trials; Welshman Josh Adams looks ready to dominate the Playoff as he did all season long and build on his likely Most Valuable Player trophy with a Halas Cup won at home ground in Philadelphia to go with it.
3. New York Titans - A year after their Doritos Cup win and subsequent Playoff defeat, Titans are back in the third position in the Playoff and look retooled and ready for a Playoff push; this is a club designed for May rugby. A tricky match against Cleveland Rams looms on May 13th in Queens, but Julian Montoya, Chase Young and company are looking to meet the challenge once again, no matter what comes, before the club's Final window closes.
4. Metropolitan Rugby Club of New York - Titans' glitzier, more decorated cousin returns to the Playoff for the first time since its improbable 2019 Halas Cup run, in the fifth position but in fourth in our rankings; the surge starting in late March after a middling mid-table performance during the Fall Season suggests possibly the hottest team in the Championship with genuine momentum coming into the Playoff, rather than a roster of overpaid malcontents as is often the case in Midtown. A mix of international stars - Antoine Dupont, with the PRA's richest contract - and North American stalwarts including 2021 Rugby World Cup star Malcolm Brown have once again given Metropolitan Rugby an expensive, talented roster that could easily compete for a World Cup on its own. A match against an equally-resurgent Chicago Bears makes for an intriguing matchup between two of the most decorated clubs in the history of the sport, a jolt of blue blood to the Playoff in a year where the Doritos Cup heads to Duluth.
5. Chicago Bears - After years of mediocrity following the end of the Lovie Smith-era dynasty, Bears are back from hibernation, and though they struggled to maintain their third - at one point second! - position following a strong Fall Season start, Vic Fangio's club is nonetheless classic Chicago - disciplined, aggressive in the scrum, and well-balanced between forwards and backs. A deep playoff run is not out of the question, but this young and eager team looks ready to build on its experience this season before a push next year to bring the Halas Cup home to the club founded by its namesake.
6. Cleveland Rams - Last year's Open Cup champion and Final runner-up squeaks back into the Playoff in the sixth position after starting April in eighth; all that matters, though, is that you make the big dance. Rams look remarkably similar to the side that collected silverware last season and fought their way through a difficult Playoff schedule to San Diego for the final. Titans looms next weekend first, but Rams showed already this season why you don't want to bet against Cleveland when it comes to a late-season drive.
7. Chicago Cardinals - The South Side looked likely to advance to the Playoff for the first time since 2014-15 and only their fifth time in club history until dropping their last three games and being pipped by Rams; a lot of grim recriminations will be going around at 34th Street this month as Charles Taylor and company head to the golf course rather than Queens for a Playoff showdown. Cardinals at least have the future to look forward to, with a young and cheap roster, but dropping such an opportunity will sting all summer long until Fall Season begins.
8. Boston Redskins - Though removed from the absurd Triple Crown-winning season of 2019-20 in which Boston seemed utterly unstoppable, the aging and veteran Skins core still showed signs of life all season long after last year's poor Championship play, in which they nearly joined Seattle in relegation. Still, consistently mid-table is not the performance Boston fans are accustomed to after two Halas Cups in three years along with other silverware between 2018 and 2020, and do not be surprised if there is significant roster retooling to improve the forwards positions in Boston over the summer after Redskins had one of the worst rates of winning the scrum in any of the PRA's three levels.
9. Detroit Panthers - Mitch Peterson announced his arrival in nearly taking the scoring crown off of Josh Adams this season, and Detroit looked dangerous for much of the year even if consistently mid-table, including the stunning upset win at Eskimos in which Peterson scored four tries. A shaky Fall Season limited Panthers' upside, but this club could regroup and reload over the next few months to make a credible push next year, especially as Michigan rugby fans are starting to get expectations thanks to the recent success of the Michigan Wolverines
10. Oilers Los Angeles - Oilers have never quite figured out how to best take advantage of their powerful forwards and seem to be a West Coast version of Metropolitan - expensive wings, often from Europe or Australia, who can't gel and care more about the national side tournaments. Despite seeming to be a relegation threat much of the year, Oilers recovered in March to get out of the drop zone, but several difficult decisions about the future of this roster - in particular England's Owen Farrell - loom.
11. San Francisco 49ers - A year after falling just shy of a return to the Final, 49ers collapsed in Spring Season thanks to injuries and were lucky that they built a credible points bank over Fall because they looked likely to join West Coast clubs Oregon and San Diego in the drop zone for much of February and March. Do not expect Handre Pallard to be back, nor flanker Fred Warner; star winger Christian McCaffrey has already announced he'll return, but what will surround him seems an open question.
12. Green Bay RC - Another Playoff club from last year ravaged by injuries and roster turnover, the Packers announced on Black Monday they've sacked the majority of their staff and will be starting over from scratch; that fellow Upper Midwestern small-market rival Eskimos are thriving while Green Bay seems to be mired in midtable mediocrity is surely a major factor in frustrations in northern Wisconsin, even as Milwaukee remain tentatively stuck in the 2nd Division as compensation. Whether Canadian international Jack Edwards returns is the key question at Green Bay this summer; the head-and-shoulders best player at the club, Edwards' suspected departure to a bigger-money club such as Oilers or Metropolitan is a real risk for the Pack
13. Kansas City Chiefs - The Chiefs stayed one spot out of the drop zone and thus enjoy our 13th position in the Power Rankings. This was not a good year at Arrowhead, not helped by the departure of several starters from the creditable 2021-22 campaign nor by the frequent feuding between internationals Dan Biggar and George Ford over playing time. Chiefs have a terrific roster on paper that has never quite gelled; ideally, new management can help tap its potential.
14. Chargers RC - San Diego placed in the highest drop zone spot and thus earns the right to face the fourth-best 2nd Division team in next weekend's Play-In - in this case, perennial Play-In aspirant Los Angeles Aztecs. Chargers should be favored there and against whoever they square off against the next weekend as well to keep the final Championship spot, though Play-In history is littered with 14th-placed clubs flaming out and being relegated unexpectedly. How fly-half Justin Herbert performs for his club here will be the key.
15. Baltimore Colts - Colts are not good, nor have they been good in some time, but Colts are at risk of relegation for the first time since their dire late 1990s period having spent twenty-two consecutive seasons in the Championship. Felipe Burchesi will almost certainly leave the club in June if relegation occurs, and Chris Ashton is retiring regardless, thus denying Colts two of their best internationals; it has been made abundantly plain to manager Ronan O'Gara he is coaching for his job next Saturday. Ashton stated this week that he wants to end his career having kept Colts in the Championship and other players are certainly motivated, though Milwaukee Maroons poses a tricky challenge for a side that has been dire all season long.
16. Oregon Evergreen RFC - Nobody else belongs in this spot - the sole automatic drop from the Championship means you are, by definition, the worst team in the Championship, and Oregon fits that bill. All year long, it never went higher than 15th for a brief spell in two weeks in Fall Season, and they "secured" relegation on the last weekend of March, a record. The 2022-23 campaign by Evergreen is perhaps among the statistically worst in the history of the Championship, and as Oregon returns to the 2nd Division after five uneven seasons in the top flight, look for significant changes in Portland over the next three months bordering on burning the whole thing to the ground. Evergreen is up for sale, and there will certainly be a new scouting chief, new managers, and probably a whole host of new players signed or on loan; some Portland beat writers expect close to 70% roster turnover. Only question then is how much worse it can get at Evergreen before it gets better.
kham_coc
Banned
Minor nitpick, because I think the NFL team (the redskins) only became the redskins when they moved to Washington, before then they were the Boston Braves, so why the name change?
That’s incorrect - their first year in existence they were the Braves (same as the then-MLB Boston Braves), in 1933 they became the RedskinsMinor nitpick, because I think the NFL team (the redskins) only became the redskins when they moved to Washington, before then they were the Boston Braves, so why the name change?
Do the new York titans and metropolitans have a rivalry like OTL Yankees and Dodgers?
Even in a different world the Niners are doomed to only get within grasp of a return to the Super Bowl (Final?) and not get it
(2019, we're not looking at you)
I'm curious as to whether any of the sports (except Hockey, please tell me that in this Universe Gary Bettman doesn't exist) have considered having franchises in either Mexico or the RoT. I would imagine that even though Cuba may be in better shape than iOTL, that flying *around* the Confederacy might cause issues in certain decades.
The NVA may have some international franchises - I haven’t totally decided yet
I want Garry Bettman to exist in this timeline and be the most colossal and cartoonish failure just as in OTL. Make him an ambassador that triggers a war, a CEO that causes a banking crash, or the POTUS that brings on the Great Resession analog and is the first POTUS to lose all 50 states in an election.
I’m already making Roger Goodell a shitty, scandal-tarred Prez so terrible CEO it is for Bettman