Kentucky Fried Politics: A Colonel Sanders Timeline

I not4d before that with free agency after 2 full years as long as it's a close team TTL it's plausible, so the Padres in '84 over the Colonels makes a lot of sense. But, come on who won the World series that year? That's the year the Cubs were in the playoffs for the first time since 1945. (It would be great if they won the Series that year. You could move the Series games to the weekend since the Cubs had home field and Wrigley didn't have lights yet, or put artificial lights in. That gives the Cubs home games in game 1-2 and 6-7 if needed.) One so-called curse replaced by another. (And the KFC Curse makes a lot of sense.)

(As to how the Cubs win, maybe Jack Morris became a free agent and signe dwith them, so he's one of their top starters. Kirk Gibson tried to leave after '85 but nobody was signing him because of collusion, and Alan Trammell could have also joined them since they had an old Larry Bowa at short OTL - Trammel was Series MVP that year.)

Oh, the Trail Blazers could easily pick Jordan #1, especially if they need a spark to bring back more of the home fans after the nuclear accident; yes it's been amost a decade but the area is probably still hurting a bit.

For anyone who remembers "Vance," the kid with issues who I changed the name of to protect him in the collaborative "Sweet Dreams" - 1983 USA ISOT to 1783 TL, in this TL he probably wants to start a push to add Denton's head to Mount Rushmore. (He was a big Reagan fan but even he wouldn't push for that - but TTL the Cold War is over 5 years early!) Of course, Denton had even less to do with it TTL than Reagan did OTL - at least Reagan had Reykjavik (sp?) - but that was "Vance" for you. I think becasue of family dysfunction he really was looking for someone to idolize like that. Though given what some of that dysfunction *could* have involved, I wonder how he would have taken in some of the upcoming scandal - wow, that Lukens guy is a creep; I hadn't realized how bad, either. Yeah, the fallout from that will convince someone to conme forward about the Penn State matter, I bet. And "Vance," who told me OTL vet a few years after high school that his saying he was a Christian was all just show - which I knew from some other signs - might be impacted differently in this time line.

Nice to see the Berlin Wall coming down. My best friend Sander's dad is going to be very busy TTL trying to help the Russians and others with money the way he did OTL.

Orlov is already in his 60s - seems kind of old for a reform leader, but it seems like Soviet/Russian leaders were born old in those days. :)

Great to see Clemente elected governor.

Thinking of the rest of the '80s without the Cold War is odd.

Did a Cosby Show type show with a middle-class black family start yet? Without Bill Cosby but with others rising in prominence, I would think it would soon if not before. Indeed, you could go off the normal leader board and isntead of a John Amos or someone, go with a former sports str.

Then again, Amos was a football player, too; it was Hank Stram who encouraged him tog et into acting.
 
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Four more years of Tito? Along with what had been mentioned previously, hopefully that helped somewhat. Under the the 1974 constitution, now the rotation office of President of the Presidency has come into effect, to rotate each year afterwards. The sitting Vice President of the Presidency would succeed Tito following this death, meaning that's the position Veselin Đuranović held prior. I think at least. Hopefully Veselin and his fellow succeeding Presidents manage to keep things together. I wonder if there was a football game going on when Tito's death was announced, ala OTL.

Also, "The Colonel Curse"? One relating to a baseball team? Hm, where have I heard that one before?
 
Chapter 51: January 1984 – July 1984
"illegal to outlaw prayer" - taking away choice there Prez. At least he didn't specifiy what prayer.
All change in Yugoslavia -hope this is a good thing. If the economy stays decent it might be...
Kroc dead! Wonder who get his shares?
"Alabama, Indiana, Michigan, Kansas, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and the District of Columbia extended the law into an outright ban on underage drinking. " Poor dry teenage years in those states. Not fun times!
Go United Turkestan! Hope the West are supplying you with material.
Wow- that was a near miss the USSR's failing missile warning system!
Gravel-Glenn ticket for the election?
The_Kalahari-Zambezi_Waterworks_Project - sounds very interesting, perhaps the Colonel needs an African visit?
Botha and Ustinov both gone, one more peacefully than the other. Shakeup in the USSR might see the demise of the Empire sooner...
Hawaii and Universal Health Care? Excellent. Even more reasons to live there!
Typical Indian boiling pot then. Just sort Kashmir already.
A 5.4 quake brings the UK and Ireland together? Well cool.
Gavel and Jones? Well ok then- interesting pairing. Wonder how well they get on in private?
 
Really? At this point it looks like the Democrats should choose someone more to the center to compete against Dentons succsessor and grab back voters...

Hardly. Compared to Denton, Reagan looks like a progressive's wet dream. After 8 years of him and his Christian Conservatism, people will be begging for something, ANYTHING else. I'm hoping for someone who will give us the internet by 1990, who will push for BLUTAG rights throughout the decade.

Also, I have a feeling that this guy is going to come back to Russia and turn it into a Total or Constitutional Monarchy.
 
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Well, shit, I think it's obvious America is going to regret that vote. Looks like Alexander is gonna get caught up in a corruption scandal, and I bet Denton is gonna go one war too far.


And Buz Lukens.....god damn. I actually got sick reading that girl scouts passage. Here's hoping the bastard goes down hard.

Edit: I also just remembered "OFRED", which I assume must be a handmaids tale reference.
 
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I just looked up Buz Lukens' Wikipedia page and...yikes--that Girl Scouts moment looks a whole lot more uncomfortable after I read it, the Denton administration is gonna have a shitstorm coming their way, between this and Lamar Alexander's...crooked behavior (thank you Buford Pusser--Pusser For President in 1988, everyone!!!)…

Good series of updates, and glad that Larry Nassar (Lawrence in that update) is dead...

There's an old saying that the Republicans will learn: What goes up must come down...
 
Chapter 52: August 1984 – January 1985

Sanders went to 'Nam? Well done for honouring the dead of your war Colonel.
Olympics in Athens seems to be doing good to stabilise the country
Go President Mandela! Way to go towards civilization South Africa! Reconciliation will take a while though
"Denton has utilized the tax code to incentivize economic expansion" - did he get the Corporations and rich to pay more?
"LITHUANIA AND LATVIA JOIN UKRAINE, ESTONIA AND TURKESTAN IN DECLARING INDEPENDENCE" - So Goodbye USSR! Years early, so stands a chance of all the countries turning out much different from OTL.
International Space Station by 86?
This Central Asian Commonwealth of Independent States could with the right investment be an interesting EC style economy
The Department of Veterans’ Affairs only dates from the 80's? Wow...
United Germany in the 80's? Well that possibility would cause waves in the EEC as German Unification would cause a drag on the economy
Nicaragua “free and fair” elections- wonder!
Denton curb stomp on Gravel there. Ouch.
Leonard Nimoy as Che Guevara?? Interesting casting- still breaking that Spock thing indeed!
Oh, scandal in the Denton White House? This should be juicy...
Ambassador Black to South Africa? Is that someone trolling?
Wonder if Secretary Heston would create more national parks and such? Or just sell them all to oil types?

Looking forward to the Great Scandal. Good chapter @gap80
 
I just realized something...what effect is the Buz Lukens scandal going to have on this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day-care_sex-abuse_hysteria? (Assuming it ain't butterflied away ITTL, of course...)

Just thinking: between Lukens, whatever scandals Lamar Alexander had as governor of Tennessee, and whatever scandals Buddy Cianci has, the coming years aren't going to be good for the Denton administration...
 
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If you have... unsavoury plans for India ITTL, butterflying away Sanjay's OTL death (which was a completely unexpected occurrence anyway) would be better.
Sanjay died in a car crash on 6/1/1965 ITTL (see corresponding chapter for further details)

So, communism pretty much died 7 years early. What's going to define the rest of the decade now?
Oh, you'll see...

1) I noted before that with free agency after 2 full years as long as it's a close team TTL it's plausible, so the Padres in '84 over the Colonels makes a lot of sense. But, come on who won the World series that year? That's the year the Cubs were in the playoffs for the first time since 1945. (It would be great if they won the Series that year. You could move the Series games to the weekend since the Cubs had home field and Wrigley didn't have lights yet, or put artificial lights in. That gives the Cubs home games in game 1-2 and 6-7 if needed.) One so-called curse replaced by another. (And the KFC Curse makes a lot of sense.)

(As to how the Cubs win, maybe Jack Morris became a free agent and signe dwith them, so he's one of their top starters. Kirk Gibson tried to leave after '85 but nobody was signing him because of collusion, and Alan Trammell could have also joined them since they had an old Larry Bowa at short OTL - Trammel was Series MVP that year.)

2) Oh, the Trail Blazers could easily pick Jordan #1, especially if they need a spark to bring back more of the home fans after the nuclear accident; yes it's been amost a decade but the area is probably still hurting a bit.

3) For anyone who remembers "Vance," the kid with issues who I changed the name of to protect him in the collaborative "Sweet Dreams" - 1983 USA ISOT to 1783 TL, in this TL he probably wants to start a push to add Denton's head to Mount Rushmore. (He was a big Reagan fan but even he wouldn't push for that - but TTL the Cold War is over 5 years early!) Of course, Denton had even less to do with it TTL than Reagan did OTL - at least Reagan had Reykjavik (sp?) - but that was "Vance" for you. I think becasue of family dysfunction he really was looking for someone to idolize like that. Though given what some of that dysfunction *could* have involved, I wonder how he would have taken in some of the upcoming scandal - wow, that Lukens guy is a creep; I hadn't realized how bad, either. Yeah, the fallout from that will convince someone to conme forward about the Penn State matter, I bet. And "Vance," who told me OTL vet a few years after high school that his saying he was a Christian was all just show - which I knew from some other signs - might be impacted differently in this time line.

4) Nice to see the Berlin Wall coming down. My best friend Sander's dad is going to be very busy TTL trying to help the Russians and others with money the way he did OTL.

5) Orlov is already in his 60s - seems kind of old for a reform leader, but it seems like Soviet/Russian leaders were born old in those days. :)

Great to see Clemente elected governor.

Thinking of the rest of the '80s without the Cold War is odd.

6) Did a Cosby Show type show with a middle-class black family start yet? Without Bill Cosby but with others rising in prominence, I would think it would soon if not before. Indeed, you could go off the normal leader board and isntead of a John Amos or someone, go with a former sports str.

Then again, Amos was a football player, too; it was Hank Stram who encouraged him tog et into acting.

1) Whoops, forgot to mentioned the ultimate winner. But now that you mention it, the Cubs winning sounds the most plausible, so I'll go back later and add that - that the Cubs win! I just adds to the feeling of the year being a great one for the US (Great idea, dude! Thanks!)

2) Thanks again - that makes a lot of sense as well

3) I'll be sure to give that TL a look

4) Cool!

5) Well, he is only the temporary leader, but yeah, IOTL the USSR considered the 53-year-old Gorbachev to be a young leader!

6) I mentioned John Amos getting his own show a while back; I'll (try to) cover more pop culture stuff in the next chapter!

1) The_Kalahari-Zambezi_Waterworks_Project - sounds very interesting, perhaps the Colonel needs an African visit?
2) Hawaii and Universal Health Care? Excellent. Even more reasons to live there!
1) Why tho? They're getting along in the face of a shared nemesis - drought. Plus, I don't want the Colonel to devolve into some sort of "white savior" trope, and at 94, I deduce he'd be more inclined to donate/financially contribute than to try and tell them how to do things when things aren't too dire to warrant such action.
2) I've been mentioning states somewhat quietly passing state-level universal healthcare since the 1970s chapters (Canada passing it (similar to OTL) inspired Governor Hoff to pass it in Vermont) - it'll get more attention as the movement builds...

Also, I have a feeling that this guy is going to come back to Russia and turn it into a Total or Constitutional Monarchy.
Hmm, interesting theory...

Edit: I also just remembered "OFRED", which I assume must be a handmaids tale reference.
Didn't even cross my mind - I was just trying to come up with an acronym for this TL's CREEP that wasn't so, well, creepy. Guess I failed... eh, it still works. Thanks for pointing that out!

1) I just looked up Buz Lukens' Wikipedia page and...yikes--that Girl Scouts moment looks a whole lot more uncomfortable after I read it, the Denton administration is gonna have a shitstorm coming their way, between this and Lamar Alexander's...crooked behavior (thank you Buford Pusser--Pusser For President in 1988, everyone!!!)…

2) Good series of updates, and glad that Larry Nassar (Lawrence in that update) is dead...

3) There's an old saying that the Republicans will learn: What goes up must come down...
1) I've been sort of waiting for someone to bring this up ever since he won a surprisingly large number of votes in the 1980 GOP presidential primary poll!

2) You're welcome.

3) Indeed...

1) "Denton has utilized the tax code to incentivize economic expansion" - did he get the Corporations and rich to pay more?
2) International Space Station by 86?
3) Leonard Nimoy as Che Guevara?? Interesting casting- still breaking that Spock thing indeed!
4) Ambassador Black to South Africa? Is that someone trolling?
5) Wonder if Secretary Heston would create more national parks and such? Or just sell them all to oil types?

Looking forward to the Great Scandal. Good chapter @gap80
1) Oppose - he's cut taxes to the rich to encourage them to spent and invest more of their funds, arguing that more purchases means more people being hired to build more products and carry out services. EX: all the workers hired to build a yacht or custom car a rich person orders. Results are mixed.
2) Maybe so...!
3) I swear he played a Latin American dictator in some movie or TV film, by I honestly can't remember the name of the thing Shatner recently wrote a book on his friendship with Nimoy, and a picture of Nimoy from the role was in it - it reminded me of Guevara!
EDIT: found it! The caption reads "Pictured here with star Peter Graves, in this episode [of Mission Impossible] he [Nimoy] is playing a South American dictator."
ApzjevJ.png

ApzjevJ.png
4) Oof, I just realized that, sorry; so... should I put someone else in that position?
5) Probably not - his love for nature went back to his youth, growing up in rural Michigan, so, yeah, maybe not...

Thanks!
1) I just realized something...what effect is the Buz Lukens scandal going to have on this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day-care_sex-abuse_hysteria? (Assuming it ain't butterflied away ITTL, of course...)

2) Just thinking: between Lukens, whatever scandals Lamar Alexander had as governor of Tennessee, and whatever scandals Buddy Cianci has, the coming years aren't going to be good for the Denton administration...
1) Say, now that's a sensible way to get Sandusky caught - the Lukens scandal could very well lead to something like this.... Good find!
2) Indeed!
 
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Louisville Colonels - baseball
Kentuicky Colonels - NBA

In 1984, commissioner Bowie Kuhn -- who had the power to change the World Series schedule -- changed home field advantage in a Cubs World Series to the American League. That meant the Cubs would have played three straight games (including Game 5 if necessary) on Friday October 12; Saturday the 13th; and Sunday the 14th, all during the day. It in effect gave home field advantage to the AL champion (unless the Cubs won the first two games, in which case the Cubs would get home field advantage), and also in effect punished the Cubs for not having lights at Wrigley Field.

Now if the Cubs win in 1984, their fans probably don't care about lights: the curse will have been broken. But win or lose, it might either set into motion a move to bring lights to the stadium earlier, or force the Cubs to explore building a new stadium elsewhere on the North Side or maybe even near the Loop (I don't think moving to another city, like Tampa, would ever have been on the table).


Jordan to the Trail Blazers adds another twist to a league that's already been changed by the butterfly effect. Perhaps Isiah Thomas -- Jordan's arch-enemy and rival -- winds up with the Bulls? Thomas was a native Chicagoan. (I wonder how the basketball Colonels are doing?)

What else is going on in sports...
How are the Senators doing? Have they won at all or are they still 'first place in war, last place in the American League'?
The United States Football League -- without Trump involved in ownership, does the league find long-term success playing football in the spring?
I tried to plant the seeds for the NASL to survive several posts back. Was it enough, and how would its continued existence change the future of American soccer? Does FIFA step in and order the American and Canadian federations to form separate leagues (leading to the eventual formation of a Canadian league and the re-branding of the NASL)?
This is also the point in history where the four major leagues are beginning to consider expansion. The NBA's the first league up -- are Charlotte and Miami still on track for the late 1980s?
 
Louisville Colonels - baseball
Kentuicky Colonels - NBA

In 1984, commissioner Bowie Kuhn -- who had the power to change the World Series schedule -- changed home field advantage in a Cubs World Series to the American League. That meant the Cubs would have played three straight games (including Game 5 if necessary) on Friday October 12; Saturday the 13th; and Sunday the 14th, all during the day. It in effect gave home field advantage to the AL champion (unless the Cubs won the first two games, in which case the Cubs would get home field advantage), and also in effect punished the Cubs for not having lights at Wrigley Field.

Now if the Cubs win in 1984, their fans probably don't care about lights: the curse will have been broken. But win or lose, it might either set into motion a move to bring lights to the stadium earlier, or force the Cubs to explore building a new stadium elsewhere on the North Side or maybe even near the Loop (I don't think moving to another city, like Tampa, would ever have been on the table).


Jordan to the Trail Blazers adds another twist to a league that's already been changed by the butterfly effect. Perhaps Isiah Thomas -- Jordan's arch-enemy and rival -- winds up with the Bulls? Thomas was a native Chicagoan. (I wonder how the basketball Colonels are doing?)

What else is going on in sports...
How are the Senators doing? Have they won at all or are they still 'first place in war, last place in the American League'?
The United States Football League -- without Trump involved in ownership, does the league find long-term success playing football in the spring?
I tried to plant the seeds for the NASL to survive several posts back. Was it enough, and how would its continued existence change the future of American soccer? Does FIFA step in and order the American and Canadian federations to form separate leagues (leading to the eventual formation of a Canadian league and the re-branding of the NASL)?
This is also the point in history where the four major leagues are beginning to consider expansion. The NBA's the first league up -- are Charlotte and Miami still on track for the late 1980s?

@Bree, I Made your answers to some questions on your previous post

First, For the Chicago Cubs should they win the 1984 World Series, Next Time if the Cubs Make The World Series facing off with an AL Team, Wrigley Field will have to install lights, so the Cubs will play Night Games at Wrigley Field beginning in 1985

As for the USFL, It Could stay in the Spring with 12 Teams but I hope the Oakland Invaders will end up ITTL, #JustThinking

As for the the NBA, We Hope Charlotte (Hornets) and Miami (Heat) will begin play in 1988 (Just like in OTL), Then Minneapolis and Tampa Bay or Orlando to represent the Central Florida Region in 1989.
 
@Bree, I Made your answers to some questions on your previous post

First, For the Chicago Cubs should they win the 1984 World Series, Next Time if the Cubs Make The World Series facing off with an AL Team, Wrigley Field will have to install lights, so the Cubs will play Night Games at Wrigley Field beginning in 1985

As for the USFL, It Could stay in the Spring with 12 Teams but I hope the Oakland Invaders will end up ITTL, #JustThinking

As for the the NBA, We Hope Charlotte (Hornets) and Miami (Heat) will begin play in 1988 (Just like in OTL), Then Minneapolis and Tampa Bay or Orlando to represent the Central Florida Region in 1989.

It may make sense to us for the team to build lights at Wrigley Field for the 1985 season and beyond, but you can’t just impose your will and logic on a period of time and declare ‘they could have done things this way, therefore in this TL we will have them do things this way’. Especially when you dive into the history and the reasons why things happened as they did. In this case, you have to look at why there were no lights there at the time.
This timeline explains the issue, why it took so long for lights to be installed, and how the issue finally was resolved.
The team was essentially blocked by the city from installing the lights. The will was there on part of the team, but it couldn’t just break city laws.

I need to read Jeff Pearlman’s book to get a better grasp on why the USFL went the way it did.

ITTL, as @gap80 has said things generally happened as they did in the real world (regarding who won championships, etc.), I assume the timetables for expansion might (but won’t definitely) be the same as IRL. There are already enough butterflies in motion.

@gap80 what do YOU think about the following:
Expansion
MLB - two NL teams by 1993, two AL teams by 1997
NBA - Charlotte and Miami on track for 1987-88, Orlando, Minnesota and maybe another city or two in the running for 88-89
NFL - not before next decade
NHL - grow by 4 teams early next decade (San Jose, Tampa Bay, Ottawa, Miami, Anaheim, Kansas City, in the running)

NASL 1985
New York Cosmos
Louisville Thunder
Minnesota Strikers
Toronto Blizzard
Chicago Sting
San Diego Sockers
Tulsa Roughnecks
Golden Bay Earthquakes
Tampa Bay Rowdies
Vancouver Whitecaps
Seattle Sounders
Portland Timbers

Relocations and expansion
Hockey — @gap80 was the NHL-WHA merger ever discussed? If not, what about having Quebec, Edmonton, Hartford, New England, Winnipeg and Houston enter? Also, have the Flames move to Calgary, and the Colorado Rockies hockey team move east to become the New Jersey Devils. What about the North Stars — stay in Minnesota or move south to Dallas?
Basketball — the New Orleans Jazz stayed put, right? And the Dallas Mavericks entered in 80-81?
Football — the Colts staying in Baltimore would be interesting and might unleash the butterflies to get another team to move to Indianapolis. Would St. Louis go there, or go to Phoenix?
Baseball — everybody stays put

The real question, though, is this...

Do we see the rise of the WWF and the death of the ‘rasslin territories?
 
A question:

The Colonel is going to die sometime within the next decade. I'm sure you'll write it very tastefully and I'll be sad to see him go. I don't know much about him iotl but you have written an incredible character, a fundamentally good but flawed man, for this timeline. My question is, after his death, will we see actors taking up the role of "the colonel" like in otl's modern KFC commercials? I can imagine many seeing that as being in poor taste with him being a former president.
 
the New Orleans Jazz stayed put, right?

From what I last read, the Jazz still did the Gail Goodrich trade, so, unless the team was sold or somehow managed a better trade that allowed the team to build up, I am guessing the Jazz still relocated (tragically)
 
[16] I know even less about professional basketball than I do about professional baseball; GentlemanBiaggi requested this, but since he’s gotten himself banned since then, please let me know if it is too ASB-ish, so that way I can change or delete it.

The Trail Blazers passing on Jordan OTL was one of those "it seemed like a good idea at the time" picks in sports; the Trail Blazers wanted another big man like Bill Walton (who had left the Blazers in 1979 and had led the Blazers to their 1977 championship) and Sam Bowie, on paper, looked like the next Bill Walton (and he shared an unfortunate trait with Walton--their tendency to have leg injuries that derailed their careers). In addition, the Blazers already had someone at what would have been Jordan's position--Clyde Drexler (who was a Hall of Famer at his position), who had been a teammate of Hakeem Olajuwon (who went first OTL with Houston in 1984--Portland, BTW, lost a coin flip for him (which is an interesting PoD in and of itself)) and who the Blazers had drafted in 1983 (1). Furthermore, they also had another shooting guard--Jim Paxson (whom they drafted in 1979), so they had no need for someone of Jordan's position...

ITTL, with the fallout from the nuclear disaster and Mt. St. Helens, I can see Portland making this pick in an effort to attract more fans...

(1) I've posted a few DBWIs on Houston trading Ralph Sampson to Portland for their first-round draft pick and Clyde Drexler, and they drafted Jordan...
 
On an unrelated topic, the Buz Lukens fallout is probably why Jeffrey Epstein gets caught earlier ITTL...
 
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