The Ultimate Post!

Being a history major, I have noticed quite a few generalizations that are made comparing our present day with past epochs. One of the more interesting comparisons - at least in my mind- is the comparison of the United States to the Roman Empire. Both of them grew out of the ashes of a previous world spanning Empire, the Romans built on the Greeks and the US arose out of Great Britain. Both of them introduced new concepts and ideals, and strangely enough the Romans and the Unites States do share quite a few similiarities. Each claimed to be a democracy, but were in fact confederated republics. Each nation gave birth to great leaders that left there mark on history. Both empires became havens for intellectual and artistic thought. And quite remarkably, as each's population grew, they gave birth to mass entertainments that became spectator sports unrivaled in any other era. The spectre of gladiator games arose in both hegemonies, becoming competitive spectacles of unimagined glory that have left there marks throughout history. Why do I bring this up? Because tomorrow brings one of the best of the pure arena sports of the modern age. Saturday heralds the arrival of the 52nd showing of one of my all-time favorite sporting events: The Ultimate Fighting Championship! The UFC started as an underground tribute to martial art blood tournaments, (think Jean Claude Van Damme in Bloodsport) However, throughout the years it has morphed into a highly competitive, highly controlled, mano y mano contest pitting the best mixed martial artists against one another. (Can you tell I am a fan?) Hopefully, the pay per view will be well worth the price, as I am having my usual crowd of compatriots come over and we will all being rooting for our favorites including my wife who generally favors the 'non-hairy back, six-pack ab, pretty boy' fighter and grimaces anytime blood spews forth from an injured athlete. With the beer flowing, lounging on my leather couches around the television, its hard not to think of the arena in the glory days of Rome with satiated citizens swilling wine and eating grapes as they rooted for their favorite gladiators.