Should You Ever Feel Sorry For D.C. Sports Teams?

This was a normal spring for D.C. sports teams, with the Capitals choking away a 1-seed and the Wizards serving as early-round filler for the Eastern Conference. No D.C. sports team has made the conference/league finals in nearly two decades, and no D.C. team has won a title since 1991. But should the rest of the…

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Rome's Collapse Turned Petty Kings, Strongmen, And Warlords Into The French

Decades before Romulus Augustulus was deposed in 476 AD and the Western Roman Empire officially went out of business, the provinces of northern Gaul (roughly the area between Paris and the lower Rhine in what’s now the Netherlands and northwest Germany) had long since slipped from the grasp of the authorities. The…

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Polish Sausage Vs. Italian Sausage … WHO YA GOT?!

This week’s Deadcast focuses on a number of topics, including the Mike and the Mad Dog 9/11 transcripts, the Aaron Hernandez suicide, and other instances where the sports-take machinery fully breaks down in the wake of real-world tragedy. But that’s not what you came here for now, is it? No, no … you came here…

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After The Visigoths Sacked Rome, They Established A Full-Blown Kingdom

When last we met the Goths, they had just sacked the city of Rome in 410 CE, the act for which this barbarian people is both famous and infamous. They were, after all, the first group in 800 years to pillage the Eternal City, and that kind of action is going to leave a mark in the history books. The history of this…

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The Roman Empire Was Brought Down By Structural Rot 

One way of telling the story of the fall of the Roman Empire is to examine the lives and personalities at the very top of the political spectrum, the emperors, generals, court officials, and kings at the center of power who made the life-and-death decisions that reverberated throughout the Roman world. In this…

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The Las Vegas Raiders Are Screwed

The Raiders are moving to Vegas and are getting the most expensive stadium in history out of it in the process, but who exactly in gonna visit this monstrosity, especially on a Sunday, with no gambling allowed inside the joint? And how is this all a poorly veiled scheme to help enrich Jerry Jones? That, my friends, is…

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The Deadcast Is Returning

Hey you! Do you like awful takes? Do you like awkward pauses? Do you like hearing two people agree on topics because they didn’t put enough planning into preproduction? Do you like the sounds of dogs barking in the background? Well, do I have good news for you: The Deadcast is BACK. I think. I mean, it could all fall…

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What Happened To Normal People When The Roman Economy Fell Apart?

The sophistication and scale of the Roman economy was a marvel that powered all of its other achievements, from monumental buildings on three continents to its famed and feared professional army. Although it was an agrarian economy focused around agricultural production, it was surprisingly complex, with whole regions…

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The Roman Economy Was A Powerhouse 

We remember the Roman Empire for a great many things. Gladiators are always popular, and the army runs a close second, but the most striking thing about Rome is the monumental landscape of buildings it left behind. The Colosseum, the Circus Maximus, ornate palaces and villas, aqueducts that reach to the sky: These are…

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Attila The Hun Did Far More Than Just Leave Charred Bones In His Wake

Nearly 16 centuries after he lived and died, the name of Attila the Hun still carries overtones of wanton destruction and senseless slaughter. The Huns, unlike the Franks or the Anglo-Saxons or the Goths, have no modern politicians claiming them as glorious ancestors for a shot of cheap nationalism; the Huns embody the stereotype of the barbarian as rampaging looters, destroyers who left in their wake nothing but charred cities full of bones.

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