Sport: Vinnie, Vidi, Vici

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In A.D. 248, Emperor Philip lured 45,000 howling Romans to the Colosseum with a show that featured 60 lions, 30 leopards, 10 tigers, a rhinoceros, and 2,000 gladiators resolved to battle to the death. Today in the U.S., the beasts are all in zoos and the only gladiators around are the extras in Spartacus. But every Sunday from September through December, before their TV sets and in stadiums from coast to coast, some 40 million Americans are enraptured by a modern-day spectacle that even the Romans would enjoy. The game is professional...

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