David Potter (yep ... the UMichigan Classicist) comments at ChicagoSports on the upcoming battle between the Cubs and White Sox (this is baseball, for those of you wondering):

NEWS OF THE WEEK: The Cubs and White Sox will meet this weekend at the Sox's U.S. Cellular Field.

WHAT THE PROFESSOR SAYS: Let's imagine some Romans are suddenly transported through time and dropped into the midst of next week's crosstown series.

They'd love it, and just as Cubs and Sox fans will flock to the weekend games in their team colors, the Romans probably would have made sure they came in their blue or green clothing.

Roman chariot racing was all about crosstown rivalry. It basically broke down between two teams, the Blues and the Greens. There actually were four teams, but the Whites and Reds always were allied with the Blues and Greens respectively.

The result: Roman cities divided between the main factions, and the ensuing "chariot hooliganism" made the current European form of soccer idiocy look tame. On good days, fights broke out all the time in the stands and spilled into the streets, where the murder of rival fans was common.

On bad days, if you were the emperor, the fans of both factions would suddenly stop cursing one another and started cursing you. When that happened, it was time to make a run for the palace, call out the guard and fire a few unpopular advisers.

Despite the chaos, emperors had to put up with the factions because they knew intense rivalries made the fans happy, and happy thuggish fans were better than unhappy thuggish fans.

When it scheduled riot-free rivalries between teams like the Cubs and the Sox, MLB finally did the Romans one better.

... I'll take this opportunity to mention the 'what might have been' Battle of Alberta in the NHL playoffs ... there you would have seen a nice battle between the Whites and Reds. Congrats to Edmonton, by the way ... once again an Alberta team carries the hopes of Canada ...