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Gordon Central 14, Calhoun 0 — And Nobody Threw a Pass
Somewhere in Gordon County that scoreboard would start an argument. Here it only means Gordon Central answered two more questions than Calhoun did. The Football Quiz Game is new over at Dueling History, and it works like this: two teams, one field, seventy-five yards to the end zone. On every play the team with the…
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Only the Penitent Man Spells
In 1938, in a temple carved into the rock at Alexandretta, Indiana Jones stands at the edge of a floor of lettered stones and recites the clue from his father’s diary: the name of God. He steps on J — and the stone gives way. The mistake is a real one. Classical Latin had no…
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King Tut, the Fonz, and a Very Large Cardboard Pyramid
Steve Martin debuted “King Tut” on Saturday Night Live in April 1978, backed by a band billed as the Toot Uncommons — in real life, members of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. A comedy bit became a real hit single and sold over a million copies. The clip on Dueling History is the road version.…
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Everybody Wants to Rule the World — 72 of Them Actually Did
Tears for Fears released it in 1985. Four minutes and eleven seconds, and the title turned out to be a decent summary of Roman politics. Because 72 men actually did rule the world — or the part of it Rome cared about — from Augustus in 27 BC to a teenager named Romulus Augustulus in…
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Hoist the Black Flag: Ray Stevens Comes Aboard
Every history teacher needs a way to get the room quiet. Some of us use a bell. Ray Stevens used a pirate. He was born Harold Ray Ragsdale in Clarkdale, Georgia, in 1939 — one of our own — and he has spent sixty-odd years proving that a funny song and a serious song are…
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It’s 8:24, Atlanta — Gary McKee Is Back On The Air
Good morning, morning! Pull the covers back, put the coffee on, and turn it up. If you grew up anywhere within range of an Atlanta radio between 1971 and 1989, you didn’t really need an alarm clock. You had Gary McKee. Traffic, weather, Red Neckerson, Willis the Guard, and a man who could make a…
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First Game: Football — Works for Any Subject
Football is the first game coming to Dueling History, and it works with any subject you teach — health, math, literature, government, biology, anything. How it plays Two teams line up on opposite ends of the field and the scoreboard starts at 0–0. Answer a question correctly and your team advances toward the end zone.…
Far Side of History 