Tired of seeing Teddy Roosevelt lose the Nationals’ Presidents Race? Be him yourself. The Nats web site has a signup for part time jobs as the racing presidents. The qualifications are pretty basic: be between 5’7″ and 6’6″ (sorry Jon Rauch), be able to run the baseline wearing the 45 pound suits, and be available for about 40 percent of the Nats’ home games (opening day at the new stadium is April 2 March 30). If anyone here actually gets the job, please tell us why Teddy never wins.
And speaking of Teddy never winning, some enterprising Nats fan has started the “Let Teddy Win” campaign, complete with a lot of merchandise, advocating for the giant foam Bull Mooser to win the Presidents Race finally. And some of the stuff is pretty hilarious, like the yard sign. We’re surprised this hasn’t come along before, as President Theodore Roosevelt has been not winning the race since 2006.
The rumor (or maybe it was just hope) was that T.R. would finally win on the day when the team gave out his bobblehead, and again on RFK’s last day, but both times fans of Mr. Speak-Softly-and-Carry-a-Big-Stick were disappointed. On the last day of last season the Nats bullpen even held back the other presidents, but old Teddy showed up at the new stadium instead. He even tried a zipline once, to no avail.
Why the lack of success for Teddy? Abe, Tom, and George have all won it at least 30 times, while the youngest president in the race has a big fat zero. The Nats site provides some of the more memorable races, which show that generally Teddy gets distracted by a hot dog or ice cream, stops to throw T-shirts, or just falls over. But this is Teddy Roosevelt, not Chevy Chase as Jimmy Carter Gerald Ford! Teddy was a tough guy, leading a cavalry charge and hunting wild animals, not tripping over his feet.
Is it ageism against the youngest president? Maybe the powers that be are opposed to third parties? Are they animal activists who don’t approve of his hunting, or hate teddy bears? Or maybe his big round head is just not aerodynamic. Any other theories?
Photo by #4 (Meaghan)
