Photo via New York Islanders

Even in his (and my) home state, Theodore Roosevelt has to fight for respect.

The Washington Nationals’ Racing Presidents didn’t really have much to do on President’s Day, what with baseball season not starting for another six weeks. So yesterday, the quartet of executive mascots lent themselves out to the New York Islanders for the fourth consecutive year.

At last night’s game against the Ottawa Senators at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the Racing Presidents popped up between the first and second periods, accompanied by the madcap theme to The Benny Hill Show. The lap around the rink started promisingly for Teddy, who quickly outpaced his opponents. But just as the great outdoorsman was about to complete the circuit, he was sent over the boards by a dastardly full-body check delivered by George Washington.

“This just shows the conspiracy against Teddy extends beyond the ballpark,” Scott Ableman, who runs the pro-Roosevelt blog Let Teddy Win, told DCist. “The Nats will do anything to prevent a Teddy victory, even on the ice.”

For shame. Not even at an out-of-town hockey game can the Nationals give the 26th president the credit he’s due. Too bad for Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln that Teddy, the 33rd governor of New York, wasn’t going to take that crap in his home state. Teddy mounted the sideboards and when the other three circled back, epic mascot fisticuffs ensued.

As Ableman predicted last weekend during tryouts for the Presidents Race, given the opportunity, Roosevelt “would probably kick the butts of these other presidents.”

So maybe Teddy can’t win a race in a ballpark or a hockey rink, but he can win a fight. And for their abetting in one of the great injustices of contemporary baseball, the Islanders lost, 6-0. Bully!

Here’s the video of the whole fiasco, via NHL.com: