The 8-minute mini-documentary, which inspired president Barack Obama to join the Let Teddy Win movement, almost led to a prediction from Baseball Tonight host Karl Ravech.
“Gotta believe when they clinch first place that that’ll be the day when perhaps…,” Ravech said on tonight’s show, before cutting himself off.
Teddy, meanwhile, lost again today in the final race of the homestand. The hero of San Juan Hill was forced to cut the outfield corner when Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln formed a makeshift blockade in centerfield.
George Washington took the win.
And if you missed it the first time:
Video: McCain calls for congressional investigation into Nationals presidents race
Posted on September 18, 2012 by Presidents Race Fan
As usual, Teddy Roosevelt pulled up the rear but stole the show, as ESPN’s E:60 ended Tuesday night with an eight minute Ken Burns-narrated feature story on the conspiracy surrounding Nationals racing president Teddy Roosevelt.
ESPN’s Michael Johns set out to produce the definitive piece on the Let Teddy Win movement, and by all accounts, a new bar has been set. The mini-documentary featured the Let Teddy Win blog along with interviews with Senator John McCain and the great great grandson of Theodore Roosevelt himself, Winthrop Roosevelt.
“Theodore Roosevelt is one of the great presidents in history,” McCain says in the video. ”I’ve been paying a lot of attention to the fact that one of the truly great presidents in history has never won a race. I’m outraged. That’s why I’m calling for congressional hearings to right this horrible wrong.”
The Arizona senator called Teddy’s losing streak “one of the more traumatic experiences I’ve had as I watch my hero, my childhood idol, being treated in such a cavalier fashion.”
“He is Mount Rushmore’s Rodney Dangerfield,” Burns intones has he describes Teddy’s lot in modern day Washington, “a legendary president that gets no respect.”
Posted on September 14, 2012 by Presidents Race Fan
ESPN’s E:60 will will be profiling the Let Teddy Win movement this Tuesday night at 7:00pm on ESPN and WatchESPN.com. I haven’t seen the final piece by Michael Johns, but he set out to produce the definitive documentary on the presidents race and Teddy Roosevelt’s travails, visiting Nationals Park and the area monuments with the presidents earlier this season.
ESPN got a lot of cooperation from the Nats, so it’s good to see this airing before the postseason. It seemed doubtful the Nats would let Teddy win before before it aired.
UPDATE: Here it is, narrated by Ken Burns and featuring Senator John McCain.
If there was any doubt that the Nationals are a hot national sports story, consider the hour-long Baseball Tonight pregame show preceding ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball coverage of Nats vs. Phillies.
Just a few minutes were devoted to the Phillies, while segment after segment focused on DC-centric topics, from Bryce Harper to the Nationals starting rotation to the team’s “Natitude” and “Take Back the Park” campaigns.
And yes, they even took the time to poll players around the league on the appeal of the Nationals’ racing
presidents:
After calling the fourth-inning presidents race, ESPN play by play man Dan Shulman references his visit earlier in the day to the Let Teddy Win website:
And our usual finish line video from regular contributor lfahome:
The Washington Nationals entered Sunday night’s game vs. the Phillies on a roll. With the league’s best record and a chance to sweep the Phillies on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball, it was a prime opportunity to finally let Teddy win before a national audience.
The ESPN crew, which hadn’t been back to Nationals Park since the stadium opened, certainly was ready for the moment, featuring the racing presidents in the Baseball Tonight pregame show, and at length again during the fifth and ninth innings.
ESPN play-by-play man Dan Shulman took note of the Let Teddy Win movement as well. “There are all kinds of blogs and websites devoted specifically to the fact that Teddy has never won a race here,” Shulman said on Sunday’s broadcast, getting it almost right.
“I don’t fully understand this because I wasn’t here,” Shulman added, “but Jayson Werth won a race last year, and Teddy Roosevelt has never won a race. I looked up the standings. I had some free time today.”
The presidents were dressed in their Sunday best for the nationally televised game, and Roosevelt, for his part, appeared ready to take on the challenge, going right after standings leader George Washington in retaliation for last night’s showboating.
But Teddy’s glasses came loose, and before he could get his bearings, Washington was on his feet again and sped past the field to take another victory.
Not realizing how much coverage they were getting, the presidents then pulled out signs at the finish line in an egregious attempt to get even more. The signs said “ESPN Sunday Night Baseball” one one side, and “ESPN This Is Sportscenter” on the other.
Clip from the ninth inning below.
More video to follow.
Today over at espn.com, today’s flattering profile of the 2012 Nationals includes some choice words by Jayson Werth about the presidents race, and specifically the Let Teddy Win movement.
Nationals outfielder Jayson Werth shows his disgust after another Teddy Roosevelt loss in 2011
Werth had been an outspoken member since arriving in DC last year, and twice attempted to interfere on Teddy’s behalf. Despite his failure, he clearly hasn’t given up the hunt, telling ESPN “I may be the last member of the Rough Riders.”
“Teddy’s gonna have to win a race,” Werth said. “It just goes along with the whole expectancy of losing that was here when I got here. ‘The Nationals lost again?’ OK. ‘Teddy lost again?’ No big deal. It’s a parallel. People can laugh and say I’m out of my mind or whatever. Maybe I am. Who knows? …To me, the Presidents Race and Teddy Roosevelt are very symbolic of where this organization goes. It needs to be addressed. It needs to be answered.”
ESPN Radio’s Doug Gottlieb is running “Mascot Madness,” in which fan voting will determine America’s #1 sports mascots for 2010. Gottlieb hand-picked 64 mascots for the fan tournament, and — sorry Screech — the Washington Nationals racing presidents were selected as the only representative of DC-area professional sports teams.
The Rushmore presidents are seeded at #7 and currently behind in a very tough divisional matchup vs. their hated rivals, the racing sausages from Milwaukee. Presidents fans should VOTE EARLY AND OFTEN at espn.go.com. If the presidents beat the sausages in this round, they face a likely match-up with the Orioles mascot, The Bird.
Postseason honors are few and far between for the Washington Nationals this season, but over at MLB.com, you can submit your vote today for two Nationals nominees for the 2009 This Year In Baseball awards.
Ryan Zimmerman’s nomination as 2009 Defensive Player of the Year will come as no surprise to Nationals fans; but the more dubious nomination comes in the “2009 Oddity of the Year” category, where among the choices is the July 31 take-down of Teddy Roosevelt by the Pittsburgh Racing Pierogies at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park.
Teddy was running anchor in a 4-team mascot relay race, when racing pierogie Potato Pete, who had not been participating in the race, entered the field and tackled Teddy to the ground.
On that evening’s ESPN Sportscenter, Scott Van Pelt called the incident “the greatest highlight I’ve ever seen”, and was likely the main reason this blog had it’s highest single traffic day ever:
CORRECTION: I had originally thought this would air Friday, but it aired this morning on ESPN2:
Nationals’ president Stan Kasten says in the interview that the presidents race is not fixed, and that “it’s inevitable” that Teddy will win. He also hints that there may be more 1-on-1 races in Teddy’s future like his recent race against the Orioles Bird.
According to a press release from ESPN today, the March 30 opening day game at Nationals Park set an all-time record for ESPN network opening day telecasts.
Atlanta at Washington on March 30 in the debut of Nationals Park – averaged 2,700,000 households and 3,656,000 viewers to become the most-viewed Opening Night ever on ESPN networks.
For those of us who spent so many years lobbying for baseball’s return to Washington, this may not come as a surprise, but it sure is a nice feather in our cap and sends a big message to the brass at ESPN and FOX Sports.
Washington is one of the nation’s biggest markets, and the Nationals are quickly developing a large, loyal fan base, both in the parks and at home on TV.
We had the fan base, the ownership, and the best on-field promotion in sports. Now we can add a world class stadium to the mix. The Washington Nationals have arrived!
Photo from “The Celebration” by Flickr user ctankcycles
Let Teddy Win T-Shirts
