The Curse of Theodore Roosevelt
There's a specter haunting Washington, D.C. today. The curse of an old President is torturing legions in the nation's capitol as they try and recover from one of the Nation(al)'s biggest losses ever.
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We're talking about baseball, of course. The Washington Nationals had the best record of any team in Major League Baseball. Which is significant because the Nationals usually suck. They lost last night in the final game of their first round series against defending World Series champs, the St. Louis Cardinals. It was a weird game that Washington probably should have won. (At one point the Nats had a six run lead.)
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What does this have to with former Republican president Theodore Roosevelt? Well, you might remember us telling you about Theo winning a race on one of the last days of the regular season. Every home game, the Nats do a President's race. Four guys dress up in these period suits with big caricature foam heads and have a footrace. Theodore never, ever, ever won. Until October 3, 2012. The Nats finally let Teddy have one, as if his past failures were a metaphor for the team's lack of playoff appearances. Now that the Nats were through to the postseason, so was Teddy. His win was supposed to bring people together.
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But now it's just tearing people apart:
Shouldn't of let Teddy win.
— Ryan Petzar (@petzrawr) October 13, 2012
Oh, #Nats. You had to let Teddy win. You had to let Teddy win FOUR TIMES. Why? #CurseOfTeddy
— Fritz Hahn (@fritzhahn) October 13, 2012
I was never comfortable with them letting Teddy win.#Nats #superstition
— Horace Lamb (@horacelamb) October 13, 2012
@chuckthies @tomsherwood never shudda let teddy win
— paul schwartzman (@paulschwartzman) October 13, 2012
Teddy Bridgewater is the only Teddy I want to see win.
— Cee Angi (@CeeAngi) October 13, 2012
I hope all you Let-Teddy-Win people are happy. This is your fault. Chip up @drewstoren.
— Byron Tau (@ByronTau) October 13, 2012
Just now heard what happened to the Nationals last night. Never should have let Teddy win. #toldja --> bit.ly/RVSthQ
— Dashiell Bennett (@dashb0t) October 13, 2012
That's our own Dashiell Bennett, who apparently moonlights as a mall fortune teller in his spare time. These are presumably sane, presumably reasonable people who write for respected publications. Blaming a baseball loss. On a big-headed foam caricature of a deceased President winning a rigged footrace. And there are many more out there. Sports are the best.
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The scary part is we agree with them.
