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There are a zillion blogs out there. Many of them are very
well designed and feature great content. Many others are designed and feature
content. And there are a select few that not
only are well designed and feature great content, but also revolve around a clever
and unusual theme.

“Let Teddy Win”
is one such blog. The author of “Let Teddy Win”, Scott Ableman, chronicles almost
daily the fortunes of U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt in the Presidents’ Race
that takes place at every Washington Nationals home game. I came across it looking
for information about Nationals Park–which it wasn’t short on, I should mention.

Ableman is the CMO of Simplexity, an
e-commerce company based in Reston, VA, and a Nationals season-ticket holder. In
response to my e-mail asking him about it, he shared with me that he started
the blog when his young son pointed out that Teddy Roosevelt never wins the
Presidents’ Race, and he inexplicably found no information about this on the
Nats’ website. This is surprising; reading the blog, you would almost think he
was employed by the Nationals. (And I mean that in a good way.)

The Presidents’ Race–featuring all of the Mount Rushmore
presidents–is Washington’s answer to the Sausage Race at Miller Park, and with
all due respect to the racing sausages, I’d say the Presidents’ Race is more
entertaining. And it is so largely because of the inept foibles of America’s 26^th
President, who never emerges victorious. The reasons for his losses, as
reported on in Let Teddy Win, are often amusing: getting
tackled by someone wearing a Grinch costume, passing
out Hispanic Heritage T-shirts during the race, or losing his
glasses. Teddy is the Wile E. Coyote of his day.

The blog is, ultimately, a Washington Nationals blog, and
comments on Nationals issues of the day–but the news is usually tied in with
Ableman’s unwavering support of the still winless President. When Stan Kasten recently
departed as president of the Nationals, Let Teddy Win openly pondered whether
the team would now take a tougher stance on Abe Lincoln’s cheating.

It can’t be easy to write a blog based entirely on a 30-second
between innings event and manage to make it an enjoyable read, but Ableman
pulls it off, and consistently so. He stays on top of the Presidents’ Race standings, posts
videos of other appearances of the Presidents, and occasionally pays some lip
service to what happened in the game as well. On top of that, for anyone
interested in seeing this Presidents Race that all of the fuss is about, Ableman
informs readers of Teddy-related promotions that the Nats occasionally offer to
fans.

Nationals Park is beautiful, and this is a team that appears
to be on the rise. But while they are yet a subpar team, there is an
entertaining between-innings skit that, while maybe not worth the price of
admission, provides chat fodder and amusement for the team’s fans. All made
possible by a very well-done and highly original blog.

Let Teddy Win: http://blog.letteddywin.com/