Watersmeet Township, Michigan
Watersmeet Township is a civil township of Gogebic County in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,472 at the 2000 census. The unincorporated community of
Watersmeet is within the township on the middle branch of the Ontonagon River near the junction of U.S. Highway 2 and U.S. Highway 45 at 46°16′04″N 89°10′40″W / 46.26778°N 89.17778°W / 46.26778; -89.17778. In late 2003 and early 2004, the boys' high school basketball team of the K-12 Watersmeet Township School was featured in a series of commercials on ESPN. Part of the reason ESPN chose Watersmeet for the commercials was the school's unusual nickname of
Nimrods. The tag line of the commercials was "Without sports, who would cheer for the Nimrods?" The ads were so popular that the team, its coach, and octogenarian fan Dale Jenkins, all of whom were featured on the commercials, appeared on
The Tonight Show on March 15, 2004. The township and the Nimrods are the focus of an 8-part documentary,
Nimrod Nation, which aired on The Sundance Channel. Filming started in September 2005 and continued until June, 2006.