Another Goat’s Curse? Obama Says ‘Cubs Are Due’

The president of the United States has issued his World Series endorsement to the Cubs despite his professed loyalty to their Chicago counterparts in the American League.

“With the Sox out, I’ll be rooting for the Cubs to win the Series,” President Obama declared in an email to the Chicago Tribune. “They’re due. They’ve got great young players, and I’m a Maddon fan. That’s an official statement.”

Some baseball fans may remember that the former Chicago politician, who expressed his preference for the Cubs’ South Side rival the White Sox back in 2010, failed his bona fide White Sox fan test. When former Sox pitcher Rob Dibble asked Obama about his favorite players on the team, he less than eloquently replied,

You know uh …. I … I thought that … uh …. you know, the truth is a lot of the Cubs I like too! But, uh … I did not become a Sox fan until I moved to Chicago. Because I uh …. I was growing up in Hawaii so I ended up actually being an Oakland A’s fan.

On top of that, the president referred to the legendary White Sox ballpark as “Kaminsky Field” and not Comiskey Park, which served as their home field from 1910 through 1990.

Manager Joe Maddon intends to navigate the impressive Cubbies through the NLDS against the Cardinals starting on Friday at Busch Stadium. Maddon’s players pulled off a 4-0 win against Pittsburgh on Wednesday night behind the dominant pitching of Jake Arrieta, who held the Pirates to an anemic four hits in a complete game performance.

CBS Sports predicts that if the Cubs make it to the World Series America’s chief executive may journey to Wrigley Field to catch a game. More exciting than a presidential visit, however, would be the Cubs actually winning an NL pennant, which they haven’t done since 1945. The last time they won the World Series was 1908.

“We’ll be ready,” Jake Arrieta said. “We’re going to have two tough games in St. Louis. Hopefully we scratch out a win, hopefully two, and then take it to Wrigley and let the home crowd see us play.”

Cubs President Theo Epstein claims Maddon’s ability to make believers in the Cubs extends beyond Obama. “To see the hard work of all those people manifest itself in the young, exciting gutsy winning major-league team before our eyes is incredibly special,” he said. “And Joe and his staff and the players have taken it to a whole other level.”