Chicago Cubs fans celebrate in front of Wrigley Field in Chicago on Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016, after the Cubs defeated the Cleveland Indians 8-7 in Game 7 of the baseball World Series in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Republished November 03, 2016 - 7:36 PM
Original Publication Date November 03, 2016 - 9:20 AM
MIAMI - President Barack Obama has invited the World Series champion Chicago Cubs to visit him at the White House.
The team will have to make travel arrangements quickly, though, because Obama leaves office in mid-January. Obama extended the invitation to manager Joe Maddon during a congratulatory telephone call Thursday evening as he flew back to Washington aboard Air Force One.
Obama tweeted the invitation early Thursday, shortly after the Cubs won their first championship since 1908 by defeating the Cleveland Indians 8-7 in 10 innings.
"It happened: @Cubs win World Series. That's change even this South Sider can believe in. Want to come to the White House before I leave?"
The Cubs aren't Obama's preferred baseball team; his loyalties lie with the White Sox.
White House spokesman Eric Schultz said Obama rooted for the Cubs because he's from Chicago and the White Sox didn't make it to the championship. He said Obama watched the final innings of the game at his hotel in Miami late Wednesday after campaigning for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
Obama congratulated the Cubs at another Clinton rally Thursday. He said he had heard someone explain that, when the Cubs last won the World Series, inventor Thomas Edison was alive and sliced bread wasn't yet invented.
Obama said the championship "is actually, for Cubs fans, the greatest thing since sliced bread."
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News from © The Associated Press, 2016