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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Bill Murray stops by White House press briefing to talk Cubs baseball

Actor Bill Murray speaks during a visit to the White House briefing room on  Friday. (Susan Walsh / Associated Press)
By Jake Russell Washington Post

Bill Murray paid a visit to the world’s most famous Chicago White Sox fan at the White House on Friday, but that didn’t stop him from donning his Chicago Cubs paraphernalia at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

“He was wearing a Cubs jacket – which for a White Sox fan is a little troubling,” President Barack Obama said, per USA Today.

Murray, who is in town to receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Sunday at the Kennedy Center, crashed Friday’s White House press briefing before his meeting with the commander in chief.

Wearing a blue Cubs jacket, Murray took off his Cubs cap and stepped to the podium to answer some pressing questions about this year’s NLCS between the Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers.

“Hey Mr. President, do you think the Cubs will win?” a reporter asked Murray.

“I feel very confident that Clayton Kershaw is a great, great pitcher,” Murray said. “But we got too many sticks. We got too many sticks.”

The Cubs hold a 3-2 lead over the Dodgers and can clinch their first World Series appearance since 1945 with a win in Game 6 at Wrigley Field on Saturday. Murray gives the Cubs the edge in terms of home-field advantage.

“At home with our crowd, the weather… . You get a little bit of autumn in Chicago, you don’t get that in Los Angeles. Trees just die in Los Angeles; in Illinois they flourish.”

Fellow actor and Dodgers fan Bryan Cranston got wind of Murray’s White House appearance and took to Twitter to share his thoughts. “Proof positive. Cubs surrogate @BillMurray inside the White House! The NLCS is rigged! If the #crookedcubs win the series I will not concede.”

Should the Dodgers win Saturday night to force a Game 7, it would conflict with Murray’s award ceremony on Sunday.

“I’m going to be there (at the Kennedy Center) having people say, ‘Oh, he’s a funny, funny man,’ ” Murray told the Washington Post on Wednesday. “I’d much rather be sitting there in a good box seat at Wrigley Field.”

The Kennedy Center cleared up any confusion regarding a potential conflict of interest at the ceremony, telling the Chicago Tribune on Wednesday, “(There has been) no discussion about special provisions for Cubs playoffs game watching or monitoring during Mark Twain.”