Don�t worry, this is not a partisan entry. Kerm is downright painfully neutral, and my baby-killing, Communist ways are typically confined to the ShoutBox, where the rhetorical battle of ideologies is hashed out daily with greedy, heartless gubment-hatin� Morpheus, Tinkers-to-Evers-to-Chance, Section 242 and St. Patrick trading volleys with tree-huggin� flag-hatin� hippies Forklift, Thrillho, Oleg and yours truly on the other side.

No, this is a bit more frivolous but something I spent the morning pondering�

The notion that our next President is an avowed White Sox fan got me to wondering about Presidents and their favorite baseball teams. Barack Obama, who probably wasn�t much of a baseball fan while growing up in Hawaii and Indonesia, I’m guessing got bit by the sports bug when he first came to Chicago twenty-five years ago. The Cubs, Sox and Bears all broke postseason droughts, and Chicago was quite the sports town. During his first year as Illinois’ junior Senator, Obama would have seen his baseball team win a world championship had the World Series not been cancelled. On his first-day as President-Elect, as he headed over to the East Bank Club to swordfight with Section 242, he was seen sporting a Sox cap. All of this got me to wondering about past presidents and which baseball teams they rooted for. With HJE�s crack research team, we set out to investigate our recent presidents� allegiances.

Dubya�Everyone knows Bushie the Younger owned the Texas Rangers in the early 90�s. Was this a case of a rich guy buying any team available (i.e Mark Cuban) or of a rich guy fulfilling his lifelong dream of owning the team he rooted for growing up (i.e. Dan Snyder)? While W�s blood is definitely blue, he did not share the same East Coast upbringing as his father and did, in fact, grow up in western Texas. While the 317 miles between Midland and Arlington seem like a lot, the distance between Midland and Houston�home of the Astros, the better of the two teams for most years�is 569 miles away (holy fuck is Texas huge). Outside of David Clyde�s appearance at old Arlington Stadium fresh out of high school, and future Cub Lenny Randle beating the holy hell out of future Cub manager Frank Lucchesi in Spring Training one year, there wasn�t much going on with the Rangers in the 70�s, but it�s not hard to imagine Bush drowning out a Bump Wills caught stealing by doing a bump of his own. TEAM: Rangers

Clinton: I remember Clinton once saying in an interview that as a kid in Arkansas, he would listen to Harry Caray�s call on St. Louis� booming KMOX. It�s not hard to imagine a young Slick Willie copulating with one of his first cousins while Caray called a Lou Brock sprint around the bases to score, just like Clinton. Arkansas has always had its fair share of Cardinal fans anyway, so even if Clinton wasn�t as enthusiastic about baseball as his successor, it�s easy to see him hitching his wagon to the perennially-contending Musial-led teams in the early-to-mid 60�s. TEAM: Cardinals.

GHW Bush�unlike his son, Bushie the First was born and bred in the East. Bush was a good enough athlete to have played first base for Yale. Growing up in Connecticut, he likely had many opportunities to visit Yankee Stadium to watch Gehrig and, later, Dimaggio. This is just a guess here, but based on all of the evidence that our crack staff (aka �google�) has assembled, it�s pretty safe to venture that Herbert Walker was a fan of the Bronx 9. TEAM: Yankees.

Reagan– Most Cub fans know that Dutch Reagan�to date the only US President born in Illinois�broadcast Cub games in the 1930�s. From Des Moines. In a studio. With a foley artist standing next to him, making ballpark noises as Reagan interpreted the news wire. Yeah. These were different times. One wonders if it was an aspiration for a broadcasting career that led him to this job, or an interest in the Cubs, or both. We do know that Reagan grew up within a day�s drive (even then) from Chicago in Dixon, IL, where he worked as a lifeguard and was generally regarded as athletic (he played football at Eureka College). It is unlikely that he would have made it in to Chicago watch Pete Alexander as Reagan�s father was sort of a pathetic ne�er-do-well who had far less to do with his upbringing than his more orderly, religious mother. Still, I recall Reagan being interviewed shortly after the Cubs were stunned by the San Diego Padres in the 1984 NLCS, weeks before Reagan�s re-election bid. When asked what he thought of it, Reagan said that as, president, he understands that he�s supposed to be neutral, but admitted that he was pulling for the Cubs. TEAM: Cubs.

Carter�Ole� Peanut Face, like most of the goobers down in Georgia, is probably a Bulldog fan first and foremost. However, ex-President Carter was often seen at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium during the Braves� World Series� runs in the early 1990�s, standing next to Rosalyn, doing the tomahawk chip. Fuck him. TEAM: Braves

Ford: A good enough athlete to have played DI football at Michigan, Gerald Ford grew up in Grand Rapids, which is nearly equidistant to Chicago and Detroit. The Tigers were a little more successful than the Cubs (they were definitely more successful than the Sox), and even beat the Cubs in the 1935 World Series when Ford was 22. The guess is here is that the native Michiganer pulled for Charlie Gehringer and crew. TEAM: Tigers

Nixon: I really don�t think Nixon had a favorite baseball team. He grew up in Los Angeles County, but it was prior to the Dodgers relocating there from Brooklyn. He has definitely had his sports moments, as when he supposedly designed a play for George Allen to use in a game for the Redskins , but I�m not feeling any baseball love from Tricky Dick. TEAM: NONE

LBJ: As the Astros did not bring the state of Texas into the big leagues until 1962, I�m guessing it was all about SEC or the University of Texas football for Johnson. TEAM: NONE

JFK: Even though they sucked for most of Kennedy�s conscious life I believe it�s in the charter that anyone from New England has to be a Red Sox fan. TEAM: Red Sox

There you have it, readers. By our count, we�ve got a White Sox fan, a Rangers fan, a Cardinals fan, a Yankees fan, a Cubs fan, a Braves fan, a Tigers fan and a Red Sox fan that have occupied the West Wing. I�m also cutting this list off after Kennedy, because fandom didn�t seem nearly as intense prior to the 50�s. Sure a young FDR may have dragged his polio-stricken body to Hilltop Park to catch a Highlanders game shortly after they relocated from Baltimore, but I don�t see him being a big baseball fan, as we know fandom to be today.