Bartman rooting for ... Cubs

It was the biggest question heading into the World Series.

Who is Steve Bartman rooting for?

It’s a legit inquiry considering Bartman’s role in the Cubs’ cursed history.

“Steve is cheering for the Cubs and continues to be a Cubs fan,” Bartman’s family friend and spokesperson Frank Murtha told USA Today Sports. “He just wants everybody, moving forward, to respect his privacy and let his life continue to unfold as the grand plan has it. Unimpeded by things that ... have been blown out of proportion.

“I think that’s the one message. It’s not necessarily a new one.”

The Cubs were five outs away from reaching their first World Series since 1945 13 years ago when Bartman reached for a playable foul ball in Game 6 and changed the course of his life. The now 39-year-old Cubs fan immediately became public enemy No. 1 in Chicago. The Cubs imploded from that point on and ended up losing the NLCS to the Marlins in seven games.

The curse, at least one of them, was finally snapped on Saturday night when the Cubs beat the Dodgers to finally advance to their first World Series in 71 years. As for throwing out the first pitch in Game 3, as some have suggested, Murtha said no chance.

“The likelihood that he would return to throw out a first ball or anything like that is probably slim, none and no chance,” Murtha told CNN. “Steve’s goal in all this has been to return to a normal life, and the fact that we’re still talking about it 13 years after the fact is nothing short of bizarre.”

— Staff and wire