Could Theo Epstein crush Cubs' curse?

One-hundred-three years.

That's how long it's been since the Chicago Cubs have won baseball's World Series.

But now, reports CBS News Correspondent Cynthia Bowers, Cubs fans are hoping one man can reverse the team's curse.

And he's not even a player.

They're excited over reports Boston Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein is coming to their team and, just like that, the lovable losers feel like winners.

The 37-year old wunderkind is credited with constructing the Red Sox teams that broke the "Curse of the Bambino" (which legend had it kept the Red Sox from winning titles for decades after they traded the immortal Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees) by winning two championships, in 2004 and 2007, to end an 86-year drought.

Cubs fans hope they're that lucky. The Cubs last won the World Series in '08 - as in -- 1908.

Many believe a curse is behind their decades of futility.

During the 1945 World Series, a local tavern owner cursed the Cubs after being asked to leave the ballpark because his smelly pet goat was bothering other fans. The Cubs lost the series and haven't been back.

Since then, the curse has repeatedly dashed the hopes of Cub fans.

In 1969, a black cat runs onto the field as the Cubs played the New York Mets.

The team went on to collapse down the stretch and miss the playoffs.

In 1984, the curse took the form of a routine grounder that somehow eluded first baseman Leon Durham in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series.

Then, in 2003, with the Cubs just five outs away from a win that would have sent them to the World Series, an overzealous fan reaching for a foul ball prevented it from being caught by a Cub fielder. The team subsequently fell apart, losing the game and a chance that chance to return to the World Series.

The offending baseball was -- blown to smithereens at a Chicago restaurant.

So, if the rumors about Epstein are true, the Cubs' new owners have gone out and done what any self respecting, wanna-win team would do - they've bought themselves a multi-million dollar hex buster.

Cubs fan Jerry Sutton remarked, "The Curse of the Goat and the Bambino -- I think if he can do that, he will be here for not only five years (the reported length of Epstein's new contract), but maybe 20. He'll be here forever. He'll be revered."

(He'd be a) "Hall of Famer. No question about it," Cubs fan Ryan Findlay said. "Breaking the curse in Boston and then coming to Chicago and breaking that here -- Hall of Famer. No question about it."

It's a lot of pressure for a guy who won't even play a game. But if he breaks the curse, Epstein will be king of a second city.