Curse, Schmurse | Babe Ruth's ghost may continue to rattle around like Jacob Marley's chains in the attics of Red Sox Nation, but please spare me any more pitiful sob stories of how awful New England sports fans have it. (This means you, Bill Simmons.) After two Super Bowl wins in three years, it's time to give it a rest. Those of us who have gone without a championship in, oh, say, 21 years just don't want to hear it. We just don't want to hear the Globe's Dan Shaughnessy take time out of his gushing tribute to "one of the best and most beloved Boston sports teams of the last 100 years" to deliver this woe-are-we paragraph:

So now it's Groundhog Day, where the scene keeps repeating itself, much like in the Bill Murray movie, but there's no one left to beat. Too bad. Patriots fans surely would embrace six more weeks of football. In the wake of the coldest January since 1888, and the most disappointing Red Sox finish since 1986, New England needed a lift, and the Patriots delivered with a season for the ages.

Oh, boo-hoo. Congratulations to the Patriots and their fans all that, but just leave the rest of us alone to wallow in our self-pity awhile, 'kay?

How many days 'til pitchers and catchers report?