All right, I'll admit that I muffed this one. The Red Sox won the World Series, thus ending the infamous curse of the Bambino. Congrats to the team, and to all my long-suffering friends who are part of Red Sox nation.

Of course, today begins a new curse for the Sox.

No longer are they the lovable losers, the team that just can't get past the evil empire. Today - or at least at the beginning of next season - they are the Florida Marlins, the Toronto Blue Jays, the Atlanta Braves. They're just one of a bunch of teams who have won the World Series.

I have no earthly idea how you overcome a curse like this one. Next year, what will be special about this Red Sox team? Will we feel any different about their fans in April and May than we do about fans of the Reds or the Dodgers or Angels or Giants or any of those teams? Probably not.

Welcome to the big time, Red Sox nation.

California note: Hokey smokes! It rained out here in Cali. We got dumped on for a couple of days here, and the weather cooled down into the 60s. It kind of looks and feels like fall. Should be in the low 70s and sunny for Halloween, though, which is good because a crew of Chicagoans is out here right now.

Julie Granata got out here last week (she and boyfriend Eric Hunicutt are ditching the Windy City for good in January for the sunny climes of SoCal). Tara McNichols gets here on Friday to party with the Wielands on Halloween weekend.

Not sure where we're going. West Hollywood closes down Santa Monica Boulevard on Saturday and Sunday, so that'll be part of it. Probably we'll hit a couple of those Silverlake/Los Feliz (pronounced Los Feel-isss) bars. Might watch Marty and Elaine play at the Dresden (a la Swingers). We'll probably catch a little time in Malibu and Santa Monica, too.

I'll let you know . . .