By Alex Trickett BBC Sport Online

The teams:

Baseball: Red Sox
American Football: New England Patriots
Basketball: Celtics
Ice Hockey: Bruins

Above all, Boston sports fans would like to see Babe Ruth's "curse" lifted.

Since shipping the baseball icon to New York in 1919, their Red Sox have failed to win the World Series, while the Yankees have prevailed countless times.

Russell is the biggest winner in NBA history

Success has come much more easily to basketball's Celtics.

They won 11 NBA titles in 13 seasons during the Bill Russell era and are showing signs of a revival in the new millennium.

The Bruins have had their moments too, dominating the NHL in the early 1970s.

The New England Patriots won American football's biggest prize in 2002, having lost in the Super Bowl to Chicago in 1986 and Green Bay in 1997.

'Ballgame': Williams was a supreme hitter

But the Boston stadium may be best remembered for its fans' love-hate relationship with a moody but brilliant hitter called Ted "Ballgame" Williams.

Williams incited his home fans by refusing to tip his cap to "those wolves in the left-field stands," but he regularly dazzled them with his batting prowess.

The "Splendid Splinter" drove the longest home run in Fenway history and averaged an incredible .406 in 1941.

When Williams retired in 1960, there was only one fitting way for him to bow out.

Seizing on a loose pitch, he crushed the ball into the centre-field stands in his last ever at bat. Fenway fans were united in their rapturous applause.

Bird: Lifted the games of those around him

The Celtics have won a record 16 NBA titles and have two talismanic players to thank for that success.

First came Bill Russell, an uncompromising centre and a master tactician.

Outsized and usually outscored by Philadelphia's Wilt Chamberlain, Russell found ways to unsettle his big rival and won 11 NBA rings with Boston between 1957 and 1969.

After a brief franchise lull in the 1970s, Larry Bird - an unlikely-looking star - arrived on the scene.

Not only did he turn the Celtics around with his blend of team-work and superb individual skill, but his long-running duel with LA Lakers legend Magic Johnson redoubled national interest in the NBA.

Pedro: Pitching master

But, when summer comes around, there is one man who stands above the rest.

The Red Sox continuing failure to live up to lofty expectations can in no way be blamed on Pedro Martinez.

He is the most complete pitcher of his era, mixing up 98mph fastballs, cunning change-ups and looping curveballs with precise control.

And, despite injury problems in 2001, he can reasonably be expected to win every game he starts.