Category: Sports

The Big Story – World Series/Lockout Coming: While it’s been over for a while for the local nine, the baseball season is finally done, and with a lockout looming, perhaps for 2027 as well.

But with the Brewers and their 19th-ranked $130 million payroll winning the World Series and having baseball’s best record the last two seasons, it came at the perfect time for the players. Ditto with AL champ Tampa Bay having an even smaller 28th-ranked payroll.

That’s because the coming labor fight will be about getting a salary cap most fans want and the players will vehemently refuse to give. And they’ll point to the World Series in saying teams can compete with the free-spending Dodgers even when the Dodgers’ payroll is more than the combined payroll of both World Series teams.

But for now, let’s tip a cap to the Brewers, who have done it the way John Henry envisioned since pulling the pin on his one-time gigantic payrolls: (1) having a farm system that fills holes left by departing players for big contracts, (2) not overpaying for big names, and (3) playing a style counter to the homer-ball most do now.

Sports 101: This is one for old-timers. Who was the last QB to wear a number above 19 in the NFL?

News Item – Pats 24, Miami 19: It wasn’t so much lucking out as that they woke up in the second half to overcome a 13-3 halftime deficit.

• Good – Drake Maye accounted for three passing and running TDs while Rhamondre Stevenson banged his way to 82 rushing yards.

• Bad – how does a team playing prevent defense with 2:05 left allow Miami’s Kevin Coleman to get behind them for a 35-yard TD to keep their hopes alive?

• Ugly – too many ill-timed penalties (seven for 46 yards) again, which took away three first downs and an interception.

• Grade – C+

News Item – CTE Update: Alarming news last week from the Boston University study on brain damage from playing in the NFL. It said nearly 75 percent of NFL players who died between 2008 and 2023 had significant CTE damage.

The Numbers:

15 – second most in the NFL turnovers committed by the Patriots in their first eight games.

154 – 28th-ranked number of homers hit by World Series winning Milwaukee.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up – The Golden State Valkyries: If you had GS’s second year expansion WNBA team winning a title before/if Steph Curry did in the company pool you win. Plus they beat dastardly Angel Reese and the Atlanta Dream.

The Holy Moly Award – Tampa Bay: For the Bucs somehow scoring 16 points to beat Atlanta 16-0 without completing even one pass as they ran for a franchise 324 yards instead. The only other time that’s happened was 1974 when Buffalo beat (of course) the Jets 16-12.

Random Thought: Earth to Bob Kraft. The Patriots’ main uniform should be the dynasty years blue jersey with silver pants they wore Sunday.

Sports 101 Answer: Nope, not Doug Flutie; he wore 2, not 22, in the NFL. It’s John Hadl, a solid AFL-er who brought 21 with him when San Diego joined the NFL in the 1966 merger and kept it until retiring in 1973.

Final Thought – David Hamilton: The thing I liked most about the World Series was how dumb it made all the media folks look who claimed one of the biggest reasons the Red Sox only went as far as they did was that they didn’t invest big money in a third baseman.

First, the Prince of Darkness (Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe) keeps litigating last year’s trade of Raffy Devers to the Giants as just “a salary dump” instead of what it actually was, removing an insubordinate, grossly expensive, immature dog who walked out on his team ’cause he didn’t get his way. Saying his production numbers (37 homers and 98 RBI) would’ve made a big difference here. Well, how come they didn’t help SF? They were 10 games over .500 the day they got him, and since are 69-93. That doesn’t sound like a difference-maker to me. Plus the $35 million saved was spent to bring on Willson Contreras (27 and 81) and Sonny Gray (18 wins), which is a good two-for-one return for Devers.

Then came the demand to spend $40 million per year for Alex Bregman. Yes, he had a big last six weeks, but the Cubs still went out meekly in Round 1 of the playoffs too.

Meanwhile, with their miniscule payroll, the Brewers built a T-E-A-M that won more than anyone else for two years and rolled through the playoffs to win the World Series. And who was their primary third baseman who homered in the World Series deciding game? Red Sox reject David Hamilton, who made a whopping $780k.

Which goes to show that while money can be very helpful it still comes down to who you spend it on, not how much you spend.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – Celtics’ Familiar Opening Day Loss: Celtics coach Slow Joe Mazzulla didn’t make it through even Day 1 of the new season before demonstrating he hasn’t learned one thing from getting his team run out of the playoffs early the last two years.

As usual, he refused to change tactics as Detroit chipped away at a 22-point third-quarter lead. Thus, led by Jayson Tatum’s six-for-23 shooting night, they kept firing threes as, brick by brick, it familiarly all slipped away before they lost by 8.

They then did what they always do: followed it with a solid game to let Slow Joe use bogus stats to justify his system. That came via a 107-103 game vs. New York, when Tatum scored 36 while going 3-10 on 3-balls.

The big question: How many more times will they do it this year?

Sports 101: Name the only player from a losing team to be named World Series MVP.

News Item – Brewers a Team of Destiny: It’s “only” 2-0 as I write this. But with exciting comebacks in both games and having done the same while sweeping L.A., the gritty Milwaukee Brewers seem to be on their way

World Series history is filled with teams coming back from down 0-2. But with their different-hero-every-night attack and a killer bullpen they’ve put Tampa Bay in a big hole.

All of which could be totally different by the time you read this Thursday.

So we’ll see.

News Item – Week 7 Patriots Report Card:

Good: Another game when they didn’t have their A game but hung in against a good team while playing third-stringers at both guard spots.

Bad: The D let Caleb Williams convert too many third-and-really-longs. And while the numbers look good, Drake Maye’s latest end zone pick was the game-killer and they had 10 penalties for 71 yards.

Ugly: They have (literally) tons on injured reserve.

Grade: C

News Item – Ebuka Okorie Debuts: The Nashua product was on the Pistons bench as the C’s lost the season opener in Motown. Unfortunately no PT this time.

The Numbers:

1 –shot made in 13 attempts for Wemby in a 12-point night when Oak City drilled San Antonio 116-104 in their opening night statement game win.

45 – pitches fouled off by grinding Milwaukee batters in forcing TB to use six pitchers and 184 pitches while overcoming a 0-4 deficit to a 5-4 comeback win in Game 2 of the WS.

100 – million more dollars for the Dodgers payroll than the combined payrolls of World Series combatants Tampa Bay and Milwaukee.

… Of the Week Awards

Idiotic Decision of the Week – Dan Campbell: There’s a lot I like about the Detroit Lions’ head man, but going for it on fourth and one from Detroit’s own 24 with 4:50 left and the score tied at 17-17 was not one of them. But, despite being stopped, he got bailed out by a gagged missed Green Bay FG attempt and horrendous officiating against GB to let Detroit somehow prevail 20-17.

Sports 101 Answer: The only World Series MVP from a losing team was Yankee second baseman Bobby Richardson when the Bombers lost in seven games in the incredible 1960 World Series.

A Little History – The 1960 World Series: This was inarguably one of the weirdest in history. Thanks to winning their games 16-3, 12-0 and 10-0 the losing Yanks outscored Pittsburgh 55 to 25. Whitey Ford pitched two shutouts as Richardson set the RBI record while going 11-30, with two doubles, a grand slam and knocking in 12.

All of which paled next to Game 7, which had lead changes in every half inning from the eighth on, an eighth-inning 3-run from a guy — third-string catcher Hal Smith — even more obscure than Bernie Carbo and an incredible base-running maneuver by Mickey Mantle to avoid a double play in the ninth that let them stay alive to tie it.

Then came the hit that probably put Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski in the Hall. It went over Yogi’s head in left for the first and only World Series walk-off homer to give Pittsburgh the Series.

Final Thoughts: Does anyone know if one-time Red Sox uber prospect Triston Casas is still alive?

Is it me, or is Larry Bird’s prolific and often hilarious trash talking getting much more attention now than when he was actually doing it in the ’80s?

After seeing Seattle’s best in football D dismantle Patrick Mahomes and undefeated KC 20-3 Sunday night, I wonder what the folks carping on Maye for only scoring 10 on them opening day have to say now?

I H–A–T–E when the Pats play on Thursday and Monday nights. And they have four more coming up, along with a 9:30 a.m. start vs. Detroit in London over their next seven games. Yuck.

Finally, don’t forget to vote.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

Big Story – World Series: The $130 million payroll Brewers gave the Players Association fresh ammo in advance of the coming labor fight over whether a salary cap is needed or not by sweeping the $430 million L.A. Dodgers to win the NLCS. In the AL it was undecided at deadline with Tampa Bay up 3-2.

The prospect of a series with Milwaukee vs. Cleveland or TB does not have TV executives dancing in the aisles, as it offers no big names and no dastardly team like those Dodgers to root against for an upset. Just resilient, gritty teams who play small ball and know how to win. And we’ll see if that’s enough to draw big attention or just those who like watching baseball played like it ought to be played.

Sports 101: Who was the first Black player to hit a home run in the World Series?

News Item – Pats Down Jets 26-19: A lackluster effort that made this one live up to the definition of a trap game.

• Good – Situational Football: It was so solid it let them make enough plays in big moments to hold off the better than expected Jets. Plus the kick coverage was the best it’s been all year.

• Bad – Injuries to the OL: Three starters going down in the same game. Yikes. But they somehow survived as the depth helped them do what they wanted: grind down the clock on the ground in the fourth quarter to ice it.

• Ugly – A.J. Brown: Either he needs to knock off the rust or he has hands of concrete, which included letting the Jets crucial onside kick go right through his hands.

• Grade – C: They did enough to win, which is what counts most, but it wasn’t pretty.

News Item – Bad Day at Black Rock for Top 10: It was a rough day for the Top 10 in college football on Saturday as Georgia, Notre Dame, Alabama and last week’s No. 1 Texas all lost. As did fifth-ranked Indiana, taken down by local lad Ryan Day’s now top-ranked Ohio State in the clash of the day.

The Numbers:

237 – yards allowed per game by the Seattle Seahawks, who gave up 277 to the Pats in Week 1.

127.3–NFL-leading QB rating for Seattle backup Drew Lock in his two games filling in for starter Sam Darnold.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up – Tampa Bay: For actually managing a game to let the players win it, rather than having a shut-in stat geek with a laptop decide who does what, by letting excellent pitching starter Drew Rasmussen go seven innings and 95 pitches as he gave up one run and six hits in TB’s 3-1 Game 5 win over Cleveland.

In Case You’re Interested – Alumni News:

• In his first six games with Houston Kayshon Boutte has 14 catches on 21 targets for 169 yards and no TDs.

• Keion White has three sacks for the 5-0 49ers.

Sports 101 Answer: Larry Doby was the first when he hit one in the 1948 Series.

A Little History – Larry Doby: A guy pretty much forgotten by time despite being brought to the majors by Indians owner Bill Veeck (as in wreck) just a few months after Jackie Robinson in 1947. He played from 1947 to 1959, during which time the career numbers were .288, 273 homers and 1,093 RBI. Good enough to be elected to Cooperstown, though it took them 39 years to do it.

Final Thought – Five Things I’m Most Interested in as the NBA Season Opens:

• Knicks vs. 76ers vs. Celtics: All three haven’t really competed for the division crown together in the same season since 1967-68.

• Victor Wembanyama: I thought he was a chippy punk in the NBA Finals and I’m hoping he grows up beyond that. Because I’m most eager to see what this young Frenchman adds to his game to help him be the dominant player he has the package to become.

• The Philadelphia Experiment: The NBA’s most ultimate talent-vs.-chemistry situation since Wilt joined West and Baylor in L.A. in 1968-69. Most interesting is not Jaylen Brown. It’s how Lebron morphs his game to fit in at 42, which I think he’ll do.

• Cooper Flagg: In the final six games of his rookie year he scored 51, 45 and 33 in three of them. And while this is probably an unfair comparison, here’s how this rookie stacks up to Larry Bird’s. CF, then LB: points 21.0 – 21.3, assists 4.5 – 4.5, rebounds 6.7 – 10.4. FG 46.8 – 47.4. Pretty close, but remember LB was 23 when he was a rookie and Flagg 19. All of which will have Dallas fans asking, “Luka who?”

• Mitchell Robinson: I love offensive rebounders and he’s great at it. Plus he plays rim protecting D and is going to be the best pick-and-roll-for-the-lob-to-dunk Celtic since lob it to Rob Williams was traded to Portland.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – Celtics Are Back: The new-look Celtics open their season Tuesday vs. Detroit. It’ll give Celtic Nation their first look at Paul George and Mitchell Robinson. Robinson will help the inner D and rebounding, while the big question for the perpetually injured 36-year-old George is how many games he can play after averaging just 48 a year the last seven seasons.

That’s the big number for the C’s, as George will need to play a lot more games than usual as he steps into the gigantic hole left behind by the departure of Jaylen Brown.

We’ll see how that works out starting Tuesday.

Sports 101: Name the only two to win an NCAA Basketball title, an Olympic gold medal and NBA titles as a player and a coach.

News Item – Baseball Payroll Battle: Sox owner John Henry must be rooting hard for Milwaukee in the NLCS. That’s because it features L.A., with baseball’s highest payroll at $410 million, vs. the team with MLB’s most wins despite just the 28th-ranked payroll at $130 million. The latter represents the “scouting and drafting well” approach Henry wanted for his Red Sox when he downsized the payroll. Said another way, it’s the battle of “it’s not how much you spend, it’s how you spend it.”

News Item – Pats Crush Raiders 45-17

• Good News – Drake Maye: He’s back to normal in going 26-34 for 374 yards and four TDs.

• Bad News – Injuries Galore: They already have put more guys on IR in 2026 than in all of 2025. Sunday it was top two 2026 draft picks Will Campbell and TreVeyon Henderson reinjuring a knee/MCL and ankle respectively.

• The Pleasant Surprise – Kyle Williams: I told you guys he would be better than you thought. It’s a small sample size, but after three catches for 91 yards and a TD, his career yard per catch average of 22.9 is now best in NFL history. Homer Jones’ 22.5 for the 1960s Giants is the record.

• Best Development – Zak Kuhr: You have to love how aggressive the Pats’ young DC is in dialing up pressure with the blitz. Most aggressive Pats DC since Brian Flores in 2018.

News Item – WNBA Surprise: I couldn’t name one player on the Golden State Valkyries but I’m sure the Las Vegas Aces can after the three-time defending champs got swept out of the playoffs by the second-year expansion team. Only thing left for A’ja Wilson and the rest of the WNBA’s petty players is to find a way to blame their demise on Caitlin Clark.

News Item – Speaking of Clark: “Las Vegas-Golden State averaged 1.12 million [viewers] on NBC and Peacock, according to figures NBC supplied to OutKick,” wrote Dan Zaksheske for Outkick in a story published Oct. 8 on foxnews.com. It was a respectable number but it pales in comparison to the numbers watching Clark and Indiana vs. LV, as “Just one Sunday earlier, Indiana’s first-round opener against Las Vegas averaged 2.11 million viewers on ABC,” the Outkick story said.

The Numbers:

3 –wins in five games for Coach B and UNC after their 21-17 win over Pittsburgh Saturday.

20 –combined penalties by the Pats and Raiders on Sunday for 218 yards.

51 – my over-under for the games George is able to play for Boston this year.

… Of the Week Awards

RIP – Mike Ditka: Has any coach of any team in any sport ever looked more like his team’s mascot than the big fella when he was coaching the Chicago Bears in the 1980s? The one word that best described this bigger-than-life character as a player or a coach was “tough.” Though punishing, intimidating and fearless also come to mind for the western Pennsylvania native. Lost in all of it is that he was a great player and the first tight end elected to the Hall of Fame in Canton.

In Case You’re Interested: James Tibbs III, who the Red Sox got in the Rafael Devers deal and then flipped to (of course) the Dodgers for Dustin May, hit .287 with 30 homers, 32 doubles and 107 RBI in AAA.

Random Thoughts:

DeMario Douglas’s dance after scoring the opening drive TD vs. Vegas was the worst local celebration dance since Antoine Walker used the Walker Wiggle to turn most of Celtic Nation against him.

Sports 101 Answer: Bill Russell and K.C. Jones.

Final Thought – Biggest Celtics Question Marks:

Does Jayson Tatum have the competitive leadership skills they need without Brown?

How do they fill the Jaylen Brown hole when George misses the usual 30 games? Or at the foul line, where JB had 400 more FTs than PG last year?

After costing his team its last two playoff series losses due to stubbornness and a complete inability to close out tight games, will Slow Joe Mazzulla learn from it or will he be the biggest reason they get swept out of the playoffs early for a third straight season?

Can Hugo Gonzalez improve his shooting enough beyond 5 feet to be the needed most improved player on the team?

Season Prediction: 54-28, third in the East.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – Sox Go Down Hard:Well, the Red Sox season ended pretty much the way it started — badly — as they were swept out of the playoffs for the second year in a row by the Yankees. Making it worse was being run over by Boston area products their local scouts whiffed on, Ben Rice and Cam Schlittler, who they’ll now have to deal with for years, along with looking so overmatched against a team missing Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton.

In the end it left all wondering who they actually were. The team that burned through most of June and July? Or the one that went 15-15 in their last 30 games?

See you next spring.

Sports 101: Who holds the NFL career record for most receptions by a non-drafted player?

News Item – Pats Beat Bills 26-24

Phew! That was close. But amid an up-and-down start they finished where they needed to be after their tough opening four games at 2-2.

Biggest highlights: (1) Drake Maye had a couple of scary plays, but in throwing for 268 yards and three TDs he looked back on track. (2) Spectacular one-handed catches by Romeo Doubs and Efton Chism on the Pats’ last two TDs. (3) Decent job by the D containing Josh Allen without the Christians Barmore and Gonzalez.

Special teams: Bad all day by allowing several big kickoff returns and the punter kept killing the net gain by sending booming punts into the end zone rather than dropping them inside the 20.

The Numbers:

17 – catches by Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb for 189 yards in Dallas’ comeback 36-30 win over Houston.

94.8 – the average mph of all 2026 MLB pitches according to MLB Statcast, up from 91.9 mph when tracking began in 2015.

658 – days (and 643 attempts) between interceptions before Minkah Fitzpatrick got one to end the Jets’ 21-game streak without a pick. Though they’re still the Jets, who lost 23-12 to a Bears team using their third-string QB.

… Of the Week Awards:

• Thumbs Up – Drake Maye: Patriot Nation gets to breathe easier since he returned to normal on Sunday.

• Thumbs Down – U of Texas DE Colin Simmons and RB Raleek Brown: For their vulgar on-field “celebrations” during the top-ranked Longhorns win over Tennessee.

• Quote of the Week: Texas AD Chris Del Conte wrote“… it was embarrassing to our proud and widely respected football team…” in a blog post apologizing for his nitwit players. Nice, but a two-game suspension would have been better.

• Play of Week – Igor Shesterkin: The New York Rangers have had 93 goaltenders since entering the NHL in 1926-1927. And none had scored a goal until Thursday when Shesterkin buried an empty netter in NY’s opening night 5-1 win over Tampa Bay.

Sports 101 Answer: With 903 Wes Welker has the record for most NFL receptions by an undrafted player.

Final Thoughts – On The Red Sox’ Demise

• Chad Tracy: He deserves much credit for righting the ship after taking over for Alex Cora. But, while they still would’ve lost, he turned manageable deficits into full Yankee blowouts by panicking to yank Payton Tolle and especially Sonny Gray far too early.

• Roman Anthony: Lost year for a guy who many thought was on track to be Yaz-like. He’ll be more of a question mark next spring because after missing most of 2026 and with his first two seasons ending early he’s starting to look brittle.

• Early Signings Strategy: With Anthony missing most of the year, Brayan Bello being so awful he got sent to AAA in June and Kristian Campbell still buried there, the “let’s sign the young guys early” strategy to lower their cost as the career progresses ain’t working out too well.

• Off-Season Work Ahead: To start, they need; a BIG bopper to hit fourth, to re-sign Gray and a permanent second baseman.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – Sox and Yanks Face Off Again: It’s playoff Round 7 of baseball’s greatest rivalry. And since I’m writing on Monday morning, it could be over by the time you see this or it could be the decisive Game 3 happening.

The Sox’ biggest problem going in is their lack of hitting, where they averaged just 2.3 runs a game in their final 13 games, exacerbated by the iffy status of Willson Contreras. Of course, Aaron Judge was the same for NY and most would take that one-for-one trade.

Prediction: Sox in three.

Sports 101: With 45 homers and 40 steals Pete Crow–Armstrong became the seventh member of baseball’s 40-40 club. Name the other six.

News Item – Pats Embarrassed 35-6 by Jax: Maye-day, Maye-day is what the pilot of Patriot Nation Airlines is screaming into the mic after seven turnovers in the first three games as the confidence drains from their young star Drake Maye. Question: Why in the name of Babe Parilli did Mike Vrabel take a T.O. with just 49 seconds left in the first half when Jax had the ball on its own 20, no timeouts left and having the kicker with the league’s strongest leg?

Time to panic? No. I said in my pre-season predictions they’d be doing well to get out of their first four games at 2-2. But it does make next week in Buffalo huge!

News Item – Red Sox Prediction: I had them going 92-72. Missed by five games. My biggest miss since taking Baltimore big in SB 3.

News Item – Baseball 2026 Notables:

• Anyone else notice old friend Eduardo Rodriguez had the second most wins in baseball in going 16-7 with a 2.89 ERA?

• Jacob Misiorowski: The young Milwaukee hurler had 252 k’s in 174.2 innings. At that rate of 13 k’s per 9 innings, if he pitched the same 335 innings Sandy Koufax did when he struck out 382 in 1965, Miso would whiff 492.

• Houston somehow won the pathetically weak AL West with the worst ever division-winning record of 81-81.

• Got to love the All Name Team Trade executedby now St. Louis GM Chaim Bloom of sending Brendan Donovan to Seattle in a three-team deal that brought back pitching prospect Jurrangelo Cijntje along with outfielders Tai Peete and Colton Ledbetter.

• Love seeing the second-highest-payrolled $350 million Mets finish last in the NL East at 74-88, while $128 million Milwaukee produced baseball’s best record at 103-59.

The Numbers:

7 – Brewers struck out by the Phillies’ Zack Wheeler to start the game in a win last week.

224 – MLB record most batter strikeouts in one season recorded by White Sox infielder Colson Montgomery.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up OTW – Detroit Tigers: For their classy celebration of certain Hall of Famer Justin Verlander’s final game by having daughter Genevieve come to the mound for an emotional embrace and be with him as he left it for the final time.

Broadcasting Faux Pas OTW: Tom Brady saying, “oh, [blank]” live on Fox as Jayden Daniels dislocated his left elbow in an ugly sight. Realizing the whoops, the quick thinking we’re accustomed to followed as he immediately said “excuse me.”

Weird NFL Stat OTW: After being the second guy on a hook and ladder play, SF wideout Deebo Samuel was credited with 80 receiving yards and a receiving TD despite having no official catches in SF’s 36-30 win over Arizona.

Random Thought: What’s with those yellow batting gloves from Caleb Durbin? He looks like he’s in a 1960s TV commercial doing the dishes with Palmolive.

Sports 101 Answer: Jose Canseco (42 & 40), Barry Bonds (42 & 40), A-Rod (42 & 46), Ronald Acuña (41 & 73), Shohei Ohtani (54 & 59) and Alfonso Soriano (46 & 41) are the members of 40-40 club.

Final Thought – Prospect Expectations vs. Reality:

Red Sox Nation spent the 2025 off-season talking/lusting over/bragging about the four supposedly can’t miss guys they had from MLB’s Top 35 prospects. Here’s what all have done two years later.

Kyle Teel – The catcher who delivered Garrett Crochet in a big trade struggled through an injury-riddled season where he hit .210 with five homers and 26 RBI in 28 games.

Kristian Campbell – still in the minors searching for a position since his 2025 demotion last June where he hit .256 with eight homers and 51 RBI. Good thing they hired those Driveline swing coaches, ’cause all they did was wreck the swing of a guy who hit .362 on the way up in 2024.

Marcelo Mayer – the biggest bust. The once fourth overall pick hit .223 with seven homers and 32 RBI in 114 games over two years, which both ended with him on the DL.

Roman Anthony – After a solid Year 1, he was .243-5-15 in 54 games in 2026. True, it was affected by injury, which has already wrecked or ended his two seasons. The 2026 numbers project to 15 homers and 45 RBI in a full season. Hardly superstar numbers.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.