In the early rounds, Martinez flummoxed Pavlik. He used a ton of speed and movement, scored a ton of points and for a while I thought he was going to run away with the fight. Kelly did not look like he had an answer for Martinez. Around the 4th round though, Kelly started to impose his size and length and actually started to box. I thought for a while that he would find a way to end the fight quickly. There is something about Kelly Pavlik’s size, the way he moves, and the visual comparison with guys in his weight class that makes you think the fight is about to end. You keep thinking that anytime, he will do enough to drop his opponent.

In round seven, Pavlik did enough and caught Martinez with a short inside right. Martinez was off balance, and Pavlik put him on his ass. The fight started to get really interesting in round 8. Martinez came back into the fight and Pavlik fought back. I enjoyed round 8. Badassitude was in evidence. Each guy was trying to get away ahead of the opponent. I thought Martinez won it. The HBO crew called it for Pavlik but that was neither here nor there. But I have seen Pavlik backed into a corner before. This is why I enjoy watching his fights. Anywhere, anytime, he can find the big punch and finish the fight.

Round nine and ten were a wash-out. Martinez won the round cleanly. The punch starts were overwhelmingly one sided. Pavlik looked like a man whose ass had been kicked every which way. He was a bloody mess. But again, I had seen those heavy hands of Pavlik before. They essentially ended Jermaine Taylor’s career. He is a badass but tonight like he has a few times before, he seemed to have run into a badasser fighter. The end of round 11 was tough for Pavlik. He took a ton of punishment and did not do anything in return. In those last rounds, there was something disappointing about Kelly Pavlik. He is a badass. Win or lose, you never doubt his badassitude. In this fight though, in those last rounds where champions are made, he was absent. Bottom line, Martinez was the badasser fighter tonight. If he didn’t win this fight, it would be a travesty.

So I was watching The Ultimate Fighter episode 3 last night. I don’t have much of an interest in what goes on away from the mat and the octagon. Everything for me builds up to the fight so I tend to filter out all the peripheral shit. I am intrigued with the little bit of the actual training that I see. If the producers were true fight guys, training would be the bulk of the show. Side note – Ortiz was training the boys into the night. In the dark, he had them working. I liked that. The message there was this (at least if I was the coach it would be); “It’s big boys time. If you can’t hang, put on your skirt and go home…”

The fight of the night was a middleweight contest between Brad Tavares and James Hammortree. I thought it was good match up. Tavares was badass, I thought. He seemed very athletic, Hammortree seemed tough. In the early part of the 1st round, Tavares looked like he had the kind of shit a good young fighter should have. I liked his high kicks but after throwing a couple, he did not go back there. With time, he will understand what his strengths are. At the same time, Hammortree showed some brilliance with his hands for what amounted to seconds and we did not see those skills again in the fight. They went to the ground and I think if Tavares had had the skills, he would have finished the fight with a rear naked choke. But he couldn’t get his hooks in and he would not do the punishing work to give him the advantage that would allow him to get the advantageous hooks in. He let his opponent off the hook.

Hammortree too was badass. He seemed to have more skill on the ground that Tavares. He defended easily against the attempted rear naked choke although against another fighter with a little more skill, it would have been goodnight and all she wrote. Hammortree went for the takedown early, and he got it. He used his elbows well (though not as much as he could have). He seemed to understand his advantage on the ground. But so often he was so invested in just maintaining his position, he could not see the big chances he could take advantage of to finish the fight. There was a time he had Tavares off the ground but with Tavares head so exposed that had he remembered to use the knee, the fight would have been over. All told though, I thought he won round 1. But apparently the judges thought differently. Who are these judges anyway?

In the 2nd round fatigue began to set in. For a good part of the round, Tavares began to look like very much less of a contender. Hammortree seemed to be winning the round by default, not because he was doing any brilliant fight work but because Tavares was not doing very much. It was a boring round. I was unimpressed across the board. Hammortree must have won that round. He did enough even though he did not impress. At the end of the 2nd round, I thought Hammortree had won the fight. I thought he had enough in the first round to win it, and the 2nd round was definitely his without dispute. I was surprised at the 1 – 1 verdict at that point.

The 3rd round was an entirely lopsided affair in favor of Tavares. He found the mark with a couple of quick jabs early. He seemed to have found his second wind. Conversely, Hammortree seemed to have run out of that little extra umph that he needed. Tavares got him into some kind of silly head lock/kimura that he failed to get out of. Hammortree’s inability to get out of the kimura allowed Tavares to get in enough work and score enough points to win the 3rd round and ultimately the fight, easily.

My View: There was a respectful amount of badassitude in that octagon from both guys. If they fought again, it would be an even money fight. I want to keep an eye on these guys, win or lose. They might amount to something. They were both badass at the end of the day.

Mayweather had been running his mouth. I love Floyd. He talks trash because he is the shit and because without exception, every single time, he backs it up. He is a badass. Here is a quote, “There’s a blueprint on Shane, he has five losses. Nobody has beaten Floyd Mayweather. The ultimate goal is try to build a fight that can beat Mayweather.” The quote is quintessential Floyd. Love the guy. Oh by the way, Sugar Shane has promised to knock Floyd out.

Miguel Cotto is in training for a fight on June 5 against Yuri Foreman. Who the fuck is Yuri Foreman? When a fighter loses big fights and his career is on the blink, there is no saying what his tomato can strewn attempt at a return to glory might look like. More importantly he has now hired legendary trainer Emanuel Steward. Was Emanuel really that legendary or did he train great fighters?

I ran into a news item touting the return of Peter Manfredo. Who?

Oh by the way, while we were away, Evander Holyfield became world champion again at age 47. Evander Holyfield is still fighting?

I only just started paying attention to the latest incarnation of the Ultimate Fighter. UFC always tries to exploit a rivalry between the coaches. Ortiz and Lidell just do not like each other. What is cool is that we knew before TUF 11 that they did not like each other at all – we have seen it before in and out of the octagon. That said, Ortiz is a very good trainer. As long as I have watched TUF, and I have watched all of them, I think he was by far the best coach. One thing I know is this – if coaching and training counts, Team Ortiz will win this thing. Here is the other thing I know – Lidell is a better fighter than Ortiz. Mano a mano, Lidell will kick Ortiz’s ass. I am sure of it.

Back to the last episode (episode 2 I think it was). Obviously, a guy has to believe he is good enough to win it in before entering the tournament. I like to believe that every fighter who signs up to compete in TUF, truly believes that he has the ability to win the whole thing. Over the years though, I have seen some punkass fighters (and I use that term generously for some of those guys) who should never have been allowed even close to the TUF residence zip code. But in episode 2, Clayton guy had nothing! Seriously. He did not throw punch one, and when they went to the ground, he completely punked out. This guy is supposed to have been fighting training in the mixed martial arts for a few years now. And he couldn’t get out of that triangle? Worse, he couldn’t see it coming?

I know this is TUF. Only one or 2 of these guys ever has enough to get anywhere in the sport. But still. And at the end of the fight, the guy was putting more effort into displaying his frustration than he put into either his training or the fight itself. What a punkass!! Ortiz to his credit was very quick to call the boy back and show him what the fuck was up and the mistake he had made in the fight. Like I said, Ortiz is a good coach. I was looking for some badassitude. I didn’t really see any. I am not sure Nokes is a real badass but we had to give it to him on this occasion for the quick work on Clayton.

Every now and then, a peerless athlete dazzles in a manner so complete, so sublime, we can all see what separates him from the rest. The list is a very long one and very special. Pele, Ali, Jesse Owens anchor that very long list. Recently, we might add, Kobe, Ronaldo, Messi, Pac and Bolt.

This afternoon, Messi reminded all of us what it looks like when a supreme talent gets in the zone. Barcelona was hosting Arsenal (a very good team I might add, my favorite team) at Camp Nou in a Champions League quarter final tie. It had to be seen to be believed. Messi was sublime. He made look easy. He scored a hat trick in 21 minutes of the first half. Come on!! On 90 minutes, he had scored 4 goals, leading in Championship League scoring for the season. Magical was what it was. Unbelievable, sublime. It sucks to lose, but there is something about losing to a talent that for that game was so incredibly better, incomparable, great that it must take off some of the sting for Arsenal.

Lionel Messi = Badassitude. Period.

So Duke won the NCAAs. Duke. The team we love to hate. Somehow, more than any other team, they find a way to win. They typically have good players, but there are other teams with better players. This year, I think Syracuse and Kansas had better players. But Duke had the better team.

There is something about the way that Duke team is coached. And the way they play. The coach seems to have a knack for get the absolute best, and then some, out of his players. In fact, I firmly believe that Mike Krzyzewski (you know I had to cut and paste that name and what the hell kind of name is that? And what’s with how it is pronounced?)…. Anyway, I believe that Mike Krzyzewski is a) the best coach in college basketball but, b) he takes so much out of the kids when they are in school that they have nothing left when they get to the NBA. If they have anything left at all, they are so beat up, they can’t stay healthy (Grant Hill comes to mind). That said, Duke is very simply badass. There is not one team in college basketball that has the killer instinct and the total stone cold desire to win like Duke. That, folks, is badassitude!

We took a little time off to decompress and clear the mind a little bit. We are back and we are looking for, thinking about and ready again to discuss our favorite topic: BadaSSitude.

The past few weeks have been great for observers and connoisseurs of badassitude. The NCAA for one, whittled down to the final 2. We watched some of our favorite teams punk out – Georgetown, Kansas, Syracuse, Kentucky and on and on. They disappointed and went down – fast. Except for a couple, the top seeds went down like flies. On a side note, I am beginning to think that you could give John Calipari the Dream Team and he would find a way not to win the championship. Duke though were steadfastly badass. And to be fair, so was WVU. Butler was just badass period. In a knockout tournament, your badassitude has to come to the forefront. This is why we love the NCAAs. It is like badassitude central!

For those who never want to let go of football, we watched some interesting off season things happen the NLF changed the overtime rules for some reason. In my mind it should either be sudden death which is what it was, or a full overtime period a la basketball. Those are the only formats that judge badassitude. Anything in between is very simply a bunch of crap. Speaking of football, the big news of the offseason was the trade of D Mac from the Philadelphia Eagles to the Washington Redskins. Those of you who have followed us for a little bit know that we were partial to the Eagles and McNabb. In fact so much so that we don’t want to say anything about this trade except the following: Donovan McNabb has always been a badass and will always be a badass. Enough said.

Also, while we were away, Bernard Hopkins kicked Roy Jones’s ass. Now granted, Roy is no longer the badass he once was but an ass whipping is an ass whipping especially when it is done by a bona fide badass which Bernard still is. Speaking of badassitude, there may be some emerging from England by the name of Hayes who just kicked John Ruiz’s ass soundly. The Pac man made it look easy against Clottey although Clottey might have done better had he decided to throw a few more punches.

And while we were on break, Barack Obama broke out some serious political badassitude and got his healthcare reform package passed. And many had doubted his badassitude. And just yesterday, Apple a company with an incredible amount of badassitude, released the iPad to resounding acclaim everywhere.

Maybe we shouldn’t have taken a break….

If we have to accept that there are companies that are totally badass like, say our recent post about Google, then too, we must accept that there are companies that are equally punkass. AOL, aka America Online, (NYSE: AOL) is a punkass company that comes to mind. A little known fact about AOL is that is was originally Quantum Computer Services, some kind of computer company franchise. Today headquartered in New York, its original headquarters were in Dulles, VA (full disclosure, I worked around and in tech in that neighborhood for quite a few years).

In the 90’s AOL grew into, for all intents and purposes, the premier internet portal with a subscription membership that was well over 30 million worldwide. AOL grew on some clever positioning as the everyday user’s guide to the internet. It made everything on the web easy, even though their performance was horrendous. (A few AOL guys from that time whispered to me that their (unpublicized) differentiater at the time was the ability to open (Usenet?) zipped porn files automatically. I don’t know the truth about that, I am just saying…. In any event, AOL was hot back then. Market value in those heady days rose to $240 billion!

Then AOL just got plain stupid. As the web grew, with free, distributed content, fast search, with search engines beginning to deliver what users could reasonably judge to be the most relevant content for their consumption, there were no matching offers or structural changes at AOL. Performance remained iffy, the acquisition of Netscape was a disaster – and actually a major setback for search. AOL was unable to see beyond subscriber revenue even as the future held the threat of precipitous decline. All this notwithstanding, AOL merged with Time Warner in 2001. Brick and Motar media company marries internet. I am sure Steve Case thought he saw synergies. I am sure I, and most people with half a brain never did. The people with half a brain and I were right as it turned out.

Here is some surely stupid shit that speaks to AOL’s punkassitude: In 2006, they raised their subscription price. I think I know why. They were counting on subscribers who had forgotten, were too busy or too dead to cancel, not noticing the change in the billing amount. But reality, as we all know is a bitch. Before the end of the year, AOL was giving away pretty much all their shit for free. AOL had screwed up not only their valuation at this, but also that of Time Warner. Steve Case and the original band were long gone. AOL had no talent, no standing in tech anymore. (Another side note – I worked with a lot of former AOLers. I sort of understand why the thing failed. With one exception, I don’t remember any world beaters).

For a company that literally led in internet access in the late nineties to early 2000’s, AOL has no claim to any lasting innovation (if there is, someone send me a note – I would love to know). They failed to leverage their subscription and reach for any meaningful business, technology or even societal purpose. Ok, so maybe in Dulles they can claim 2 exits on route 28 and the growth of the Ashburn suburb as directly attributable to AOL but that is it and even that is a stretch. The more lasting impression is one of failure and lack of innovation, the close call of nearly bringing down, by association Time Warner, and the sad pathetic shell of a once proud tech giant. Punkass. Painful punkassitude. Period!!

Today, I start a series of posts (as I find the time), to explore what I like to call corporate badassitude. Wherein, I examine a company/enterprise, and on the basis of a few criteria (or more, or less, or none at all depending on my mood), I will postulate on the badassitude of that corporation or company or enterprise or its leadership or anything else in the corporation that I decide to talk about for the purpose of reaching a badassitude conclusion.

For our inaugural look for the purposes of declaring that a company is badass, I decided to take the very easy path. Today we will talk a little bit about Google. Google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, then PhD students at Stanford. They posited that an algorithm that ranked pages based on the number and types of linking relationships with other pages would offered up better search results. They went against the grain at the time and decided to just do one thing – search. No content UI tricks, no gimmicks, etc. Just search. And they have been kicking ass since. As an aside, the Google search engine was first named “BackRub” – which does not have a badass ring to it. Then it was googol – which I think had a rather badass ring to it – before it was Google (which as a name is probably just neutrally badass).

Once they had the search thing nailed down, Google started to branch out, one direction at a time. At other times it looked like they were branching into many new directions at the same time. Sometimes, it seemed they did it just because it seemed interesting to them. And every time they did it, they seemed to kick ass. They have always been so badass and so confident in their badassitude that their prospectus specifically says to investors something to this effect “We are glad you invested in us but we couldn’t give a rats ass if you didn’t…” and they add “We will do whatever the fuck we want in whatever industry we want and if you don’t like it, you can go jump in the lake….” I am paraphrasing and exaggerating but that is just about what the prospectus said. Badassitude? I think so!

Ten years later, they have done what I thought would take forever for any company to do. They really, truly started to put some fear into Microsoft. For all intents and purposes, Google now has the Mobile OS of the future – even as all reasonable people agree that Mobile Windows must surely be declared dead. Google owns so much shit – from data to super powerful hardware, to data pipes, companies etc. And the rest of us do not know what they intend to do with. It will be interesting, should they ever get seriously challenged, to see the giant wake up and unleash the power they are sitting on.

Google has the inside track for leadership in cloud computing. And they keep doing things to Google Apps that with every small step, make desktop software a little bit more irrelevant. And it looks like they do something literally every day. Totally badass. The perpetual Beta is such a neat concept that even when a launch does not look as clean as it should (Buzz?), the almost casual introduction protects them from the hard hit that would come from screwing up a big launch. And because it always looks like Beta, they can make fixes without the brouhaha other would suffer for a simple fix.

I could go on and on about Google’s badassitude. But Google is badass more than anything else, for reinventing search, remaking search, leading search and indeed owning search. Pure. Badassitude! Period.

Darchinyan – Badass!
I watched  Vic Darchinyan beat Rodrigo Guerrero. The Guerrero kid put up a good fight. Decent speed. He needed more power for sure. Darchinyan though is a badass. There are very few fighters who load up so apparently when they are getting ready to launch a big punch and still get away with it. Everyone knows exactly where that big punch is coming from and yet many still get hit by it. That is badassitude of a very high grade.

Devon Alexander – Badass!
Who looked great last night though was Devon Alexander against Juan Urango. He looked clinical, confident and quick. Was he ever? Durango couldn’t seem to find him as well as he wanted. And when he did, he couldn’t seem to drop enough cleans shot on him. And when he did, it did not seem to do anything. On the other hand, Devon was moving around beautifully, taking clean shots at Durango, finally dropping him twice in the 8^th to stop the fight. Moral of the story, speed will triumph 85% of the time.

Joppy Retires
Speaking of, William Joppy  announced his retirement last night after what was apparently a hard fought loss to Sebastien Demers. Joppy has been fighting for a long time. He is a bonafide badass. But it is time to move on now. I hope he truly retires (at some point we would like to think that the word has meaning. No. In any event, we wish Joppy the best. His badassitude was always clear.

Jonny is still fighting?
I ran across a piece that totally threw me. Johnny Tapia is still fighting. Or he is back fighting or some such. Johnny is like 100 years old and was last seen having his ass kicked like 50 years ago. Ok, I exaggerate. But when Johnny quit the fight game years ago, it was because he was too old. So he found the fountain of youth? He won the fight. Johnny’s record was (57-5-2, 29 KOs). His opponent who also goes by the name Tomato Can was (21-28-3, 17 KOs). Once upon a time, Johnny had so much badassitude it was silly. Those days are long gone!