Mark this one off your list

With great power comes great responsibility.

A deep line from a famous comic strip, but very fitting for today's UFC bout between Carol "The" Mark and Dan "My email address is not support@rawlings.com" Jundt.

Now, while it is 100% true that Jundt arrived at work today in biker's shorts, it is also true that he brought something more powerful than even a pair of biker's shorts. Something we all have longed for at one time or another in our Rawlings Group careers. Some know this as the "IT" factor. Others know it as it is called on the streets (or hallways) as simply "Administrative Access".

That's right, while Dan's email address is not support@rawlings.com, his team has the ability (or as some on the third floor might say, the "right") to set up email accounts. That made today's matchup quite the connondrum and one that needed to be kept under tight scrutiny. If, for example, Carlisle Mark voted in the UFC this year under the email address camark@rawlings.com, it would have to be scrutinized. No votes were allowed from support@rawlings.com or greenteam@rawlings.com or even productidea@rawlings.com. Only current employees who reside in St Louis or the Tech Center can vote. No make believe people, awards, teams, or forms were allowed to participate.

Now, on to your regularly scheduled battle update.

For those of you who didn't notice, or read your emails, this was one hotly contested, highly involved battle. It had the pulse of the company in its balance. In fact, today's warriors rank as the #1 and #2 vote getters so far this season... and this one has been brewing since the brackets were first unveiled.

Jundt went to work early, arriving in his bikers shorts ready for anything that came his way. But he may not have been quite ready for the intensity that The Mark brought. Mark is a sprinter and she came in quick and early, delivering a thunderous stack of papers onto the desk of Jundt. That's right, thunderous. She raised her head in the air and walked off stating, "there., that out to keep you busy." Each page contained an image of Carol with a trademarked statement, "The Mark of a Pro." This unseen combination of power, guts, and swagger hurled Mark to a 6-3 deficit.

But that swagger came back to haunt her as she tripped over Jundt's cordless mouse and fell to the turf, leading to catcalls from the MIS group and evening the score at 7 apiece.

Jundt got down to business the high tech way, with an aerial surveilance team. He sent out his radio controlled airplane throughout the offices to observe computer stations and pick the optimal time for those "Automatic Updates" that can render any computer immobile for 5 minutes (or 25 minutes if you've got something older than a T43... ) As could be predicted, this worked out in Jundt's favor, to the tune of a huge 23-10 lead for the Iron Man.

Carmen "Flock of" Segelle had had enough. She stood at her desk and sent a few pictures to print on the marketing color printer... on legal paper. She knew the crazy combination of printing jobs would cause every IT worker their greatest nemesis, the paper jam, to appear. It might be enough to knock them off their game.

Jundt scurried downstairs to handle the printer problem. But luck was about to take a special turn in his favor. Carol "off the" Mark was now down in marketing, looking for her stainless steel Rawlings mug from Lindsey "MVP 74" Naber right next to the printer. Mark grabbed the mug and waived it crazily in the air, smacking Jundt just below the bike helmet and knocking him to the turf, narrowing that gap to 23-16. But that just put Jundt into his home position. The bicycle. A series of powerful bicycle kicks, many of them connecting, sent Mark moving around like a baseball card caught in a tire spoke. (It probably sounded similar to this as well!) Jundt expanded his lead to a surprising 43-23-1 lead over Mark and Segelle.

It was time to finish the job.

Jundt called for his plane, which flew in and received the medal of honor - a special Mark to show off his victory over his valiant opponent. Jundt wins this one 47-23-1. He advances to meet Bob "Windy City Shocker" Tomaszewski on August 17.