PALO ALTO, Calif. -- On any given day here at his companys Silicon Valley headquarters, Vivek Ranadive is ready to compete against any employee who wants to challenge him to any contest. Once, the TIBCO Software chairman and new owner of the Sacramento Kings did 150 push-ups to beat out a co-worker who thought he could do more. Another time, it was two-dozen pull-ups -- holding his chin above the bar on the final repetition just to gloat. More recently, he finished a workout on a stair-stepper after breaking his left shoulder in a bicycle accident. "I dont like to lose," he said. Spend a little time around Ranadive, and that competitive spirit -- the same one that convinced the NBA to allow him to buy the Kings instead of sell to a group that wanted to move them to Seattle last May -- is impossible to ignore. Its how he built his software empire, and its how he plans to shake up Sacramentos only major professional sports franchise. "When you think about how a pearl is made, it starts with an empty shell," Ranadive said. "And an impurity, or an irritant, a grain of sand, gets into the shell. And then a pearl forms around it. And so to make something of beauty and value, you often need an irritant. My role is to be like the Chief Irritant. So Im just going around annoying people." Ranadive moves at a frenetic pace. "The Power of Now," his companys slogan reads on a wall inside the entrance of its main building. On a recent day, he was juggling calls from Sacramento to his native India between meetings and bowls of blueberries -- his favourite part of his gluten-free diet -- at TIBCO headquarters, an office park south of Stanford nestled near other technology giants such as Google, Apple and Facebook. Ranadive, now 56, is credited with digitizing information for clients around the globe -- including the Wall Street trading floors -- with software that gives instant updates and analysis. Since he founded TIBCO in 1997, it has grown into a billion-dollar-a-year enterprise with about 3,700 employees and offices in 31 countries. "We move more information in a day on our backbone than Twitter moves in a month," Ranadive said. "If TIBCO stopped working, then basically the banks would stop, the exchanges would stop, the airlines would stop, the phone companies would stop, national security would be compromised. Basically, you couldnt get out of bed." Ranadive thrives on that responsibility. He has no problem delegating -- "the best thing I ever learned to do is surround myself with people way smarter than me," he said -- but he also admits hes "not really comfortable not being the No. 1 guy. Thats who I am. I always do my own thing." That became apparent after Ranadive joined Joe Lacobs group to buy the Golden State Warriors in 2010 and he was left with little influence over the franchise. So when Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson called him to anchor the coalition to keep the Kings from moving to Seattle, Ranadive moved swiftly. He sent TIBCO vice-president and former San Francisco 49ers All-Pro running back Roger Craig -- one of his closest friends -- to find out more information. Craig, who met Ranadive about 15 years ago when he accidentally sat in Ranadives seats at a Stanford-Duke mens basketball game, knew immediately that Ranadive would mount a successful bid. "Win, win, win. Thats the bottom line with Vivek," Craig said. "That permeates over the whole company. Thats his attitude. Just win. Find a way to win." Ever since he could remember, Ranadive has dreamed big. He grew up the son of prominent parents in a beachside suburb of Mumbai, with servants to make his bed, carry his luggage and drive him around. The youngest of three children, he was always taking items such as watches and radios apart and reassembling them. And at age 11, his curiosity spread the night Neil Armstrong walked on the moon -- July 20, 1969. "My ear was plastered to the transistor radio when I heard those magical words, One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," Ranadive said. "That was a pivotal moment in my life. It was like, Wow. Who are these people who could take a man, put him in a box and send him 250,000 miles away to land on a rock and do it flawlessly? That was incredible. What brilliance. What courage. What perseverance. I said, OK. Im going to study science and technology and Im going to be one of them." Ranadives urge to leave India strengthened because of the political turmoil at home. His father flew spitfires during World War II and returned home a hero. But in the 1970s, after the parliament passed the controversial Maintenance of Internal Security Act, Ranadive said his father was arrested and jailed for challenging the safety record of Indias planes. He was released after a lengthy court battle. Vivek was 17 when he left India for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. He never asked for money from his parents because of the unrest at home. He said he showed up at MIT with "$50 in my pocket" and clothes that were "completely inadequate" for the harsh New England winters. Ranadive earned a bachelors and a masters degree in electrical engineering from MIT and an MBA from Harvard. His engineering and technology career escalated, landing jobs with major clients such as Ford Motor Co. and Fortune Systems. Ranadive relocated to Palo Alto in 1985 to start his first software company, which delivered electronic information to users in real time. Soon after, he met his former wife, Deborah Addicott, on a blind date at a Mexican restaurant in the San Diego area. The couple, who divorced 15 years ago, have three children: Aneel, 29, lives in New York and recently started a software company; Andre, 24, is an executive with TIBCO who is helping design the Kings smartphone app; and Anjali, 20, is studying marine biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and is also an aspiring singer. Ranadive, who smiles and laughs with almost every breath now, called the divorce one of the hardest times of his life. The shared custody left him devastated, but it also forced him to make the most of his time with his children. The first time he picked up a basketball came while coaching his daughters middle school team, which made it all the way to the national championships. Before then, his sports knowledge was limited to mostly soccer and cricket, because he played both while growing up in India. He also owns a black belt in Taekwondo. These days, Ranadive said he always wakes up with "energy and optimism." Between entertaining friends at his Atherton home and hiking trails in Northern California, Ranadive is searching for a place in Sacramento to keep a closer watch on his newest project: the Kings. There is an arena to be built and promises to be kept -- to Sacramento, to the NBA and to India, where Ranadive wants to expand the leagues presence. And he has no plans to sit around and hope it all happens. "The same thing is true in the business world. In some ways, no matter how good you are, you need to show that youre getting better," Ranadive said. "If you work hard and you do the right things, I think you can make anything a winner." Nike Air Max Tn Nz . The rest of the team was already on the field stretching before batting practice while Puig was getting dressed in the clubhouse. He had been slated to start in right field for the afternoon game against the San Francisco Giants, who beat the Dodgers 8-4. 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Dominik Kahun had both goals for Germany (0-2), who lost its opening match to Canada 7-2 on Thursday.SEATTLE - Adrian Hanauer was ready to step away as general manager of the Seattle Sounders after three or four seasons and focus more on the business side of the operation.Hanauer had to wait a little longer than he wanted to get Garth Lagerwey as the Sounders next general manager.It became clear to me that Garth should ultimately be the one to replace me, Hanauer said. But those things take time and Garth had a contract and was doing great things in Salt Lake City and ultimately his contract was expiring and at a time he was able to look into his future. And I was very anxious to have that conversation with him.Lagerwey was hired as the Sounders new general manager Tuesday. He comes to Seattle after seven-plus seasons as the general manager of Real Salt Lake, helping turn that franchise into an MLS Cup winner.Now hell be responsible for all the soccer operations in soccer-crazy Seattle with the task of acquiring the one lingering item missing from the Sounders trophy case: An MLS Cup.I really felt like I had to movve on.dddddddddddd I had to move forward in my career, Lagerwey said. And I think the Sounders are an ambitious club. They are very well run and there are qualities that will transfer very well from RSL to Seattle.The addition of Lagerwey will allow Hanauer to focus on the business operations of the club. Hanauer owns one-third of the franchise, but felt his involvement in long-term planning for the growth of the franchise was lagging as he focused on the soccer side of the operation.Generally trying to be a little more strategic and spend my time in that capacity and look out five, 10, 20 years, Hanauer said. For the last seven years Ive been pretty mired down in the day to day of watching player video, and going to college games, and spending time at combines, and going on scouting trips and I havent had enough time to focus on the bigger picture.Lagerwey spent five seasons as a goalkeeper in the MLS from 1996-2000, playing for Kansas City, Dallas and Miami. He was hired by Real Salt Lake in 2007. ' ' '