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Edit: Here's a video for those of you who don't know.
In the early-mid '90s (OK, late '90s, too xD) Kabong and I had a heated rivalry in NBA Live. This was when NBA Live not only existed but was the greatest basketball video game on the planet. Shawn Kemp was on my team (before a fateful trade for David Robinson due to Kabong's need for a power forward and the game's inability to edit players' primary positions).
For those of you who may be clueless about NBA basketball in the '90s, Shawn Kemp was an extraordinarily athletic big man. His coordination and body control allowed him to handle the ball and attack the basket like a small forward, while his power allowed him to throw down massive, thunderous dunks. Many of his best dunks involved taking off from one side of the key and either slamming it backwards over his head on the other side of the key or spinning in mid-air as he flew past the rim and cramming it with 2 hands.
He was a monster. One day, Shawn Kemp threw down a dunk for me in NBA Live that destroyed Kabong's soul. I don't remember the details of who he dunked over (I'm sure Karl Malone was involved lol) or how many people's lives he destroyed, but I remember jumping out of my chair to scream his name without realizing that, at that very moment, my soul was also leaving my body.
What came out of my mouth was not quite "SHAWN KEMP!!!" It was more like "SHHRRAWNGKRROMP!!!"
From that day on, "Kromp" became synonymous with any act of complete and total domination, usually involving brute force and resulting in triumph (for the kromper) and some degree of humiliation (for the one who was kromped upon).
Over time, Kabong and I developed an entire Kromp-based vocabulary. There were krompings and people got kromped and were kromped down. Things were going krompingly and we appreciated krompulence wherever we found it.
When I bought GW for Kabong as a computer warming present, I created a first character for him. There was no doubt he would be a warrior and his name would be Kromp. The game required a 2-part name, so I made Kromp into a Captain. Captain Kromp didn't sound right, especially to a mind that had grown up with Captain Kangaroo and Captain Caveman. Captain Kromp didn't have the right flow or balance. It needed another syllable. Before I could even think about it, my fingers typed the words:
Captain Krompdown
It was perfect. The Captain appears in every game I play (and even some I don't... Other people have stolen the name in games I've never played). His name is a tribute to that moment when Shawn Kemp single-handedly destroyed Kabong's entire life, robbed him of his will to live, and, just for a second, got me speaking in tongues. 