BoomRoastedSports Hall of Fame Inductee: Kate Upton

I've never been a fan of anointing someone great before they've achieved something....well, great. Generations are littered with the tragic "What Could Have Been..." stories of child prodigies who never lived up to their lofty expectations. Reggie Bush was supposed to be the next Gale Sayers. Now, he looks like the next Travis Minor. Jay Williams was supposed to revolutionize the point guard position. Instead, he runs point behind a desk at ESPN.

With all that said, this is a website run by two men(married men, but I digress) and, every now and then, a man's rules can be taken asunder by the presence of a hot chick(I call this "The Ronnie and Sammie Logic"). In this case, I am talking about "Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model Rookie of the Year" Kate Upton. Now, I've always scoffed at what mainstream publications have thrown in our face as the women we should view as the hottest chicks on the planet. I wasn't that impressed with Elle MacPherson and Christie Brinkley as a child growing up. I always thought Tyra Banks' "five-head" kept from being as hot as people made her out to be. In large part, the SI Swimsuit Issue forced upon us a lot of dubious "10"s. It wasn't until Brooklyn Decker came along that we had an attractive swimsuit model worthy of a vigorous co-sign. Now, we have two. If Decker is Stephen Strausburg, Kate Upton is Bryce Harper in terms of potential.

Now, I know what you're thinking..."Dave, so what? She's a supermodel. She's supposed to be attractive." Duely noted. For me, the reason I'm pushing my chips to the middle of the table and going all-in on Kate Upton and giving her a early pass to the BRS Hall of Fame is this:

She's 18.

Now, when I was a young and dumb teenager walking the streets of New Jersey and taking in everything the suburban public school system had to offer me, NO 18-year old girl looked an eighth as good as Kate Upton. I've even asked all my male friends, many of which grew up in various different cities, if they could think of a girl in their late 'teens that they went to school with that was comparable to Ms. Upton. All answers came back the same: None. In my less than three decades on this planet, only two girls come to mind who wowed the masses with their beauty at such a young age:

Britney Spears in the late '90's when "Hit Me Baby One More Time" came out and people went nuts over the Rolling Stone pictures that followed.

And pre-crack/rehab/anorexia Lindsay Lohan right after the movie "Mean Girls" hit theaters.

Upton blows both of them out of the water as of right now, a month shy of her 19th birthday. Before she was able to buy her first shot of tequila, she's become the face of Guess, lit up the vaunted Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, and signed on to be a Victoria's Secret model. Now, I know, models get discovered at a young age and we shouldn't lose our heads over the modeling world's "Next Big Thing" so quickly but 18-year old girls aren't supposed to be significantly more attractive than women 10 years their senior. Girls barely out of high school shouldn't be "the hottest chick on the planet"(Granted, I may be the only classifying Upton as that, but it's my website so you're getting my opinion and if you find someone hotter than Kate Upton, hit me up.). Teenagers aren't supposed to be YouTube sensations off of one-minute clips of them doing a stupid dance at a basketball game. Upton is so mind-bogglingly hot that I'm willing to forgive her for doing "The Dougie", a song and dance that I have grown to despise with every fiber of my being.

So mark this day down....May 19, 2011. BoomRoastedSports offers up it's official co-sign of Kate Upton before she tarnishes her career by doing shitty movies, dating Kanye West and becoming a bigger phenomenon thanks to some strategically-released sex tapes.

Ladies and gentlemen(or, just gentlemen, since I'm sure I've revolted all the female fans of this site with my public swooning), I give to you the BoomRoastedSports Hall of Fame Inductee for the month of May: The LeBron James of supermodels, Kate Upton.

Boom Roasted Sports Hall of Fame Inductee: Street Fighter X Tekken

Perhaps it's a bit of a risk inducting an entity into the Hall of Fame that a. is still a year away from launch and b. has so few details about it out there beyond the normal speculation and rumor mill gossip. After all, you wouldn't punch a quarterback's ticket to Canton midway into their senior season of high school, right?

My unabashed co-signing of this month's Boom Roasted Sports Hall of Fame inductee has more to do with excitement I possess over the concept of this proposed masterpiece than the masterpiece itself. Last month, we paid tribute to one of the hip-hop industry's greatest sidekicks and gave Nate Dogg his just due(albeit posthumously) for his impact on a genre that has since deteriorated over the last half decade.

This month, I push all the chips to the middle of the table, Jim Fassell-style, and go all-in on next year's anticipated fighting game opus, Street Fighter X Tekken.

If you were like me growing up, you spent a month's rent worth of quarters at arcades serving up piping-hot plates of ass-whooping playing any one of the numerous editions in the Street Fighter franchise. When spending money at the arcades got old, I took my talents to the consoles and got real heavy into the Tekken series(which was a much better carbon copy of the Virtua Fighter series, another fighting game franchise I spent most of my childhood with). Nowadays, the Tekken series has slipped a little while Street Fighter made a spirited comeback with the release of Street Fighter IV in April of last year and then tacked on another run with the Super sequel. The problem with fighting games is they lack longevity. With so much focus going to making the visuals look stunning, the game engine run smoothly and the controls not being too complex, finding a compelling story to keep gamers interested beyond busting their opponents' snotbox fell by the waist side. For all the glitz behind both recent Street Fighter editions and the equally gorgeous Marvel vs. Capcom 3, the gameplay went stale quickly with no real plot to keep you hooked.

That being said, when word broke out that developers behind the Tekken series and Street Fighter franchise were going to join forces to bring the world the crossover game, Street Fighter X Tekken, well, I nearly shit my pants. Fighting game nuts like myself got a taste of what mixing two great entities and making a cross-brand fighting sensation would feel like when Capcom and Marvel came together for the Marvel vs. Capcom trilogy. However, that pales in comparison to this. This is a union between two of the most world-renowned fighting game franchises in the history of gaming. Other than Mortal Kombat(which tried to copy the Marvel vs. Capcom blueprint with DC vs Mortal Kombat, which was rather ho-hum), there may not be a better match to team with the Street Fighter world than Tekken.

The word right now is Capcom and Namco will be doubling up, leading off with Street Fighter X Tekken(which will be using SF's famous 2D system) and then following up with Tekken X Street Fighter(which will use Tekken's 3D system). Both games aren't expected to see the light of day until next year, at best. As it stands, ten characters have been revealed for Street Fighter X Tekken. Representing Capcom's hit franchise will be longtime lynchpins Ryu, Ken, Guile and Chun Li as well as Abel(who made his debut in SF4). For Tekken, old-timers Kazuya, Nina and King give gamers some familiarity while Bob and Craig Marduk represent the newer class.

More characters and news will surface as we near the release date(which is still unknown) but the trailers available online have succeeded in whetting the appetite of hardcore fans like myself who still long for the old days of classic games. While there is still a chance that this joint venture flops, I'm still going to put my stamp early and tip my cap to the effort behind putting together a union of two of the biggest footprints of my childhood.

Boom Roasted Sports Hall of Fame Inductee: Nate Dogg

Every respective Hall of Fame should be a representation of the greats that particular brand had to offer. Legends, pioneers, icons.....like how baseball has Babe Ruth or basketball has MJ or Rock N' Roll has The Rolling Stones.

However, lost in the aura of these idols are the little guys who, granted, weren't as great but still carved their niche. For every Michael Jordan, there's a Glen Rice. For every Stones, there's a Foreigner or Boston. For every...well, you get the point.

As "The Little Sports Blog That Could", we figured we should have our own Hall of Fame dedicated to guys who made their mark in the world but didn't leave quite the impact that their more-decorated superstar counterparts did. Underrated guys and gals who deserve recognition for not quite being outstanding but still being pretty damn awesome.....kind of like an "Honorable Mention" Hall of Fame.

You'll get a better grip of what we are trying to achieve as we go along. Each month, we'll dedicate this spot to something noteworthy in pop culture lore(a actor/actress, movie, singer, album, hot chick, athlete, fad, etc.) and they'll get their just due here. Consider it the anti-Milk Carton All-Stars.

Without further ado, here's our first inductee.

Truth be told, when I came up with this idea I was sitting at a friend's house when "Girls All Pause" by Kurupt came on my Pandora and I decided the perfect person to lead off this Hall of Fame concept would be Nate Dogg.

A week later, Nate Dogg died and now this whole concept seems like a tribute. Nate Dogg was the Robert Horry of hip-hop: Not quite a star on his own but a phenomenal addition to any winning team. He latched onto Dr. Dre's camp with Snoop at Death Row and made his mark by carrying Warren G through the classic "Regulate". Before T-Pain was squealing on every half-decent beat on today's rap songs, Nate Dogg was the quintessential "hip hop singer". Most people, as proven by the videos posted on Facebook after his death, mainly know Nate Dogg from "Regulate"(which was a huge rap song in the 90's, running all over MTV and leading to some foolish arguments among my friends of "Warren G is better than Redman" which got squashed REAL quick), but Nate Dogg put down far more amazing choruses than "Regulate". "Area Codes", "Gangsta Nation", "Bitch Please", the aforementioned "Girls All Pause"(my personal favorite), just to name a few.

Beyond that, the guy was SMOOTH....not just his voice complementing the track but just in the way he carried himself. I mean, look at the picture. Who the hell else is pulling off a suit with a bandanna tied around his head with sunglasses on!? Who the hell is can sound cool singing "16 in the clip and one in the hole, Nate Dogg is about to make some bodies turn cold"? You think T-Pain can pull off "Got 10 girls that pay me, just so they can lay me, and when they come see me, I just drop my drawers"? Of course not.

So, while the loss of Biggie and Pac and even Big Pun were more impactful for the hip-hop game, I'm not ashamed to say I miss Nate Dogg as much as any of those guys. I'm sure VH1's Hip Hop Honors will give Nate his just due this year when they do their inductions but we figure we beat those guys to the punch, albeit a couple weeks too late.

MARCH 2011 BOOMROASTEDSPORTS HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE: NATE DOGG

Credentials: "Regulate" ft. Warren G, "Area Codes" ft. Ludacris, "Bitch Please" ft. Xzibit and Snoop Dogg, "Girls All Pause" ft. Kurupt, "Gangsta Nation" ft. Westside Connection, "Before I Collapse" ft. Eminem, among many others.

"It ain't a hit 'til Nate Dogg spit." - Mack 10, "Gangsta Nation".