Fact Fondue - Southeast Missouri

He smiles on the outside, but he's dead on the inside.

• 2010 Ohio Valley Champions, they suffered at the hands of Ball State before winning the next 9 straight games.
• Handled two weeks ago by Southern Illinois - who in turn was handled by Ole Miss last week.
• Coming off a bye week, but haven't won after a bye since 2006
• Founded in 1873, Football joined the FCS in 1991
• The team had a strong showing in 2002, earning the #23 spot in the 1-AA polls; they also had their first win over a 1-A team that year: Middle Tennessee State
• Typically schedule one major conference game each year, has been stomped by the SEC (Arkansas) and Big East (Cinci) on an annual basis. They are 1-15 against the FBS
• In fact, the Ohio State Valley conference is 0-11 against the Big Ten all time
• The head coach was our DE Coach under Tiller for a year
• Used to be the 'Indians' until 2005
• Rush Limbaugh's grandfather used to edit the school newspaper as a student there
• Cedric the Entertainer studied Mass Comm there
• They have 1 astronaut
• The Golden Eagles marching band was invited to play in Edinburgh Military Tattoo in Scotland
• There is a tree on campus that students cover in chewed gum as a tradition...
• Total student body of approx. 12,000

• The Fondue - Blood Fondue - Desert, not cheese; I'm gonna try to make them loosely related to the school we are playing from now on

Fact Fondue - Rice University

And they wanted to change Pete?

Edited to include a few more awesome facts

• Established in 1912 - the year the Titanic sank
• Official Colors are Union Blue and Confederate Grey
• Purdue is 1-0 against Conference USA ('01 defeated Cinci)
• 1-2-0 against the Black and Gold. Their only victory? In 1934.
• 5-16 against the Big 10; haven't beat a B1G team since 1997 (Northwestern)
• Have a historic study area officially named the Weenie Loft..
• Students are held to an honor code for exams - students take unproctored exams at home.
• Rice football was mentioned by JFK in his Man to the Moon speech; He used Rice playing Texas annually as an example of something challenging and hard (That's what she said?)
• Their Punter, Kyle Martins was an All American last year. We have something in common I see.
• 5 Miles away from University of Houston 
• Purdue Alumni Association is doing a breakfast club at the Coach's Pub this week
• Rice has an official drinking event - The Beer Bike Rice
• Sammy the Owl was ejected from a game in 2009 for bumping an official.
• Rice has 14 astronauts 
• Bob Greise won the 1974 Superbowl (VIII) at Rice Stadium
• Rice uses the same field technology - FieldTurf - as Nebraska, Illinois, U of M, O$U

• The Fondue of the week - Southwestern Spicy Fondue

Fact Fondue - Middle Tennessee State

You like facts? I like facts. Boilerdowd, in his infinite wisdom, had given me the title of 'Associate Professor of BS' - this was somewhere between my 5 direct tweet comment about Oregon State football and my giant list of NBA draft facts (This is the third time we've had an NBA and an NFL first round pick in school history!).

Because of this, I'll chime in now and then with the Fact Fondue: a shotgun barrel full of facts that you can share around the water cooler or while talking to yourself over a luke warm tv dinner.

This week, we're melting down the Blue Raiders of Middle Tennesee State.

Come at me Bro

• MTSU is from the Sunbelt conference, Purdue has never played a Sunbelt Opponent.
• 0-4 against the Big 10
• Opened the season against Minnesota last year at home and were handed a come from behind loss - which would remain Minnesota's only win until November.
• Ranked 112/120 last year by M3, this is their second lowest rank - the lowest was the year they went D-1 ('99)
• Went to the 2010 Go Daddy Bowl where they were handled by Miami (of Ohio).
• Logan Kilgore will be their starter at QB; only played in 3 games for the Raiders
• The team will have a radio show Monday night online about Purdue, their team's condition
• This is the school's 100th year

And I'll include a recipe for a real fondue, if I must.

Got a fun fact that I forgot? You can tweet me @thuff or you can leave a comment here.

Before you say anything...it's Purdue related

This time of year helps keep my home in good shape. Right now, in fact, I'm stripping wallpaper off of my kitchen walls- a job that was long over-due. That said, I still have time to listen to NBA games in the background while updating the house.

Here's what I learned last night: NBA officials love the Celtics.

As if you had any doubt.

The did the right thing and made a foul call when the unlikeable, over-rated Rajon Rondo landed a full-swing smack on Brad Miller across the face while "attempting" to defend Miller. Problem was he was no where near the ball and was making no play on the ball.

I looked up the NBA's flagrant foul rule, and it's written so vaguely that it's completely subjective...and the officials can look the other way in occurrences like this and be unjust in the process. This is yet another case where college basketball has it right; but you already know my thoughts on the NBA.

But regardless of the verbiage of the rule, the crappy, crooked NBA officials had a chance to make the right call, and even with minutes to make their decision (due to Miller receiving medical treatment) they did not do it.

The C's move up to 3-2 in what has been a very good series.

I really don't care who wins, but I know Rajon Rondo and Joakim Noah are both in the same category in my mind...and would like neither to get a chance at an NBA championship this season. Sadly, one has to advance a step closer to that goal.

Who's Now? Who Cares?

ESPN's current stupidity-laden concept is this unwatchable "Who's Now" thing, where every day they match up two current athletes and ask the public and their hodgepodge "panel" to determine who is more "now." The "winner" then moves on in the bracket. The brackets are named for famous athletes, simply to be politically correct, which ESPN loves to be. You have the Babe Ruth bracket, but then you can't have any more white males. So you have to have a woman. So yes, one of the four brackets about great athletes is named for Billie Jean King, a tennis-playing woman. Just saying.

Then another one is for Jordan, which is hard to argue, and the last one is Ali, also hard to argue as a polarizing, great sports figure.

But what's the point of all this? This whole "Who's now" bullspit is completely impossible to define and, thus, how can we know who is more... now, or whatever? And if so, what is this telling us? Last night's matchup was Tiger Woods and Dwayne Wade. Wade's sport is off for the summer -- Tiger is playing in the British Open this weekend. Does that make Tiger more "now"? But I saw D-Wade in a commercial where he gives free basketballs to some kids and a free Lincoln Navigator to their coach. Does that count for anything? Are there points in this game? Does anyone care?

Most pressing: Will D-Wade pay for the maintenance or gas on that behemoth Lincoln?

I have an idea for another cool segment on Sportscenter, which, trust me kids, used to be a really awesome show to watch. How about we do one called "Who cares?" In this segment, the public gets to vote on all the other segments, failed ESPN concepts and shows, and grating ESPN "personalities" that they want to see tossed into a giant bucket and catapulted into outer space. Here, I can get you started...

Chris Berman
NFL Live airing in May instead of Baseball Tonight
Stephen A. Smith
Stories about David Beckham and Posh Spice
Coverage of the WNBA
Anyone who argues that Pat Summitt is "really" the NCAA victories leader
Keyshawn
Fact or Fiction
Around the Horn
Max Kellerman
Stu Scott's pretend hood lingo

Beckham Set To Debut...Hundreds Interested

In one week, David Beckham will make his MLS debut...so, why is that news to us here at Boiled Sports? Well, it's really not, but since things usually come in threes, I thought we'd have one more European-related article.

While I kind of respect the MLS for trying to make their league respectable/interesting/popular, I see this move as less-than-wise...and I know nothing about soccer (some call it football, not me). He is a 32 year-old...and from what I understand, soccer takes a lot of running. I'm 32, and running is harder than it used to be for me- and I don't have the miles on my tires that Backham does. Sure, he's in a touch-better shape than I, but it doesn't change the fact that his best years as an athlete are probably behind him.

So is MLS suddenly worth watching with its new addition? No. I don't even think it's worth watching for soccer fans. From what I've been told, MLS is a far-inferior product when compared to its cousins across the pond. Not only is the talent at a lower level here, but also, the game is much slower. Granted, I don't think Premier League is fast-enough to make it worth watching, but that's just me.

My countdown to real football has began...and the clock can't move fast enough.

My only hope with Beckham's move to the states is that Victoria Posh Beckham Spice can hook up with Nicole Richie & Paris Hilton so some hijinks can be caught by the paparazzi (please note, this comment is made soaking with sarcasm).