Daily Dosage: Gettin' schooled

Look whose favorite feature is back for another semester of greatness.

Welcome to the return of the Daily Dosage, where The Big Dead Sidebar's beloved readers are treated to sports information via links and paragraph briefs.

And how do I get said readers to stick around for the sports info that will help their daily lives? Drop a picture of a beautiful celebrity.

Duh?

So today we'll talk a little bit about Saluki hoops, NFL playoffs and the future of sports journalism.

Sound good?

Don't care. Rihanna sounds good and looks good. That's why she is today's eye candy for the return of the Daily Dosage.

SIU aces Evansville test. The SIU men's basketball team implemented a four-guard offense to combat the quickness of Evansville's players. The calculated risk turned into a success as the Salukis turned a nine-point first-half deficit into a 70-63 win at SIU Arena.

After starting the MVC portion of its schedule 0-3, the Egyptian Hunting Dawgs have bounced back with back-to-back wins. SIU has scored 70 points in back-to-back games and that has got to make someone other than myself happy.

Favorites fall in NFL playoffs. Seriously, what's the deal with home field advantage? Maybe it's because the home teams truly weren't better than their traveling opponents. Either way, the Baltimore Ravens and Philadelphia Eagles each won their second straight road playoff game and will find themselves traveling at least one more time.

The Eagles will fly out west to Arizona to face the Cardinals in another battle of the birds and the Ravens will flock to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers in a throwback game that will likely feature Hines Ward getting lit up by former SIU linebacker Bart Scott.

Here's hoping for an entertaining championship week.

Quality Linkage:

• The Daily Egyptian gets a re-design. Check it out. [siuDE.com]
  
• How to save sports journalism. [Columbia Journalism Review]
• Urban Meyer, drugs and headlines. [The Big Lead]
• CJR knocks another one out of the park as it flags down the guy who "forgot" to vote Rickey Henderson into the Hall of Fame. [Columbia Journalism Review]
• Peter Griffin must be happy. Mustaches are on the come-up. [NY Times]
• Mythbusting: The need for a salary cap. [Baseball Prospectus]
• For those of you in need of more eye candy: Amanda Bynes and Katy Perry in one pic. Yum. [Popoholic]