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06/09/2010 - Owings Mills, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Baltimore Ravens fullback Le'Ron McClain signed his one-year tender with the club on Wednesday.
McClain, 25, has rushed for 1,100 yards and 12 touchdowns in 48 games -- 41 starts -- with the Ravens, who selected the Alabama product in the fourth round of the 2007 draft. He also has caught 49 passes for 319 yards and two scores.
The two-timer Pro Bowler was Baltimore's last remaining restricted free agent.
<< Pirates promote top pitching prospect Lincoln
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Now it's the Pirates turn to unveil the best
arm in their system.
One day following Stephen Strasburg's stirring debut, Pittsburgh recalled
right-hander Brad Lincoln, the club's top pitching prospec
<< Iniesta could still play in Spain's first match
Barcelona, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Spain midfielder Andres Iniesta will head
to South Africa after it was revealed on Wednesday by an MRI scan that his
thigh injury is not as bad as initially feared.
Iniesta injured his right thigh
<< Khan to play in U.S. Open
Far Hills, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Englishman Simon Khan will participate in
next week's U.S. Open Championship at Pebble Beach.
The spot had become available since the winner of last week's Memorial
Tournament, Justin Rose, had not previously
<< Xavi and Pedro sign new Barca deals
Barcelona, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Barcelona have agreed to new long-term
contracts with midfield playmaker Xavi and rising star Pedro Rodriguez.
Xavi, 30, has penned a new deal with the Spanish champions which could keep
him at the
Lakers' win earns top ratings for ABC >>
BOSTON (AP) -The Los Angeles Lakers' victory in Boston in the NBA finals earned the highest television ratings for a Game 3 since 2004.The Lakers' 91-84 win earned an 11.5 overnight rating, 14 percent better than the Lakers and Orlando posted in Gam
Italy's Pirlo hopes to be ready for final group game >>
Rome, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Italy midfielder Andrea Pirlo is hoping to be
fit for his team's final group stage match against Slovakia on June 24.
The AC Milan veteran sustained a calf injury in Italy's recent 2-1 friendly
defeat aga
Three added to 2010 Hall of Fame class >>
Saratoga Springs, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Historic Review Committee of the
National Museum of Racing has announced that nineteenth century horse Harry
Bassett, trainer Michael Ernest 'Buster' Millerick and jockey Don Pierce have
been el
Regional round matchups announced for Coaches vs. Cancer >>
Princeton, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pittsburgh, Texas, Maryland and Illinois will
open the 2010-11 basketball season by participating in the Coaches vs. Cancer
Classic.
Those teams will serve as the four regional round hosts for the event.
In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and online football betting thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
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