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01/27/2012 - Berea, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Browns named former Minnesota Vikings head coach Brad Childress offensive coordinator on Friday.
Childress becomes the first offensive coordinator under Browns head coach Pat Shurmer.
Among his 33 years of coaching experience at the collegiate and NFL levels, Childress was an offensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles under Andy Reid from 2006-10.
The Vikings fired Childress as head coach and replaced him with Leslie Frazier in November 2010 during his fifth season at the helm.
<< PSG resumes Ligue 1 play without Pastore
Brest, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - PSG has continued its spending spree with the
signings of Brazilian defenders Alex and Maxwell, but will be without its most
expensive addition, Javier Pastore, on Saturday at Brest.
Pastore, acquired for app
<< Sixers sign Elson
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia 76ers signed free-agent
veteran center Francisco Elson on Friday.
The signing provides the Sixers depth in the frontcourt as Spencer Hawes and
rookie Nikola Vucevic have battled inj
<< WR Nicks among Giants to miss practice
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Giants wide receiver Hakeem
Nicks missed practice for a second straight day Friday because of a sprained
shoulder.
Nicks, the team's second-leading receiver, said he has a sprained AC join
<< Real Madrid goes for fifth-straight win vs. Zaragoza
Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Real Madrid welcomes Real Zaragoza to the
Bernabeu in La Liga action Saturday as the first-place club looks to secure
its fifth-straight league win.
The leaders enter the weekend with a five-poin
Cremins taking medical leave of absence >>
Charleston, SC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - College of Charleston men's basketball coach
Bobby Cremins announced Friday that he is taking a medical leave of absence.
Per Cremins' request, associate head coach Mark Byington has been named
interi
Stanley alone in front at Farmers Insurance Open >>
La Jolla, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kyle Stanley posted a four-under 68 Friday to
take sole possession of the lead after the second round of the Farmers
Insurance Open.
Stanley, a first-round co-leader, finished 36 holes at 14-under 130
Bobcats coach Silas ejected from game >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Charlotte Bobcats head coach Paul Silas
was ejected from Friday night's game against Philadelphia.
Silas received an automatic ejection after receiving two technical fouls with
4:48 remaining in the se
Rockets G Martin out against Washington >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Houston Rockets leading scorer Kevin Martin
has been ruled out of Friday's game against the Washington Wizards with
plantar fasciitis in his right foot.
In 18 games so far this season, Martin is ave
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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