Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
05/11/2010 - Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Steelers on Tuesday placed wide receiver Limas Sweed on injured reserve.
Sweed had surgery last week to repair a damaged Achilles tendon. The injury occurred during the Steelers' recent minicamp.
Pittsburgh's second-round draft pick in 2008, Sweed was waived by Pittsburgh on Monday. But since he cleared waivers, he will not count against the Steelers' 80-man roster limit.
In 20 career games with Pittsburgh, Sweed has caught just seven passes. He will miss the entire 2010 season while recovering from his injury.
The Steelers replaced Sweed on their offseason roster by signing wide receiver Isaiah Williams, who has yet to play in an NFL game.
<< Birmingham's Johnson avoids ban
Birmingham, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Birmingham defender Roger Johnson has
been fined by the Football Association for the comments he made in the wake of
last month's 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa.
The former Cardiff City star has, however,
<< Haskell to go national on ABC
Oceanport, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - One year after the filly Rachel Alexandra
made history by winning the $1 million Haskell Invitational, Monmouth Park
announced that the race will be televised on ABC.
"This is a terrific opportunity t
<< Wolverhampton extends Bia's loan
Wolverhampton, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wolverhampton has extended the loan
stay of Charleroi winger Geoffrey Mujangi Bia for a further 12 months.
The 20-year-old moved to Molineux in January and made only five appearances
for Mick McC
<< Barca's Iniesta returns to training
Barcelona, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Barcelona's attempt to retain its La Liga
crown have been handed a boost after Andres Iniesta returned to training.
The 26-year-old has been sidelined for more than a month with a hamstring
injury b
Flyers' Boucher likely done for season >>
Voorhees, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Philadelphia Flyers general manager Paul
Holmgren announced Tuesday that goaltender Brian Boucher is expected to miss
at least a month with a Grade 2 MCL sprain in his left knee as well as
injurie
Ronaldinho left off Brazil's initial roster >>
Sao Paulo, Brazil (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ronaldinho was one of four players coach
Dunga surprisingly left off Brazil's initial 23-man World Cup roster Tuesday.
Ronaldinho, a two-time FIFA World Player of the Year, Adriano, Alexandre Pato
and N
Van Nistelrooy omitted from Dutch roster >>
Amsterdam, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ruud van Nistelrooy was omitted from
the Netherlands' preliminary World Cup roster, which was released Tuesday.
Van Nistelrooy injured his knee playing for Real Madrid and, despite joining
Hamburg
Benzema left off France's provisional roster >>
Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema was not
included on France's preliminary roster, which was released Tuesday.
Benzema has just eight goals in his first season for Real, which trails first-
place Barcelon
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.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting