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
06/03/2010 - Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Legendary UCLA men's basketball coach John Wooden is reportedly in "grave" condition at UCLA Medical Center.
CBS-2 in Los Angeles reported that Wooden, 99, hasn't eaten for several days and is very ill.
Wooden coached the Bruins from 1948-1975 and claimed 10 national championships over a 12-season stretch, including a record seven straight from 1967 to 1973. The Bruins also put together an incredible streak of 88 straight victories from 1971-1974.
During his time with the Bruins, Wooden provided guidance for future NBA talent such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, Keith Wilkes, Sidney Wicks and Marques Johnson.
A long and successful coaching career for the Indiana native began back in 1932 at Dayton High School in Kentucky. He moved on to a bigger profile high school job at South Bend Central High School in Indiana, where he also coached baseball and tennis. His first foray into the college ranks came with Indiana State.
Yet, his legacy remains the Wizard of Westwood.
He was the first person to become a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and coach. He amassed 620 victories and his teams won 19 conference championships during his decorated tenure.
<< Avs ink Budaj, Koci to one-year deals
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Avalanche signed goaltender
Peter Budaj and forward David Koci to one-year deals on Thursday.
The 27-year-old Budaj finished his fifth pro season with a 5-5-2 record, 2.64
goals-against ave
<< Maicon wants to join Mourinho in Madrid
Milan, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Inter Milan right back Maicon has paved the
way for a move to Real Madrid after declaring an interest in following Jose
Mourinho to Spain.
Mourinho has been confirmed as the new coach of the Spanish gi
<< Breakers sign U.S. forward Tarpley
Westwood, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Breakers signed free agent forward
Lindsay Tarpley on Thursday.
Tarpley became a free agent on June 1 following the dissolution of the Saint
Louis Athletica, which ceased operations on May 27.
<< Mexico beats Italy in World Cup warm-up match
Brussels, Belgium (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Vela and Alberto Medina scored to
lead Mexico to a 2-1 win over Italy on Thursday a friendly between World Cup
qualifiers at King Baudouin Stadium.
Vela scored in the 17th minute and Medina doub
Chad Cordero back in majors >>
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Relief pitcher Chad Cordero returned to the
majors on Thursday as the Seattle Mariners selected the contract of the right-
hander from Triple-A Tacoma.
The 28-year-old hasn't pitched in the big leagues sinc
Sheehan leads suspended Prince George's County Open >>
College Park, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Patrick Sheehan fired an eight-under 63 on
Thursday to take the lead during the suspended first round of the Melwood
Price George's County Open.
There was a two-hour weather delay Thursday afternoon
Three share Memorial lead; Woods seven back >>
Dublin, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Justin Rose carded a seven-under 65 early
Thursday to grab a share of the lead after the opening round of The Memorial.
Later in the day, Rose was joined atop the leaderboard at Muirfield Village
Golf
Strasburg wins minor league finale >>
Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Stephen Strasburg picked up the victory in his
final minor league contest before his anticipated step-up to the major league
level next week.
Strasburg allowed no runs, three hits, walked a batter and fann
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