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08/23/2010 - St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - St. Louis Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo announced Monday that overall No. 1 draft pick Sam Bradford will start Thursday's preseason game against New England due to a thumb injury to A.J. Feeley.
Feeley was hurt during this past Saturday's 19-17 win at Cleveland. He injured his right thumb while striking the helmet of another player during his follow- through on a pass.
"Just a little bit of swelling in the hand," Feeley said. "It's a questionable deal right now. Probably take this week off and play it day-by-day."
Bradford completed 6-of-14 passes for 24 yards in Saturday's game.
"There's a little bit of an adjustment when you're coming in as a starter and when you're coming in second or third series, but I don't think Sam will see it any differently," Spagnuolo said. "He'll be in there, it'll be a little bit different, hopefully (RB) Steven (Jackson) will get some reps so he'll be in there with Steven. I think that will be comforting."
<< Nadal named top seed for U.S. Open
Flushing, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rafael Nadal will seek his first U.S. Open
title and a career grand slam as the top-seeded player in the tournament, as
the men's seedings for tennis' final major of 2010 were announced on Monday.
Nadal,
<< Patchan returns, Nixon out for No. 4 Florida
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) -Florida's Matt Patchan is back at practice, but the player competing with him at left tackle is out with a knee injury.Coach Urban Meyer says sophomore Xavier Nixon, who started the final five games last season, is having his
<< Judge in Clemens case issues gag order
WASHINGTON (AP) -A judge assigned to Roger Clemens' perjury case has issued a gag order designed to prohibit public comments that could affect the jury pool for a possible trial.Clemens was indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday for allegedly lyi
<< Red Sox claim Tigers' Damon; decision pending
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox have claimed outfielder
Johnny Damon off waivers from the Detroit Tigers, and the veteran has until
Wednesday to decide if he will waive his no-trade clause to re-join the club
he help
South Carolina TE Saunders suspended >>
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -South Carolina tight end Weslye Saunders has been suspended indefinitely by coach Steve Spurrier for violating team rules.Saunders was not at practice Monday night. Spurrier said after the workout that Saunders' absence was not
Eli Manning expected to play vs. Ravens >>
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Giants quarterback Eli
Manning plans to return to game action Saturday at Baltimore after missing
last week's preseason contest against Pittsburgh due to a cut on his forehead.
Mann
Americans Blake, Dent advance in New Haven >>
New Haven, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Americans James Blake and Taylor Dent both
won their opening-round matches at the $750,000 Pilot Pen Tennis event, a
final hardcourt U.S. Open tune-up.
Blake, who titled here in 2005 and 2007, mad
Scutaro drives in four as Red Sox down Mariners >>
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marco Scutaro drove in four runs and John Lackey
tossed eight solid innings, as the Boston Red Sox used a three-run seventh to
defeat the Seattle Mariners, 6-3, in the opener of a three-game series at
Fenway
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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