11/20/2008 - Hamburg, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hamburg will be without midfielder Nigel de Jong for the rest of the calendar year because of a knee injury.
The Netherlands midfielder, who has only just returned to action after a knee ligament injury picked up while on international duty, suffered a recurrence while training this week and is unlikely to play again until after the Bundesliga's winter break.
He is now set to miss four league games and the UEFA Cup group stages matches against Ajax, Slavia Prague and Aston Villa.
"I think that I will only be able to play again after the winter break," he confirmed.
(Courtesy of sportbox.tv)
<< Colorado Golf Club awarded 2010 Senior PGA
Palm Beach Gardens, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The PGA of America announced
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St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - St. Louis Rams running back Steven Jackson
will not play Sunday against the Chicago Bears because of a strained right
thigh muscle.
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Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Goalie Leo Franco is confident of agreeing a
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Franco, 31, is out of contract at the end of the current season but remains the
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Liverpool, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez and defender
Martin Skrtel have denied reports linking the Slovakia international with a
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Reports in Russia suggested Skrtel had s
Iona will no longer have football >>
New Rochelle, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Iona College has announced that it is
terminating its football program, effective immediately, on Thursday.
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Portsmouth signs goalkeeping coach to new contract >>
Portsmouth, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Portsmouth has successfully headed off
reported interest from Spurs in David Coles after agreeing a new contract with
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Celtic's Hartley suffers ankle injury in friendly >>
Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Celtic midfielder Paul Hartley fears that
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13th-ranked Memphis silences Chattanooga >>
San Juan, PR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Doneal Mack scored 19 points and doled out
four assists to lead 13th-ranked Memphis past Chattanooga, 83-71, in opening
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Robert Dozier added 18 points, eight rebo
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 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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