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07/13/2010 - Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Columbus Crew return home when they host the Kansas City Wizards in Major League Soccer action at Crew Stadium on Wednesday.
The Eastern Conference leading Crew (8-2-4) are coming off a scoreless draw at Houston on Saturday that extended their road winless streak to three games, but defender Danny O'Rourke was happy with the result.
"Anytime you can go on the road against an established team like Houston in the heat out here, a tie is a good point," he told mlssoccer.com. "They're a really compact team. It's a small field. A point on the road, we'll definitely take it."
Wednesday's fixture will be the second between the two Eastern clubs this season, with an Emilio Renteria goal being the difference in the Crew's victory on May 23 at CommunityAmerica Ballpark to extend their unbeaten streak vs. Kansas City to eight games in league and cup play, dating back to 2007.
The Wizards (3-8-3) are in desperate need of a result on Wednesday, having lost three in a row while being shut out in three consecutive games for the second time this season. Their current scoreless streak is 325 minutes.
On top of that, the club is winless on the road this season, going 0-5-1 away from CommunityAmerica Ballpark.
The Wizards most recent game was a 2-0 loss at home to Chivas USA, but the team thinks it can take some positives out of that game.
"We did everything that you need to do to win the game," Wizards captain Davy Arnaud told mlssoccer.com. "But unfortunately we come out on the wrong end of things again. This might not sound right, but the way we played [vs. Chivas USA] is a positive sign."
A couple defensive lapses by Wizards defender Jimmy Conrad followed the trend the team has been following this season.
"I'm responsible for both goals," Conrad told mlssoccer.com. "Obviously, we've been giving up soft goals all year, and it was just my turn I guess to catch the disease. It's unfortunate. I feel bad that I put my team in that position. We have a lot of people, both on the field and off, who do a lot of work to make sure we win, and we're just not getting it done."
<< Kohlschreiber exits Stuttgart
Stuttgart, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sixth-seeded German favorite Philipp
Kohlschreiber was an opening-round upset victim Tuesday at the Mercedes Cup
tennis event.
German Florian Mayer upended his compatriot Kohlschreiber 6-4, 6-2 on
<< Leverkusen signs striker Jorgensen
Leverkusen, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bayer Leverkusen has completed the
signing of striker Nicolai Jorgensen from Danish side AB.
The 19-year-old has earned himself a five-year deal with the Bundesliga club
after impressing on a
<< Palermo makes offer for Liverpool's Lucas
Palermo, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Liverpool midfielder Lucas Leiva could be on
his way to Italy after Palermo made an offer for the Brazilian.
The Serie A side are reported to have tabled a bid in the region of six
million euros for t
<< Clippers sign Willie Warren
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Clippers have signed guard
Willie Warren, the team's second-round pick in the 2010 draft.
Warren, the 54th overall selection, played two seasons at Oklahoma before
entering the draft
Trucks join Nationwide at Gateway >>
Madison, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Series: NASCAR Camping World Truck. Date:
Friday, July 16. Race: CampingWorld.com 200. Site: Gateway International
Raceway. Track: 1.25-mile oval. Start time: 9:00 p.m. (et). Laps: 162. Miles:
200. 2009 winner: Mi
IndyCar tackles the streets of Toronto >>
Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Series: IZOD IndyCar. Date: Sunday, July
18. Race: Honda Indy Toronto. Site: Streets of Toronto. Track: 1.721-mile, 11-
turn temporary street course. Start Time: 12:30 p.m. (et). Laps: 85. Miles:
146.285. 2009
Safarova, Dulgheru advance in Prague >>
Prague, Czech Republic (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Czech favorite Lucie
Safarova and No. 2 seed Alexandra Dulgheru were among Tuesday's first-round
winners at the $220,000 Prague Open tennis event.
Safarova handled Latvia's Anast
Jacksonville State renaming stadium >>
Jacksonville, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jacksonville State University will rename
its football field Burgess-Snow Field at JSU Stadium at its Sept. 11 home
opener against Chattanooga.
The university's Board of Trustees approved the name change f
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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