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07/22/2010 - San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Bobby Convey was named to MLS All-Star roster by coach Bruce Arena on Thursday.
Convey will replace injured Jonathan Bornstein. Convey is the first member of the Earthquakes to be named an All-Star since the team rejoined MLS in 2008.
The MLS All-Stars play Manchester United on Wednesday at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas at 8:30 p.m. (ET).
Convey has been crucial to the Quakes in 2010, appearing in all 14 matches and recording assists on eight of the club's 18 goals. The eight assists are a career high.
Convey won 46 caps with the United States, including appearances in all three matches in the 2006 World Cup when the U.S. was coached by Arena. Arena is now the coach of the Los Angeles Galaxy.
Bornstein, a current member of Chivas USA and the U.S. team, sustained a knee injury against the Houston Dynamo in SuperLiga play and will miss the All-Star game.
<< Roddick moves on in Atlanta
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top seed Andy Roddick lost a second set
tiebreaker, but managed to pull out the final set to advance to the
quarterfinals of the Atlanta Tennis Championships.
Roddick needed less than a hal
<< Bentley sues Browns for career-ending staph infection
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former Cleveland Browns center LeCharles
Bentley has sued the Browns, reportedly for fraud and negligent
misrepresentation over a career-ending staph infection he suffered while with
the clu
<< Top seed Davydenko latest to fall in Hamburg
Hamburg, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko was the
latest to fall in an upset-minded German Open Tennis Championships, as third-
round play concluded Thursday.
Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev dethroned the defending
<< Heat re-sign G Arroyo
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Heat re-signed guard Carlos Arroyo on
Thursday. Per club policy, terms of the deal were not released.
Arroyo started 35 of the 72 games he appeared in with the Heat last season,
averaging 6.1 point
Phils' Moyer out indefinitely; weekend rotation filled internally >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jamie Moyer
will be out indefinitely after suffering an elbow injury on Tuesday against
the St. Louis Cardinals.
Moyer, 47, is expected to be placed on the disabled
Cowboys ink first-round pick WR Bryant >>
Irving, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Dallas Cowboys have agreed to terms with
first-round draft pick wide receiver Dez Bryant.
Terms of the contract were not yet known, although The Dallas Morning News
reports the deal is for five years
Ralston joins Houston as assistant coach >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Steve Ralston was hired as an assistant coach
by the Houston Dynamo on Thursday, just two days after he ended his storied
playing career in Major League Soccer.
Ralston had played in MLS since the league s
Trial date hearing in Bonds case to be held Friday >>
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A hearing has been set for Friday to
determine a trial date in the Barry Bonds perjury case.
Bonds faces several counts of making false statements under oath to a
federal grand jury during
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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