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02/09/2012 - Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Raiders released cornerback Stanford Routt on Thursday, just one season after he signed a three-year contract extension.
The deal guaranteed Routt $20 million over the first two years and was potentially worth $31.5 million overall.
Routt, who was a second-round pick of the Raiders in 2005, played in 16 games in 2011, starting 15 and registering 49 tackles and four interceptions.
The move comes under the watch of new general manager Reggie McKenzie. Since he was hired in early January, McKenzie has made major changes, firing head coach Hue Jackson and bringing in Dennis Allen, Greg Knapp and Jason Tarver to act as head coach, offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator, respectively.
<< Benfica, Aimar agree to one-year extension
Lisbon, Portugal (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Benfica and Argentina midfielder Pablo
Aimar agreed to a one-year contract extension Thursday through the 2012-13
season.
Aimar, 32, joined Benfica from Spain's Real Zaragoza in 2008 and has played
<< U.S. women add matches against Japan, Brazil
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The U.S. women's national team will play Japan
and Brazil in April, with both friendlies being held in Japan as part of the
newly-created Women's Kirin Challenge Cup.
The U.S. beat Brazil on penalties in the
<< RSL re-signs four, including Espindola, Grabavoy
Sandy, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Real Salt Lake re-signed four players Thursday,
including forward Fabian Espindola and midfielder Ned Grabavoy.
Espindola and Grabavoy combined to make 52 appearances, including 46 starts,
last season for Rea
<< Royals, Gordon agree to one-year deal
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kansas City Royals have agreed to terms
on a one-year contract with outfielder Alex Gordon, the team announced
Thursday.
Gordon notched career-highs in batting average (.303), runs batted in
Coastal Carolina's Duran granted sixth season >>
Conway, SC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NCAA has granted a sixth season of
eligibility to Coastal Carolina All-American tight end David Duran for the
2012 season.
Duran, from Marietta, Ga., played sparingly for the Chanticleers as a fifth-
year s
Nowitzki, Pierce highlight All-Star reserves >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Dallas Mavericks may not be matching
their championship-caliber performance from last season, but Dirk Nowitzki is
still playing well enough to make the Western Conference All-Star team.
Nowitzki, 3
Mississippi State takes care of Ole Miss >>
Starkville, MS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Arnett Moultrie scored 18 points, Dee Bost
had 15 points and 13 assists and No. 20 Mississippi State led all the way in a
70-60 win over Ole Miss on Thursday.
Renardo Sidney added 14 points and Rodney
Gray, Duke holds off Boston College >>
Chestnut Hill, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chelsea Gray had 19 points, six rebounds
and five assists to lead No. 5 Duke past Boston College on Thursday.
Elizabeth Williams added 18 points, 10 rebounds and eight blocks for Duke
(20-3, 11-0 AC
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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