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08/30/2010 - Williamsburg, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - William & Mary football coach Jimmye Laycock has named fifth-year senior Mike Callahan as the fourth-ranked Tribe's starting quarterback for Saturday's season opener at Massachusetts.
Callahan earned the starting job over redshirt freshman Brent Caprio and highly regarded North Carolina transfer Mike Paulus.
The 5-foot-11, 185-pound Callahan has yet to play for William & Mary, missing last season because of injury.
"Mike Callahan, fifth-year senior, has been in our program for a long time, he really understands our offense and understands our thinking and reasons for doing things," Laycock said. "He's done a good job in preseason as far as learning our offense and making good decisions, so Mike will get the start."
Laycock did not name a backup quarterback, adding that, if one is needed, Caprio or Paulus would enter the game depending on the situation.
<< Manny awarded to White Sox through waiver claim
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Dodgers announced on Monday
that outfielder Manny Ramirez has been awarded to the Chicago White Sox
through a waiver claim.
The Dominican native has been limited to 66 games for LA t
<< Bautista named AL Player of the Week
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista has
been named the Player of the Week for the American League for the period
ending August 29.
In seven games last week, Bautista led the American League with a
<< Montero earns MLS Player of the Week award
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Seattle Sounders FC forward Fredy Montero was
voted Major League Soccer Player of the Week for Week 22 of the 2010 MLS
season on Monday.
Montero scored both of Seattle's goals in a 2-1 comeback win ove
<< Clemens pleads not guilty at arraignment
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Roger Clemens has pleaded not guilty to
charges of lying to Congress about alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Clemens was indicted earlier this month and has been charged with three counts
of m
Rockies' Gonzalez takes home NL weekly award >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Colorado Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez
was named the National League Player of the Week for the period ending August
29.
In six games last week, Gonzalez hit 12-of-22 (.545) with four home runs and
McMurray feeling little pressure on making the Chase >>
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With two races to go before the "Chase for
the Sprint Cup" begins at New Hampshire, Daytona 500 champion and Brickyard
400 winner Jamie McMurray says he won't be disappointed if he doesn't qualify
for the playof
Mascherano completes Barca switch >>
Barcelona, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Barcelona announced on Monday that the
club has completed the signing of Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano.
Mascherano, 26, signed a four-year deal with the Catalan side on Monday after
completin
Shunted aside by Sabres, Kennedy signs with Rangers >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Rangers agreed to terms with
free-agent forward Tim Kennedy on Monday.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but multiple outlets revealed it is for
one year.
The Buffalo Sabres waived
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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