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02/07/2012 - East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Giants tight end Jake Ballard suffered a torn knee ligament in the Super Bowl, the team said Tuesday.
Ballard tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during the fourth quarter of Sunday's win over the Patriots.
Fellow tight end Travis Beckum went down with a torn ACL in his right knee in the second quarter.
Replays on TV showed Ballard trying to run and cut on the sideline, perhaps hoping to get back in the game, then collapsing and grabbing his knee. He had 38 catches for 604 yards and four touchdowns this past season.
<< A's extend Beane, Crowley through 2019
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Oakland Athletics owner Lew Wolff says general manager
Billy Beane and president Michael Crowley have reached agreements to remain
with the team through the 2019 season.
Wolff told Bloomberg Television on Tuesday
<< Billups done for season with torn ACL
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Los Angeles Clippers guard Chauncey Billups
will miss the rest of the season after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament
in his left knee on Monday.
The injury occurred with 5:48 left in the fourth qua
<< Saints officially hire Spagnuolo
Metairie, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Orleans Saints officially hired
Steve Spagnuolo as their new defensive coordinator on Tuesday.
Spagnuolo spent the last three seasons as head coach in St. Louis, but was
fired on January 2
<< Gijon turns to Tejada for rest of season
Gijon, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sporting Gijon named Inaki Tejada its manager
for the remainder of the season Tuesday, days after he guided the struggling
side in a 1-1 draw against Osasuna.
Gijon fired former coach Manuel Preciado last
Kentucky cruises past Florida >>
Lexington, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Anthony Davis had 16 points, six rebounds and
four blocks, as No. 1 Kentucky cruised to a 78-58 win over No. 8 Florida on
Tuesday.
Doron Lamb scored a team-high 18 while Michael Kidd-Gilchrist finished wit
Ovechkin nets two, as Caps blank Panthers >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Ovechkin got his first post-suspension
points, scoring two goals Tuesday night to lead the Washington Capitals over
the Florida Panthers, 4-0.
Washington moved one point ahead of Florida for first
Blue Jackets get Wild >>
Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Antoine Vermette scored the eventual game-
winning goal in the second period as the Columbus Blue Jackets topped the
Minnesota Wild, 3-1, at Nationwide Arena.
David Savard had a goal and an assist
Pacers hang on to beat Jazz >>
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Darren Collison scored a season-high 25
points and added four rebounds as the Indiana Pacers held off the Utah Jazz,
104-99, at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Tuesday night.
Utah erased a 21-point third
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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