Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
05/06/2010 - Piscataway, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rutgers officially introduced Mike Rice as its new men's head basketball coach at a news conference on Thursday.
"I'm so excited and appreciative of the opportunity and challenge that lie ahead of us here at Rutgers University," said Rice. "The University has so much to offer. I have seen firsthand the incredible passion that the Garden State and the metropolitan area has for basketball. Our team will have an identity that matches that passion and intensity each and every day. We will build a program that everyone in the Rutgers family can be proud of."
Rice, a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, agreed to a five-year contract that will run through the 2014-15 season with a guaranteed average yearly salary of $650,000 per season.
Rice led Robert Morris to a Northeast Conference title and a NCAA Tournament appearance in 2009. The Colonials nearly upset Villanova in the first round. He tallied a record of 73-31 in three seasons at Robert Morris.
Fred Hill, the former Rutgers head coach, resigned in April stemming from an incident where he yelled obscenities at Pittsburgh coaches during a home baseball game. The school later reached a financial settlement with the former coach.
Hill finished 47-77 in his six seasons with the Scarlet Knights and a dismal 13-57 mark in Big East Conference play.
<< Cilic sneaks into BWM quarters
Munich, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Croat Marin Cilic was a
hard-fought second-round winner Thursday at the clay-court BMW Open, a French
Open tune-up.
The Aussie Open semifinalist Cilic had to come from behind to be
<< Emery to stay in charge of Valencia
Valencia, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Valencia head coach Unai Emery has agreed
a new one-year contract to remain in charge at the Mestalla next season.
The 38-year-old's future had been placed in doubt before Los Che ensured that
they will
<< Kjaer hints at Palermo stay
Palermo, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In-demand central defender Simon Kjaer has
vowed to stay with Serie A club Palermo if they secure a place in the
Champions League for next season.
The highly-rated 21-year-old Denmark internatio
<< Tosic ponders Koln return
Cologne, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Serbian winger Zoran Tosic has hinted that
he would like to remain with Koln next season, having impressed while on loan
with the Bundesliga outfit.
The 23-year-old moved to Germany in January after stru
Djokovic, Isner ease into Belgrade quarters >>
Belgrade, Serbia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Belgrade native Novak Djokovic and 6-
foot-9 American John Isner were among Thursday's second-round winners at the
Serbian Open, a clay-court French Open tune-up.
The top-seeded Serbian hero Djokovi
Serena rolls into semis; Venus routed by Jankovic in Rome >>
Rome, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reigning world No. 1 star Serena
Williams was an easy quarterfinal victor Thursday, while her big sister Venus
was blasted by Jelena Jankovic at the $2 million Italian Masters, a clay-
court
Villanova's Matt Szczur happy to help leukemia patient >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Villanova two-sport standout Matt Szczur
is expected to be back playing for the Wildcats' baseball team on Friday, May
14, after a two-week layoff. He considers his time on the sideline to be well
spent, con
Holmes the early leader at Players; Woods under par >>
Ponte Vedra Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - J.B. Holmes shot a six-under 66 on
Thursday to take the early lead during the first round of The Players
Championship.
Tiger Woods had one of his worst tournaments as a professional last
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.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting