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05/03/2010 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Columbia has named Kyle Smith its new men's basketball coach.
Smith has spent 18 years as an assistant coach, including the past nine seasons at St. Mary's in California. He helped the Gaels to a record of 28-6 this past season with a Sweet 16 appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
"Columbia University is very proud and excited to name Kyle Smith as our head men's basketball coach" said Columbia athletic director Dr. M. Dianne Murphy. "Kyle is an outstanding leader and successful recruiter with a terrific basketball mind. We are thrilled to welcome him to Columbia."
Columbia needed a replacement for Joe Jones, who left after seven years to take an associate head coaching position at Boston College. Jones had a record of 86-108 with the Lions, who last year finished 11-17 with a 5-9 mark in the Ivy League.
<< Van Nistelrooy could be left out by Dutch
Amsterdam, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hamburg striker Ruud van Nistelrooy
looks set to miss this summer's World Cup in South Africa after being left out
the Netherlands' 26-man training squad for the tournament.
The 33-year-old former
<< Capps earns monthly closer honor
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Washington Nationals closer Matt Capps has
been selected as the Major League Baseball Delivery Man of the Month for
April.
Capps finished the first month of the season with 10 saves in as ma
<< British Amateur champ Manassero turns pro
Turin, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Italy's Matteo Manassero, who became the
youngest British Amateur champion ever last year, turned professional on
Monday in time to make his pro debut at the BMW Italian Open.
After being the you
<< Welsh resigns as Hofstra's hoops coach following arrest
Hempstead, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hofstra University announced Monday that Tim
Welsh has resigned as head men's basketball coach, just three days after he
was arrested for a reported DWI.
The school said in a statement that Welsh resign
Johnson continues to make his case for England inclusion >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Adam Johnson only has to look as far as
his Manchester City teammate, Shaun Wright-Phillips, to see how things could
have turned out.
Wright-Phillips enjoyed six strong seasons at Eastlands as a City
Hull headed down after draw with Wigan >>
Wigan, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Steve Gohouri's goal in stoppage time
confirmed Hull City's relegation from the Premier League on Monday as the
Tigers had to settle for a 2-2 draw at Wigan.
Hull entered the day all but mathe
ISU G Boozer leaves team after arrest >>
Ames, IA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Iowa State guard Charles Boozer has decided to
leave the team to seek treatment for undisclosed reasons.
"I want to apologize for my actions that put Iowa State University in a
negative light," Boozer
No place in Germany team for Kuranyi >>
Berlin, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Germany boss Joachim Low has confirmed that
he will not be including Kevin Kuranyi in his squad for this summer's World
Cup in South Africa.
The Schalke striker had a high-profile spat with Low in 2008
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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