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07/05/2010 - Daytona Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - What a difference a year has made for Kevin Harvick.
One year ago, Harvick was far from making the championship Chase, as he sat 26th in points. Now, he's atop the standings with two wins so far this season under his belt, including an impressive victory in Saturday's 400-mile race at Daytona.
Harvick currently holds a 180-point lead over Jeff Gordon, and he's scored 13 top-10 finishes in 18 races this season.
How has he been able to turn things around? Give credit to team owner Richard Childress.
"Richard pulled the trigger on a lot of different things, whether it was reorganizing people or whether it was getting us the funds to build new cars," Harvick said. "He stepped out on a huge limb to spend the money to start over with basically four teams halfway through [last] year, and it's paying off now for us."
Signs of a turnaround for Harvick's team, as well as the teams of Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer at Richard Childress Racing, began to materialize at the tail end of the 2009 season. And the momentum hasn't lost its steam.
Burton sits eighth in points, while Bowyer holds the 14th spot, just 49 points behind 12th-place Carl Edwards. With eight races remaining until the Chase, both drivers will scramble to qualify for the playoffs, which begin on September 19 at New Hampshire.
Barring any unforeseen incident, Harvick will make the Chase, but where he will be seeded depends on his number of wins during the 26-race regular season.
"That's all we have talked about for the last two or three weeks, what do we have to do to win more races before the Chase starts," he said.
Whatever it will take for them to win, Harvick and crew chief Gil Martin said they're willing to do it.
"Obviously we're in a fortunate position to be where we are right now in the points lead," Martin said. "As far as rolling the dice, we're going to try to do that as much as possible, because we need to get to victory lane as much as we can, because basically that's what Richard pays us to do.
"We've got to get there, but at the same token, we've got to get there smart and make sure that we're not only consistent but we have some speed. Luckily, we're going to be able to take some chances possibly that we haven't been able to take in the past."
The driver with the most wins after the September 11 race at Richmond will enter the Chase as the first seed. Each of the 12 drivers who make the playoffs -- the final 10 races of the season -- will have their point totals adjusted to 5,000, plus 10 bonus points tacked on for each one of his wins this season. Right now, Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin have the most victories this season with five each.
Harvick's victories this season have come at restrictor plate tracks. He snapped a 115-race winless streak in April at Talladega. This past weekend, Harvick survived a rash of accidents, including "the big one" that involved 19 drivers, and then held off Kasey Kahne and Gordon in a two-lap overtime finish to win at Daytona.
"Kevin is becoming one of these guys who wins the restrictor plate races," Childress said. "He's kind of like Dale [Earnhardt] Sr. You knew he was going to be a factor in it."
Harvick easily could have begun the 2010 season with wins in the first two races -- Daytona and California. He held the lead for the final restart in the Daytona 500, but eventual race winner Jamie McMurray got a bump from Greg Biffle to move in front with less than two laps to go. Then at California, Harvick lost a spirited battle with Johnson for the win after brushing the wall in the final laps.
In May, Harvick signed a multi-year contract extension with RCR. Harvick had considered leaving RCR after finishing a disappointing 19th in points in '09. His contract with RCR was set to expire at the end of this year, and he was considered the top free agent for next season.
Harvick has driven the No.29 car for RCR in Cup since replacing Dale Earnhardt after Earnhardt's fatal crash in the 2001 Daytona 500.
With the contract distraction out of the way, Harvick and Childress are focused on winning the championship. But they'll have to figure a way to dethrone Johnson, who is the four-time defending series title-holder.
"To race with [Johnson's team] every week and to get to the level to where they've been, they're not looking for home runs every week, they're looking to refine their product every week," Harvick said. "I think that's what we've done a really good job throughout the whole company this year is we've taken a product, refined it, and by the time we get to the Chase, hopefully it will be."
Hamlin has been considered Johnson's biggest threat for the championship since the start of this year. But with the season now at its midpoint, it's time to add Harvick into the category of favorites to win the title.
<< Buchholz headed to the DL with hamstring strain
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Boston Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz is
headed to the 15-day disabled list because of a strained left hamstring.
The move is retroactive to June 27, the day after he suffered the injury while
running th
<< Hamburg snaps up goalkeeper Drobny
Hamburg, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hamburg have completed the signing of
goalkeeper Jaroslav Drobny after his contract with Hertha Berlin expired.
The Czech Republic international joins the Nordbank Arena-based outfit on a
three-yea
<< Almeria clinches Jakobsen signing
Almeria, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Almeria have completed the signing of
Aalborg defender Michael Jakobsen on a long-term deal.
Jakobsen, a Denmark international, missed out on a call-up to this summer's
World Cup, but is ready to
<< Blue Jackets name Boughner assistant coach
Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Columbus Blue Jackets named Bob Boughner
an assistant coach on Monday.
Boughner had spent the previous four seasons as president and head coach of
Windsor of the Ontario Hockey League where he compi
Martino finished as Paraguay manager >>
Asuncion, Paraguay (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Gerardo Martino said on Monday that he
is leaving his post as manager of Paraguay after his team lost 1-0 to Spain in
the quarterfinals of the FIFA World Cup on Saturday.
Martino announced that his
Saborio earns another MLS Player of the Week award >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Real Salt Lake forward Alvaro Saborio was
voted Major League Soccer Player of the Week for Week 14 of the 2010 MLS
season on Monday.
Saborio tallied two goals in Salt Lake's 5-0 win over the
South Florida extends hoops coach Heath >>
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The University of South Florida has extended the
contract of men's basketball coach Stan Heath through the 2014-15 season.
Heath has guided the Bulls to a record of 41-51 in three seasons, which
included
Cubs recall P Berg, option Stevens >>
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Cubs called up right-hander Justin
Berg from Triple-A Iowa and sent right-handed pitcher Jeff Stevens to the same
club on Monday.
Berg, 26, made the Cubs opening day roster out of spring training
In terms of sports wagering, the NFL is "the most popular game in town." The explanation behind that is easy.
It is called the "pointspread."
Many years ago, NFL games, as well as the more popular college games, used straight odds as a vehicle for betting. For example, if the Bears were playing the Giants, and it shaped up as a competitive contest, the Bears might be, say, a 7/5 favorite. If they were playing an also-ran, it might be 10/1. Well, there is a point where a line becomes prohibitive, as far as betting the favorite. And who would waste money betting an underdog that has virtually no chance? Such a setup did not contribute to promoting betting action.
But in modern sports betting, a "pointspread" is used.
A NFL pointspreads are exactly that, a pre-established point difference between the two sides that will, for all intents and purposes, create a handicap that evens things out, and in doing so, produces comparable wagering activity on both sides of that proposition. So in lieu of a odds figure in which to bet the team to win outright, the Bears might be a three-point favorite over the New York Giants, and a 17-point favorite over the also-ran. Now that the team that is the underdog can "get" points, there can be equal action on both sides.
In sportsbooks, this is usually done with efficiency by charging the losing bettors 10% extra - in effect, bettors are laying 11/10 on those games. So they are actually betting $110 to win $100. If they lose, they pay the "vig." If they win, they simply collect.
The establishment of the pointspread as the corner stone around which team sports like football can be wagered upon was truly what brought gridiron betting into the stratosphere for online football betting .
Don't believe it? Just take a look at what happens around the Super Bowl.
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My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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