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07/30/2010 - Commerce City, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Rapids host FC Dallas at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Major League Soccer action on Saturday night.
The Rapids (6-5-5), who are winless in six league fixtures, should have their hands full because not only is Dallas (6-2-8) unbeaten seven, but only has one road loss this season.
"I think its a physical thing," Dallas coach Schellas Hyndman told mlssoccer.com of his team's recent surge. "The guys are prepared for the contest, for the war. I think it's a mental thing where every time we find ourselves coming back, it just builds confidence that we can come back. If we keep working hard, we know we'll get the goal and the result."
A lot of it also has to do with the lay off 2010 MLS All-Star David Ferreira, whose four goals and two assists over the last 10 games only show part of what he has been contributing for his team.
"We're starting to put it all together," Hyndman said. "This is a huge game for us. This is a really important game because Colorado just lost on the road and they're behind us, so it's a six-point swing. They're looking for something to feel good about."
The Rapids are coming off a 2-1 loss at Seattle last week in which they gave up two goals for the first time in four games. The Rapids are winless this season when they allow more than one goal.
"The start killed us, but after that we played all right," Rapids goalkeeper Matt Pickens told mlssoccer.com. "They had limited chances, but they scored. We had way more opportunities than they did. Being away from home, it's overall a decent performance, but we didn't get the points. Giving up two goals is just unacceptable on the road. We need to really tie it down."
Rapids coach Gary Smith was happy with his squad's performance after the first 20 minutes, when both goals were scored by Steve Zakuani.
"They showed a lot of spirit, a lot of determination," he told mlssoccer.com about his team. "For probably the vast percentage of the game we were the better team overall. Better chances, more clear-cut chances, better football; I thought we looked the more composed and more efficient. The two big stats were the goals that they scored, and they've gotten the points."
Now the Rapids will be gunning for the points on Saturday in an effort to move into a tie with FC Dallas.
<< Hilliard, Tyree retire as Giants
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former New York Giants receivers Ike
Hilliard and David Tyree each signed contracts this week to retire as members
of the organization.
Hilliard played in 98 games, starting 92, during his career
<< Crew chief Letarte extends contract with HMS
Pocono, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Steve Letarte, the crew chief for four-time
NASCAR Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon, has signed a multi-year contract
extension with Hendrick Motorsports.
Letarte and HMS made the announcement Frida
<< Robinson agrees to five-year deal with Saints
Metairie, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Orleans Saints have agreed to terms
with rookie cornerback Patrick Robinson on a five-year contract.
Financial terms of the deal for the 32nd and last pick in the first round of
April's draft were
<< Gaming: Mountain West mediocre outside of league play
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Mountain West's non-conference
straight-up records point in a favorable direction at 41-28 over the last two
years, but don't be so quick in jumping to the windows to wager on the league
against outside c
Niners ink draft picks Davis, Mays, Bowman >>
Santa Clara, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Francisco 49ers have signed three
of their first four picks from April's draft, including first-rounder Anthony
Davis.
In addition to a five-year deal for Davis, an offensive tackle from Rutger
AL Central: Twins putting the heat on Chicago >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Twins continue to prove that it takes more
than high-profile personnel moves to compete for a postseason berth.
While the Detroit Tigers inked Johnny Damon and Jose Valverde in the
offseason, Minnesota stayed
Revs searching for league success against Union >>
Chester, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New England has won four straight games without
allowing a goal, but just one of those matches was in Major League Soccer. The
Revolution hope to build on their SuperLiga success in league play Saturday at
PPL Par
Youzhny ousted in Gstaad quarters >>
Gstaad, Switzerland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top seed Mikhail Youzhny was a
quarterfinal upset victim Friday at the Swiss Open Gstaad.
Qualifier Yuri Schukin upended his world No. 14 fellow Russian Youzhny 6-4,
2-6, 7-5 in 2 hours, 12
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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