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02/18/2007 - Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In a battle of two of the game's top young stars, it was Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins getting the best of this installment, downing Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals 3-2 at Mellon Arena.
Crosby finished with only an assist and Ovechkin went without a point for a bit of an anticlimactic outcome to the anticipated duel.
Instead it was Mark Recchi, Evgeni Malkin and Maxime Talbot scoring for the red-hot Penguins, who have registered a point in 16 straight games and have won six in a row. Jocelyn Thibault made 29 saves in victory.
Richard Zednik and Alexander Semin had the goals for Washington, which has dropped three straight. Brent Johnson finished with 23 stops.
The home team established a 1-0 lead 5:59 into the contest, as Sergei Gonchar's shot from the point was redirected by Recchi in front before slipping past Johnson for the power-play tally.
Washington scored in similar fashion just over a minute later to even the contest. With his team on the attack, Jeff Schultz ripped a shot from the point that caromed off Zednik and in with 12:56 to play in the opening frame.
Pittsburgh, though, countered with two unanswered goals to gain command.
With time running down in the second stanza, Malkin flew behind the net and then dished the puck to Gonchar, who fed it right back to Malkin in the right circle. The rookie center finished off the sequence with a one-timer to give his team a 2-1 advantage.
The Penguins made it a two-goal game 1:10 into the third on a one-timer by Talbot from the left circle.
The Capitals had a great chance to climb within one when Semin drew a penalty shot with 5:56 to play after being taken down from behind, but his backhand attempt rang off the post.
He made amends with 44 seconds remaining and his goalie pulled, when the left winger tucked a shot through the five-hole from the slot to make it 3-2. Thibault, though, was able to keep the Capitals off the board the rest of the way.
Game Notes
The Penguins have been dominant at home as of late. The team has won eight in a row at the Igloo and own an 18-8-4 record as the host this season...Ovechkin edged out Crosby for last year's Calder Trophy honoring the NHL's top rookie...Pittsburgh has taken all three meetings with Washington this season and has won seven of the last eight games in this series.
<< Hossa leads Rangers past Blackhawks
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marcel Hossa's late first-period goal was the
difference, as the New York Rangers edged the Chicago Blackhawks, 2-1, at
Madison Square Garden.
Martin Straka also tallied for the Rangers, who have won
<< Streak snapped; Watson wins in Florida
Lutz, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tom Watson entered Sunday's final round of the
Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am two strokes behind co-leaders Wayne Levi and Andy
Bean. Watson was also staring at an 0-for-93 career record in Florida.
That's righ
<< Stewart leads '500' after 150 laps
Daytona Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Despite falling all the way back to 40th
place on lap 82, Tony Stewart is leading the 2007 Daytona 500 after 150 of 200
scheduled laps. The No.20 Home Depot Chevrolet is 0.165 seconds ahead of
second-place K
<< Gearlds, Boilermakers top Badgers
Madison, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Katie Gearlds poured in 41 points on 13-of-20
shooting to lead Purdue past Wisconsin, 69-60, on Sunday.
FahKara Malone notched 10 points and seven assists for the Boilermakers (23-5,
12-2 Big Ten), who won thei
Tu tops Harkleroad in Memphis >>
Memphis, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Meilen Tu defeated Ashley Harkleroad in a
battle between two Americans in the first round of the Regions Morgan Keegan
Championships.
Tu took care of Harkleroad in straight sets 6-4, 6-3 in just over a
Harvick edges Martin to win 2007 Daytona 500 >>
Daytona Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Harvick won the 2007 Daytona 500.
The No.29 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet driver took the checkered flag
just ahead of second-place Mark Martin as a caution flag came to end the race.
The
No. 15 Baylor beats Texas >>
Waco, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Latara Darrett scored 17 points, as No. 15 Baylor
beat Texas, 71-56, on Sunday.
Angela Tisdale scored 12 points for the Lady Bears (23-4, 10-3 Big 12), who
won their fourth straight. Bernice Mosby and Jhas
No. 11 Georgia downs Auburn >>
Auburn, AL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Janese Hardrick scored 20 points to lead No. 11
Georgia past Auburn, 62-55, on Sunday.
Tasha Humphrey netted 14 points for Georgia (23-5, 10-3 Southeastern), which
won its fourth straight. Christy Marshall ad
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.
The 2007 college football rules changes that were implemented to shorten games are now history. The NCAA rules committee did what they set out to do; games were cut by an average of 14 minutes per game last season. There were also, on average, 14 fewer plays per game. We’ll get into how that did (or didn’t) affect games in regards to the pointspread a bit later.
While the NCAA rules committee may have had the betterment of the game in mind, they'll now “turn back the clock” for next season. Two key rules have now been overturned by the NCAA committee for the 2007 season, something definitely for the better.
For those of you who may not remember what those rules actually were, let us refresh your memory.
1) The first one was actually starting the clock on a kickoff as soon as the kicker touched the ball rather than waiting until the returner touched it. The problem here was near the end of the half (or game), if the team leading was kicking off, they could milk the clock by intentionally running offsides and then re-kicking. They could run 10-15 seconds off the clock each play while taking just five-yard penalties each time. They could run the clock down and simply cause the half (or game) to end on a kickoff, keeping the opposing offense off the field. In 2007, the clock will now start when the returner touches the ball as it had before last season.
2) The second rule dealt with starting the clock after a change of online football betting possession rather than waiting until the ball was snapped. This took a lot of time off the clock throughout the game as teams changed possession, however it caused the most problems late in games (or halves). Rather than huddling up and calling a play, the offensive team would have to rush onto the field as the clock started. This was a definite disadvantage to a team that was trying to come from behind late in the game. This year the clock will start on a change of possession, after the ball is snapped.
How did those rules affect the college game last year and will it make a difference this year when it comes to the pointspread? We commonly heard two theories when it came to these changes. First, it would affect scoring negatively. Second, it would hurt favorites as they would have less time and fewer plays to cover the number.
Did the rules hurt scoring? Yes. It seemed obvious that shortening the game by what amounted to 14 plays would push scoring downward. That was the case last year. Of the 119 Division 1A teams, 69 squads scored fewer points in 2007 than they did in 2005. Just 48 teams had a higher PPG scoring average and two stayed the same. Almost 59 percent of the teams in college football last year had a lower PPG average than they did in 2005. Expect more scoring in 2007 as we revert back to the old rules.
Did the rules hinder favorites from covering the number in 2007? Not really. Last year the favorites posted an overall spread record of 336-350-16 (48.9 percent). The year before, favorites were 316-326-13 (49.2 percent). In 2004, the favorites were 316-339-2 (48.2 percent). In fact, college football favorites have been above 50 percent for the season just once in the last seven years (in 2003). Last year’s numbers fell right in line with where they have been historically.
How about big favorites? The rules must have hurt them? Maybe a little bit. Double-digit favorites last year came in at a 47.8 percent clip compare with an average of just over 50 percent over the last seven years. Since 1980, favorites of -10 or more have covered at exactly a 50 percent clip (measured over 6,716 games).
Even bigger favorites must have struggled? Not really. In fact, it was just the opposite. Favorites of three TD’s or more were 59-54-2 last year (52.2 percent). Since 2000, those same favorites (-21 or higher) hit at 51.3 percent and since 1990 came in a clip of 50.3 percent. Stepping it up a notch to four TD favorites or higher, we actually see they've covered at a much better rate last season than before. Last year, favorites of -28 or more were 31-21-1, or almost 60 percent. Historically, four-TD-or-higher favorites have come in at a 50.7 percent spot since 2000 and only 48.9 percent since 1990. The “perceived” problem with the favorites covering at a reduced rate really never came to fruition.
Bottom line is, there might be some more scoring in 2007, but no real revelations when it comes to finding any pointspread golden nuggets.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on college football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
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