11/16/2008 - Green Bay, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chicago Bears quarterback Kyle Orton will start Sunday's game against Green Bay, despite an ankle injury that caused him to miss last week's loss to Tennessee.
Orton missed last Sunday's 21-14 loss to Tennessee after suffering the injury the previous week against Detroit, and was limited in practice this past week. It was initially thought the right ankle injury would keep him sidelined for up to a month.
Rex Grossman started last week against the Titans and threw for 173 yards with a touchdown and an interception, completing 20-of-37 passes in the 21-14 setback.
Orton started the first eight games for the Bears, who enter the weekend tied with Minnesota for first place in the NFC North at 5-4. He has completed 61.9 percent of his passes for 1,777 yards with 10 touchdowns and four interceptions this season.
<< Thrashers aim for club-record win streak in Philly
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Thrashers will shoot for the first six-game
winning streak in franchise history when they visit the Philadelphia Flyers
for tonight's battle at the Wachovia Center.
Atlanta beat the visiting Carolina Hurricanes
<< Lightning visit 'Canes in first game without Melrose
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Lightning will play their first game since
the shocking firing of head coach Barry Melrose when they visit the Carolina
Hurricanes for today's Southeast Division matchup at RBC Center.
The Lightning made the
<< Kings, Ducks clash in Anaheim
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Kings will try to get back on the winning
track tonight, when they visit the Anaheim Ducks for a battle with their
Pacific Division rivals at the Honda Center.
The Kings had won a season-high four games bef
<< Sharks pay visit to Chicago
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The powerful San Jose Sharks will aim for their ninth
victory in 11 games when they visit the Chicago Blackhawks for this evening's
matchup at the United Center.
The Sharks lead the NHL with 29 points and ended a two-game
NFL Inactives (Sunday, November 16, 2008) >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The following is a list of inactive players
for today's NFL games.
DENVER BRONCOS AT ATLANTA FALCONS, 1:00 P.M. (ET)
Broncos - S Marlon McCree, CB Champ Bailey, RB Selvin Young, RB Alex Haynes, LB
D.J.
Pens deal Sydor to Stars for Boucher >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Penguins acquired defenseman
Philippe Boucher from the Dallas Stars for veteran defenseman Darryl Sydor on
Sunday.
Boucher has three assists in 16 games with the Stars this season, his si
Tampa made a mess of Melrose situation >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It took just 16 games for Tampa Bay
general manager Brian Lawton to decide that he'd seen enough of Barry Melrose
as the Lightning's head coach.
Sixteen games? I know it's hardly a shocking occurrence when
Giants K Carney inactive vs. Ravens >>
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Giants kicker John Carney was inactive
for New York's game against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.
Carney, the league's oldest player at 44, joined the defending Super Bowl
champions prior to the
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 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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