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03/08/2010 - Munich, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bayern Munich's French ace Franck Ribery has stated that he will make a decision about his future in the next few weeks.
The 26-year-old forward is a target for most of Europe's top clubs, with his current Bayern contract running out at the end of next season.
He told French TV: "When will I decide my future? In two or three weeks.
"I am not 100 percent sure I am going to go to Real Madrid. Barcelona is also attractive and there is Chelsea.
"But that doesn't necessarily mean I will leave Bayern."
Meanwhile, Bayern head coach Louis van Gaal was far from satisfied with his side's display in the 1-1 weekend draw with Koln.
The Dutchman told reporters: "For the first 15 minutes we played the way we planned beforehand.
"But after that, we tried to go through the middle far too often and that wasn't clever, because that's where all the Koln players were.
"We were better after halftime because we got the ball wide, but we failed to score the second goal."
(Courtesy of sportbox.tv)
<< Mowbray hopeful of keeping Keane
Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Celtic manager Tony Mowbray retains some
hope of being able to convince loan striker Robbie Keane to remain with the
club beyond the end of the season.
The 29-year-old has scored five times in sev
<< Fabregas to miss return leg against Porto
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas will miss the
second leg of his side's Champions League Round of 16 tie against FC Porto due
to a hamstring injury.
The 22-year-old Spain international midfielder limped out
<< Di Maria continues to ponder future
Lisbon, Portugal (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Benfica winger Angel Di Maria has played
down rumors linking him with a certain exit from the Portuguese giants in the
summer.
The 22-year-old Argentina international is attracting interest from a num
<< Eagles bring back Avant; Vick next
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Eagles and wide receiver
Jason Avant have agreed to terms on a five-year contract, and it appears as
though the team will pick up the 2010 contract option on quarterback Michael
Vick.
2010 Big East Conference Tournament Preview >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - While there are several teams projected to
make it to the NCAA Tournament, there's only one guaranteed bid that comes out
of the massive 16-team beast that is the 31st annual Big East Conference
Tournament.
UMass to seek new women's hoops coach >>
Amherst, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The University of Massachusetts is in the
market for a new women's basketball coach after the school decided not to
retain Marnie Dacko for next season.
Dacko's contract is set to expire April 10.
Two tours, two wins for Villegas >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Before Camilo Villegas arrived at the first tee Sunday, he
called his mother in Colombia. "Tell the little bro congratulations and keep
it up," he told her.
More than 1,500 miles away, Manuel Villegas was signing his score
A's come to terms with P Bailey, 28 others >>
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Oakland Athletics closer Andrew Bailey was one
of 29 pre-arbitration players to agree to contracts for the 2010 season.
Bailey made 68 appearances for Oakland last season, posting a 6-3 record with
26 saves
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.
Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa
Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.
Should be in:
Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?
Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.
Work left to do:
Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.
Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.
Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.
Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.
For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com
Additional sports lines can be found at: www.Sportsbooks.com
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