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08/20/2007 - Brooklyn, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - NASCAR's Nextel Cup race at the Michigan International Speedway was postponed due to rain for the second consecutive day. The 3M Performance 400 has been pushed back until Tuesday and the green flag is scheduled to drop, weather permitting, at 10 a.m.
The last "Cup" race to be postponed on consecutive days was the 1997 Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
When the flag finally drops, series points leader Jeff Gordon will lead the 43-car field. The No.24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was the last qualifier on the track on Friday and stole the pole from Greg Biffle's grasp.
Row two will consist of Kasey Kahne and Bobby Labonte.
Other drivers of note and their starting positions: Jimmie Johnson (seventh), Denny Hamlin (eighth), Clint Bowyer (ninth), Carl Edwards (13th), Jeff Burton (19th) and Tony Stewart (35th).
Just four races remain until the cutoff for the "Chase for the Nextel Cup." Following an eventful Sunday in upstate New York, the picture is becoming clearer as to who is a contender and who is just a pretender.
The race for the final position in the "Chase" appears to be coming down to Kurt Busch, his Penske teammate Ryan Newman, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Biffle.
Biffle, with his second-place starting position and great history at MIS, should make some headway this week, but still has a long road. He is 15th in the standings and 212 points out of the "Chase." But at MIS Biffle owns two wins and six top-10s in nine career starts.
If tomorrow's race is also cancelled due to weather, the Michigan event might be run on Thanksgiving weekend and become the 10th race of the "Chase for the Nextel Cup." The race at Richmond would no longer be the last race before the "Chase," that honor would go to the New Hampshire International Speedway with the race at Dover becoming the first of 10 races to determine the Nextel Cup champion.
<< August turns ugly for Nationals
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sooner or later the Washington Nationals would fall from
grace after their hot start this month.
As Homer said to Bart during an old April Fool's episode of The Simpsons, "You
couldn't fool your mother on the fooling
<< Vick set to plead guilty in dogfighting case
Richmond, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michael Vick has decided to plead guilty to
charges stemming from a dogfighting ring.
Vick's attorney, Bill Martin, released a statement Monday to announce that his
client has accepted a plea agreement
<< Robredo wins opener at Pilot Pen
New Haven, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Second-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo was a
second-round winner Monday at the $650,000 Pilot Pen Tennis event, a final
tune-up for the U.S. Open.
Robredo handled Frenchman Marc Gicquel 6-4, 6-4 on the hardcour
<< Giants' Ortiz departs game
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Russ Ortiz
left his start in Monday's Giants-Marlins contest prior to the bottom of the
fifth inning with an undisclosed injury.
Ortiz allowed four runs in four innings,
Casillas out for Spain's friendly with Greece >>
Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Real Madrid keeper Iker Casillas has been
ruled out of Spain's squad for this week's friendly against Greece after he
suffered an injury in training on Monday.
The Spanish Football Federation said t
Iowa suspends pair of players >>
Iowa City, IA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The University of Iowa suspended sophomore
wide receivers Dominique Douglas and Anthony Bowman for an indefinite period
of time Monday.
Both players were arrested Sunday by University of Iowa police
Kings sign Klemm >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Kings signed free
agent defenseman Jon Klemm to a one-year contract on Monday. Per team policy,
financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Klemm, 37, is a two-time win
Robredo, Fish win second-rounders at Pilot Pen >>
New Haven, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Second-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo and
unseeded American Mardy Fish were second-round winners Monday at the $650,000
Pilot Pen Tennis event, a final tune-up for the U.S. Open.
Robredo handled Frenchman Marc
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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