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09/02/2010 - Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Hawks signed free agent center Etan Thomas on Thursday. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
An eight-year veteran, Thomas spent last season with Oklahoma City and in 23 games averaged 3.3 points and 2.8 rebounds in 14.0 minutes of playing time. The Syracuse alum spent the previous seven seasons with Washington.
"We're excited to add a player of Etan's caliber to our roster," said Hawks head coach Larry Drew. "He provides additional veteran leadership, physicality and toughness to our club, especially on the glass and the defensive side of the ball. We also add another versatile and multi-positional player to our frontcourt."
In 396 career games, 74 starts, the 6-foot-10 Thomas holds down averages of 5.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 17.7 minutes of floor time.
<< Toronto's Bautista wins AL monthly award
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista
was named the American League Player of the Month for August.
Bautista torrid month-long stretch with the bat saw him lead the A.L. in home
runs (12), RBI (24)
<< Wozniacki, Jankovic reach third round in Flushing
Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki and
former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic were a pair of second-round winners
Thursday at the 2010 U.S. Open.
The 2009 runner-up Wozniacki double-bageled Taipei's Kai-Chen
<< Hard times hit United after Open Cup setback
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - D.C. United hit rock bottom Wednesday. The
most storied franchise in Major League Soccer history was already on the verge
of their worst season in history, and it got even worse with their U.S. Open
Cup exit.
<< D'Backs' Hudson named NL Rookie of the Month
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Daniel Hudson was
named the National League Rookie of the Month for August.
Hudson went 4-1 with a 1.85 earned-run average in six starts during the month.
He led all National Le
Iowa gives Ferentz extension through 2020 >>
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) -Iowa says it is extending coach Kirk Ferentz's contract through 2020.Ferentz's current deal runs through 2015 and pays him roughly $2.84 million per season. Ferentz's new deal will total nearly $3.7 million a year.School offici
Portugal coach Queiroz suspended for 6 months >>
Lisbon, Portugal (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Portugal coach Carlos Queiroz was handed a
six-month suspension Thursday by the country's anti-doping agency, ruling that
he disrupted anti-doping tests ahead of the World Cup.
Queiroz was previously suspe
Marlins C Baker to have elbow surgery >>
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Florida Marlins catcher John Baker is headed
for Tommy John surgery on Friday.
The Miami Herald reported Thursday that Baker, who has not played since May
12, will undergo a procedure to repair a damaged
Iowa to extend Ferentz through 2020 >>
Iowa City, IA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Iowa announced Thursday it plans to extend
the contract of head football coach Kirk Ferentz through the 2020 season.
School officials expect Ferentz to sign the contract Friday.
The Hawkeyes begin 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 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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