11/19/2008 - Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Steelers may get tight end Heath Miller back for Thursday's game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Miller has missed the last two games with an ankle injury. The fourth-year tight end has 21 catches for 240 yards and one touchdown for the Steelers this season.
Matt Spaeth, who has taken Miller's place in the lineup, has been limited in practice this week with a wrist injury.
Cornerback Bryant McFadden has practiced this week, but Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said that McFadden will not play Thursday. The fourth-year player has missed the last four games after suffering a broken forearm.
Fellow cornerback Deshea Townsend is also not expected to play against the Bengals. Townsend missed Sunday's 11-10 win over the San Diego Chargers with a hamstring injury, and did not practice on Wednesday.
<< Bengals WR Chatman done for season with cervical injury
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cincinnati Bengals placed wide receiver
Antonio Chatman on injured reserve on Wednesday, ending his season. Chatman,
who also returned punts, suffered a cervical injury in Sunday's 13-13 tie with
the Phi
<< Line of Scrimmage: Week 12 - Sadly, Time for McNabb to Go
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Apparently, Donovan McNabb does not love
football the way some of us love football.
Those of us who fostered a love of the NFL at a young age or have, you know,
checked out the league standings in the news
<< Hill, Ross, Rackers earn NFC weekly honors
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - San Francisco 49ers quarterback Shaun Hill,
New York Giants cornerback Aaron Ross and Arizona Cardinals kicker Neil
Rackers have been selected as the NFC's top players for Week 11 of the NFL
season.
<< Manning, Harrison, Washington selected for AFC weekly honors
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning,
Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison and New York Jets return
specialist Leon Washington have been selected as the AFC's top players for
Week 11
Hull City's Brown hit with fine >>
Hull, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hull City manager Phil Brown has been handed
a $1,500 fine and warned over his future conduct by the Football Association
due to his actions during the 5-0 thrashing by Wigan.
The Tigers suffered a humi
Spurs lose Modric for two weeks >>
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tottenham has confirmed that playmaker Luka
Modric could be sidelined for two weeks by a groin injury sustained in the 2-1
defeat at Fulham.
The 23-year-old Croatia international has struggled to make his
Bologna signs Brazilian Cesar >>
Bologna, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Serie A strugglers Bologna have bolstered
their squad with the signing of former Lazio and Inter Milan midfielder
Cesar Aparecido.
The 34-year-old Brazilian is a free agent after leaving Inter a
San Jose sends Staubitz to Worcester >>
Worcester, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Jose Sharks reassigned forward Brad
Staubitz to their American Hockey league affiliate, the Worcester Sharks, it
was announced on Wednesday.
Staubitz has played in nine games with San Jose during
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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