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09/04/2010 - Tempe, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Arizona Cardinals have officially released quarterback Matt Leinart, as part of a group of Saturday moves to pare their roster to the 53-player maximum.
Leinart, the 2004 Heisman Trophy winner and No. 10 overall pick in the 2006 draft, had been expected to open behind center for Arizona in 2010. But Leinart fell out of favor with head coach Ken Whisenhunt during the preseason, and was demoted behind former Brown Derek Anderson prior to the team's third warm-up game.
Leinart leaves Arizona with a 7-10 record as a starter over parts of four seasons, with 14 touchdown passes, 20 interceptions and a 70.8 career passer rating.
Rookies Max Hall (BYU) and John Skelton (Fordham) will start the year as Anderson's backups.
Also on Saturday, the Cardinals waived-injured linebacker Chris Johnson (ankle) and running back Alfonso Smith (neck).
On Friday, the club announced the release of linebackers Stevie Baggs, Monty Beisel and Cody Brown, tight end Anthony Becht, defensive linemen Jeremy Clark and John Fletcher, defensive backs Trevor Ford and Justin Miller, wide receivers Ed Gant, Mike Jones, Onrea Jones and Isaiah Williams, offensive linemen Herman Johnson, Jonathan Palmer and Tom Pestock and fullback Charles Scott.
Additionally, the team placed linebacker Gerald Hayes on the physically unable to perform list and waived-injured linebacker Mark Washington.
Arizona opens its 2010 regular season next Sunday, when the Cardinals travel to meet the NFC West rival St. Louis Rams.
<< Robinson rushes for three TDs as Iowa wins opener
Iowa City, IA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Adam Robinson ran for 109 yards and three
touchdowns, leading ninth-ranked Iowa in a 37-7 rout of Eastern Illinois to
open each school's 2010 season.
Robinson received 24 carries for the Hawkeyes (1-0
<< Rams tab rookie Bradford as Week 1 starter
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Rams announced on Saturday that
rookie and top overall pick Sam Bradford will be the team's starting
quarterback in Week 1 against Arizona.
Bradford is one of three quarterbacks on th
<< Bolden solid in debut as Penn State dominates Youngstown State
University Park, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - True freshman quarterback Rob Bolden
threw for 239 yards and two touchdowns in his collegiate debut, leading Penn
State to a 44-14 rout of Youngstown State in the 2010 opener for both schools.
Bold
<< Falcons get to 53; CB Jackson among cuts
Flowery Branch, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Falcons have released 21
players as part of their Saturday "cut-down-day" maneuvers.
Atlanta waived or released tight end Robbie Agnone, wide receiver Troy
Bergeron, safety Eric Brock, wide r
White Sox take opener of DH with Red Sox >>
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Paul Konerko had three hits and scored two runs,
as the Chicago White Sox topped Boston, 3-1, in the front end of a day-night
doubleheader from Fenway Park.
A.J. Pierzynski went 2-for-4 with an RBI for the
Zambrano sharp again as Cubs down Mets >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Zambrano allowed two runs in seven
strong innings, and the Chicago Cubs ensured themselves a series victory with
a 5-3 win over the New York Mets at Wrigley Field.
Zambrano (7-6) struck out eigh
Serbia, Spain advance to World Championship quarters >>
Istanbul, Turkey (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Aleksandar Rasic's free throw with one
second left gave Serbia a 73-72 victory over Croatia and berth in the
quarterfinals of the FIBA World Championship.
The Serbs led by seven during the fou
Cubs' Silva to return Tuesday >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chicago Cubs right-hander Carlos Silva will
make his return to the rotation on Tuesday against the Houston Astros.
The club made the announcement Saturday, shuffling their rotation so that
rookie Case
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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