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12/30/2008 - Santa Clara, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Mike Martz was dismissed from the coaching staff on Tuesday, as announced by head coach Mike Singletary.
Martz, who coordinated the prolific offensive juggernaut Rams to the Super Bowl title in the 1999 campaign, was in his first year in San Francisco, which ranked 12th in the NFC in total points.
The 57-year-old was also the head coach in St. Louis from 2000-05 before becoming the offensive coordinator for Detroit the next two seasons.
"After an evaluation period I felt it was best to go in a different direction," said Singletary. "This was not an easy decision because I appreciate Mike Martz, and I enjoyed working with him. He is a true professional, and I wish him the best in the future. I do recognize the need for a long term solution on the offensive side of the ball."
The 49ers brass overlooked Martz after Mike Nolan was let go following a 2-5 start to the season. Under Singletary, who was named permanent head coach on Sunday, San Fran won five of its final nine games to finish a respectable 7-9, good for second place in the NFC West.
<< Stars place two on IR
Frisco, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Dallas Stars placed left wing Fabian
Brunnstrom and center Joel Lundqvist on injured reserve on Tuesday.
Both were placed on the IR retroactively, with Brunnstrom's dating to December
27 and Lundqvis
<< Stoke City plays down Fuller, Griffin spat
Stoke-on-Trent, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Stoke City chairman Peter Coates
does not believe Ricardo Fuller's clash with captain Andy Griffin will lead to
dressing room unrest at the Britannia Stadium.
Potters manager Tony Pulis has alr
<< Roethlisberger attends practice, doesn't participate
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger
was at the team's practice on Tuesday, but did not participate in any drills.
Roethlisberger left last Sunday's 31-0 win over Cleveland on a stretcher
after
<< Auburn DL Marks to enter NFL Draft
Auburn, AL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Auburn defensive lineman Sen'Derrick Marks will
skip his senior season and enter the NFL Draft, the program announced on
Tuesday.
Marks, a second-team All-SEC selection this season, has made 37 career st
D'Backs sign Snyder >>
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Arizona Diamondbacks agreed to terms with
catcher Chris Snyder on a three-year contract through the 2011 season with a
club option for 2012 on Tuesday. No further terms of the agreement were
disclos
Portsmouth: No bids for Defoe, Johnson >>
Portsmouth, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Portsmouth has angrily denied reports
that it has received firm offers for Jermain Defoe and Glen Johnson.
England striker Defoe has been linked with January moves to both Aston Villa
and former c
AFC South: Colts are California Dreamin' >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray in
Indianapolis, but in less than a week the Colts will be safe and warm in San
Diego, preparing for the Chargers in the opening round of the AFC Playoffs.
Indianapolis, current
Broncos fire Shanahan after team's collapse >>
Englewood, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Longtime Denver Broncos head coach Mike
Shanahan was fired Tuesday, just two days after Denver missed the playoffs for
the third straight season.
The Broncos held a three-game lead in the AFC West wit
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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