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08/29/2010 - Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fredy Montero scored twice, including the game- winner in stoppage time, as Seattle Sounders FC beat the Chicago Fire, 2-1, on Saturday night in Major League Soccer at Qwest Field.
John Thorrington converted a penalty kick in the 28th minute for Chicago, but Montero equalized in the 36th and added his 10th goal of the year in the final minutes to spoil Freddie Ljungberg's return to Seattle.
Seattle (9-8-5) improved to 5-0-2 in league play since Ljungberg made his last appearance for Sounders FC in early July. Sounders FC is fourth in the Western Conference and sixth in the playoff race.
Chicago (6-7-6) had two victories and a draw in its first three matches after acquiring Ljungberg in the first trade involving a designated player, but has now dropped its last two games and sits fifth in the Eastern Conference.
Seattle handed Chicago the early lead when Jeff Parke played a cross from Fire forward Patrick Nyarko with his hand. Thorrington drove the penalty kick into the upper right for his first goal of the season.
Montero canceled out Chicago's early goal less than 10 minutes later. Patrick Ianni and Tyson Wahl got the ball to Montero, who drove through traffic in the box before easily beating Fire goalie Sean Johnson.
Ljungberg and Chicago were on the verge of escaping Seattle with a point when Montero struck again. Nathan Sturgis drove a cross from the right over a group of players in the middle of the area to Montero, who was left alone at the far post. Montero headed home from close range to seal Seattle's ninth win of the season.
Seattle plays Chivas USA on Wednesday in the semifinals of the U.S. Open Cup, then returns to MLS play Sept. 4 at the New England Revolution. Chicago hosts the Los Angeles Galaxy, who still have the best record in the league despite going just 2-4-1 in their last seven matches, in its next match on Sept. 4.
<< Dixon's late score lifts 49ers over Raiders
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Anthony Dixon's one-yard touchdown run late in
the fourth quarter helped the San Francisco 49ers take a 28-24 win over the
Oakland Raiders in the third preseason game for both squads.
Dixon finished the ga
<< Millwood dominant as O's blank Angels
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Josh Bell hit a two-run homer and Kevin
Millwood pitched his best game of the season, as the Baltimore Orioles shut
down the Angels, 5-0, in the second test of a three-game series.
Millwood (3-14) ga
<< Arizona pummels struggling Giants
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mark Reynolds and Adam LaRoche each
homered and Daniel Hudson continued to impress with seven sturdy innings as
Arizona downed San Francisco, 11-3, in the second of three meetings at AT&T
Par
<< Cain's hit in 11th lifts Brewers over Pirates
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lorenzo Cain's RBI single in the 11th
inning lifted the Milwaukee Brewers to an 8-7 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates
in the second contest of a three-game set.
With Wilfredo Ledezma (0-1) on the m
Tanihara wins shootout in Japan >>
Itoshima, Japan (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hideto Tanihara closed with a six-under 66
Sunday to earn a one-stroke win at Vana H Cup KBC Augusta.
Tanihara finished at 22-under-par 266. The victory was his ninth on the Japan
Golf Tour, but his first
da Silva cruises to Zambia Open title >>
Ndola, Zambia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Adilson da Silva closed with a one-under 72
Sunday to cruise to a four-shot win at the Zambia Open.
The Brazilian, who was runner-up in the last Sunshine Tour event, finished the
54-hole event at 17-under
Marlins' infield dirt to provide Miami a challenge >>
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) -When No. 13 Miami opens its season Thursday, it's probable that some of the Hurricanes will be bloodied and scraped by the time the game ends.And it might not be Florida A&M's fault, either.The Hurricanes' roughest oppon
2010 World Basketball Championship update - August 29th >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) -
Group C Halftime: China 41 Ivory Coast 33 (Ankara)
Group D Halftime: Canada 43 Lithuania 33 (Izmir)
Group A End of 1st Quarter: Jordan 17 Angola 16 (Kayseri)
Group B End of 1st Quarter : USA 23 Slovenia 11 (Istanbul
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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