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03/09/2010 - Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Dynamo signed Dynamo Academy product Francisco Navas Cobo to a developmental contract, the Major League Soccer club announced on Tuesday.
The 18-year-old midfielder joins goalkeeper Tyler Deric as the second Dynamo Academy player in team history to be signed to a first-team contract.
"To have a successful Academy, you need talent and opportunity," Dynamo Director of Youth Development James Clarkson said. "In Francisco Navas Cobo, we have talent, and through [Houston Dynamo head coach] Dominic Kinnear's vision and support of the Dynamo Academy, we've been able to provide opportunity to Francisco and the other young men in our development system. This signing shows that the Dynamo Academy is working, and we look forward to the day when one of our Academy players makes his MLS debut."
Originally from Houston, Navas Cobo spent several years in Colombia before returning to his hometown in 2009. He immediately joined the Dynamo Academy, with Kinnear seeing him play several times last fall before inviting him on trial with the first team for the 2010 preseason.
<< Pats make it official with Wilfork, Neal
Foxborough, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New England Patriots officially
announced the signings of defensive tackle Vince Wilfork and guard Stephen
Neal on Tuesday.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but a report from Bost
<< NASCAR suspends crew members for substance abuse violation
Daytona Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - NASCAR on Tuesday indefinitely suspended
two crew members for violating the sanctioning body's substance abuse policy.
According to a news release, William Keith, a crew member of the No.38 Front
Row
<< UL-Lafayette to look for new men's hoops coach
Lafayette, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The University of Louisiana-Lafayette has
decided not to retain men's basketball coach Robert Lee, whose contract
expired at the conclusion of this season.
Lee had spent the past 14 seasons with
<< Turf to Dirt Angle Works Best
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Both of Saturday's three-year-old
Kentucky Derby preps were won by horses that raced on the turf in their
previous start. One was favored at Aqueduct while the other was the sixth
choice in the betting at S
Nurnberg loses Breno for rest of season >>
Nurnberg, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nurnberg has been rocked by confirmation
that on-loan defender Breno will miss the remainder of the season.
Breno was stretchered off during Sunday's 3-2 victory over Bayer Leverkusen
and subsequent s
Broncos sign DE Green >>
Englewood, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Denver Broncos signed free agent
defensive end Jarvis Green on Tuesday.
Green had spent each of his eight NFL seasons with the Patriots after New
England made him a fourth-round pick in the
San Antonio Silver Starts (WNBA) >>
Signed forward Tasha Humphrey to a training camp contract.
Lions release QB Pierce >>
Vancouver, BC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The British Columbia Lions released
quarterback Buck Pierce on Tuesday.
The 28-year-old California native threw for 2,272 yards, 10 touchdowns and 12
interceptions on 199-of-315 completions in 2009
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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