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03/10/2010 - Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Real Madrid failed to advance to the quarterfinals of the Champions League for the sixth successive season as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Lyon at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday, leaving them on the short end of a 2-1 aggregate score.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored in the opening six minutes of the game to put Real in front, but a goal from Miralem Pjanic 15 minutes from time sends the French side through, while Real's hopes of hosting the final at the Bernabeu in May have been dashed.
The hosts couldn't have asked for a better start as they entered the return leg down 1-0 but scored inside of six minutes.
Guti lofted a ball over the top of the defense from his own half to Ronaldo, who got down the left wing and managed to squeeze a shot through the legs of goalkeeper Hugo Lloris from a tight angle to even things up on aggregate.
The visitors them came under attack over the rest of the first half with Gonzalo Higuain missing a number of good chances to extend the lead.
The Argentine should have scored in the 25th minute when he got behind the Lyon defense and rounded Lloris before smacking his shot off the post with an empty net staring him in the face.
Lloris then produced a good save on Higuain two minutes later to keep his team within a goal, but things began to turn around for Lyon in the second half.
The French club tightened things up in defense and began to find a few openings of their own as both Sidney Govou and Lisandro Lopez went close with long-range efforts.
However, with the aggregate score still level at 1-1, Pjanic found himself on the other end of a lay-off from Lopez and he smashed a half-volley past goalkeeper Iker Casillas.
The hosts now needed two goals in the final 15 minutes to advance, but instead it was Lyon that had the better chances with both Lopez and Cesar Delgado squandering scoring opportunities after getting past the Real defense.
Wednesday's other match saw Manchester United easily move on with a 4-0 win over AC Milan at Old Trafford.
Wayne Rooney scored a goal in each half while Ji-Sung Park and Darren Fletcher also found the net in the final 30 minutes, handing United a 7-2 win on aggregate.
<< Zenyatta to face eight in Santa Margarita
Arcadia, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two-time champion mare Zenyatta makes her 2010
debut Saturday in the $250,000 Santa Margarita Invitational at Santa Anita
Park. The six-year-old will take on eight other older females in the 1 1/8-
mile ra
<< Auxerre closes gap on Bordeaux
Bordeaux, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two second-half goals from Ireneusz Jelen
gave Auxerre a 2-1 comeback win at Bordeaux on Wednesday, allowing the
visitors to move to within one point of Bordeaux at the top of the Ligue 1
table.
<< Southland Conference Tournament Recaps
Katy, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eddie Williams scored 22 points and grabbed eight
rebounds, and the second-seeded Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks crushed the
seventh-seeded Texas-Arlington Mavericks, 77-54, in quarterfinal action of the
Southla
<< Conference USA Tournament Recaps
Tulsa, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Aubrey Coleman had 29 points and five assists as
Houston downed East Carolina, 93-80, in the first round of the Conference-USA
Tournament.
Kelvin Lewis had 15 points and Desmond Wade added 13 points and seven
A's center fielder Crisp has hamstring injury >>
PHOENIX (AP) -New Oakland Athletics center fielder Coco Crisp has a strained left hamstring and it isn't clear how long he might be sidelined.Crisp, who is being listed as day-to-day, was underwent treatment Wednesday morning on the leg, which he ha
Heat: Still no word from Alston >>
MIAMI (AP) -Rafer Alston still has not made contact with the Miami Heat to explain his disappearance from the team, and coach Erik Spoelstra is denying the guard's claim that he was going to be permanently benched before leaving last week.Alston tol
Oregon QB Masoli to face burglary count >>
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) -Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli faces a burglary charge in connection with a theft at a campus fraternity house in late January.The Lane Country District Attorney's office says Masoli and former Oregon receiver Garrett Embry ha
Warriors C Andris Biedrins undergoes surgery >>
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -The Golden State Warriors say center Andris Biedrins has undergone surgery to repair a small tear of an abdominal muscle.Biedrins had the surgery Wednesday in Philadelphia. The team says it will be four to six weeks until Biedr
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.
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“You play to win the game!”
Those are the words of notoriously intense head coach Herman Edwards. Unfortunately, from a bettors’ perspective, most coaches don’t feel that way about the NFL preseason. August is a time to evaluate young players, finalize the depth chart and pray your star players stay healthy.
The trick to making money during the exhibition schedule is identifying coaches – like Edwards – who can’t stand losing even when there's nothing on the line.
The New York Jets betting won 15 of 21 preseason games and went 14-7 against the spread (ATS) during Edwards’s five-year tenure with the club. In his first season as the Kansas City Chiefs field boss, the team improved from 0-4 to 2-2.
Identifying win-a-holics like Edwards is a good start if you plan betting the preseason – even though most say you shouldn’t ... but what the hell do they know anyway?
Here’s a brief rundown of two teams that have a habit of winning during the second-stringers’ season, and another club that has a good chance of exceeding this year.
Playing in the media hub of North America can be stressful but the press can’t write anything negative about the way Tom Coughlin’s boys play in the preseason. The Giants won and covered all four games last summer, improving their record to 7-1 both straight up (SU) and against the spread over the last two years.
Coughlin has shown he’s not afraid to give his starters more time in the second preseason game than most of his colleagues, no doubt one of the reasons his team has been so dominant.
Bettors can count on America’s team early on. The Cowboys are 14-6 both SU and ATS since 2002 in warm-up contests. Former coach Bill Parcells, the coach of the team the last four years, has an intimidating, in-your-face presence – surely a reason Dallas has had so much early success.
The Big Tuna won’t be strolling the sidelines with looks of disgust, but new coach Wade Phillips will be anxious to make a good first impression for owner Jerry Jones.
Dallas plays the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos before things get serious. They then face the Houston Texans in their third contest (the game starters see most game time) and finish off with the Minnesota Vikings.
Expect a Dallas team able to walk away with another 3-1 preseason record.
This team scored a league-worst 12 offensive touchdowns last season, so the rookies and veterans each have something to prove. There’s a bounty of first-unit jobs up for grabs and plenty of bodies competing for those slots.
First-time head coach Lane Kiffin will be eager to impress an owner who employs the philosophy, “Just win, baby!”
The 32-year-old Kiffin has to command respect from a locker room full of players older than him. All of these factors should lead to purpose in preseason.
Don’t forget: before playing like a team that belonged in NFL Europe, Oakland went 4-1 (both SU and ATS) in exhibition games.
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