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09/05/2010 - Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Geovanni scored a goal and assisted on another to propel the San Jose Earthquakes to a 2-1 win over the Houston Dynamo at Robertson Stadium on Sunday.
The Brazilian was making his first Major League Soccer start since being signed as a Designated Player, and he didn't disappoint as he set up the opening goal after six minutes, which was finished off by Khari Stephenson.
Houston leveled the match on the stroke of halftime through Brad Davis, but Geovanni's goal in the 64th minute was enough for San Jose to claim its third win in the last four games.
The Dynamo have now won just once in their last 13 matches, and their playoff hopes have all but evaporated.
It took the visitors less than six minutes to open the scoring as Geovanni got down the right wing and delivered a pinpoint cross into the path of Stephenson, who rolled a first-time shot inside the far post.
Houston tried to respond through Dominic Oduro, but after he created room for a shot from inside the penalty area, Oduro smashed the ball well over the net.
However, the Dynamo ended the first half in style as Brian Mullan's shot was blocked by goalkeeper Jon Busch, which gave Mullan the chance to collect the rebound and serve a cross into the middle of the box for Davis to redirect inside the left post.
Houston had the brighter start in the second half and Cam Weaver should have put his team in front when he headed a corner kick wide from six yards.
But just one minute later, Weaver paid for his wastefulness as Cornell Glen had the ball poked away by a Houston defender inside the area, only for it to fall to Geovanni, who lashed it into the lower-left corner with a first-time shot.
The Earthquakes made things tougher on themselves in the 82nd minute when Sam Cronin received a straight red card for a poor tackle on Houston's Andrew Hainault, but the best chance that Houston had to level the match came in the 90th minute when Geoff Cameron rolled a shot wide from 10 yards.
<< Abreu helps Angels get by A's
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bobby Abreu drove in three runs and scored
three times, as the Angels took down the Athletics, 7-4, to avoid a three-game
sweep at the Oakland Coliseum.
Abreu and Mike Napoli each homered for Los Angel
<< Jets release FB Richardson
Florham Park, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Jets have released
veteran fullback Tony Richardson.
He had re-signed with the team in March after blocking last season for the
NFL's top rushing offense, which was led by ve
<< UNC associate head coach Blake resigns
Chapel Hill, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - North Carolina associate head football
coach John Blake has resigned, effective immediately, amid an NCAA
investigation into possible violations.
It had previously been reported by the Rale
<< Nadal advances to fourth round, Murray ousted at U.S. Open
Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top seed Rafael Nadal was an easy
third-round winner Sunday at the U.S. Open, while fourth seed Andy Murray was
given an early exit.
Nadal took the next step in his pursuit of a care
Stewart wins at Atlanta and clinches spot in Chase >>
Hampton, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tony Stewart snapped a 31-race winless streak
in the Sprint Cup Series by taking Sunday's Emory Healthcare 500 at Atlanta
Motor Speedway.
Stewart put on a dominating performance by leading 176 of 325 lap
Jets, Revis agree to deal >>
Florham Park, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Jets and Darrelle Revis
have agreed to a deal, ending the cornerback's holdout.
The team made the announcement early Monday morning, according to multiple
media outlets, but did not disclose t
No. 1 Alabama breaks in youngsters in rout >>
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) -Alabama took advantage of an opening rout to get plenty of youngsters on the field.The top-ranked Crimson Tide's top tackler in Saturday night's 48-3 route of San Jose State was freshman linebacker C.J. Mosley. The leading rus
Cowboys roll in offensive coordinator's debut >>
STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) -Oklahoma State uber-booster Boone Pickens spoke for most fans of the Cowboys before their season opener Saturday night against Washington State.``I'm anxious to see what we've got in the way of an offense,'' Pickens said, not
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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