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08/20/2007 - Brooklyn, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - While waiting out yesterday's rain, 50-year- old Ricky Rudd announced that he would retire at the end of the 2007 season.
"I've been fortunate that it's something that I've loved to do, had fun doing and made a good living doing it," Rudd said. "To run the schedule week-in and week-out, it's more demanding than it used to be. And it's really become a young guys' sport: a single guy or a guy that's married and no kids, which means guys in their 20s and early 30s, just because there are so many demands on your schedule. I guess I'm not willing to make those sacrifices for that full-time schedule anymore."
Rudd will retire after making 911 career starts, second only to Richard Petty's 1,184. To date, Rudd has recorded 23 wins, 29 poles and 374 top-10s in 897 starts over 32 years.
Rudd made his debut on March 2, 1975 at Rockingham, finishing 11th. He won at least one race for 16 consecutive years between 1983 and 1998. Rudd, who took last season off, will finish out the year in the No.88 Robert Yates Racing Ford.
<< Broncos deal Warren to Oakland
Englewood, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Denver Broncos have traded defensive
tackle Gerard Warren to the Oakland Raiders in exchange for an undisclosed
pick in the 2008 NFL Draft.
Warren spent the past two years with the Broncos after
<< Derby completes signing of American Lewis
Derby, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - United States international Eddie Lewis
completed his move to Premiership side Derby on Monday for an undisclosed fee.
The 33-year-old Lewis has signed a two-year deal with the promoted club after
spen
<< White Sox hope to end freefall against Royals
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago White Sox try to put the brakes on their
season-high eight-game losing streak this evening, when they open a three-game
series with the Kansas City Royals at U.S. Cellular Field.
Chicago extended its l
<< Twins host Mariners in matchup between streaking clubs
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Seattle Mariners try to stay atop the American League
wild card standings when they begin a three-game set with the Minnesota Twins
at the Metrodome this evening.
Seattle completed a three-game sweep of the Chica
Gerrard among list of withdrawals for England >>
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard was among
a list of four more players who have withdrawn from the England squad that
will meet Germany in a friendly on Wednesday at Wembley Stadium.
Gerrard played in
European Solheim Cup squad tabs nine players >>
Macclesfield, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Ladies European Tour announced
the first nine players for its 2007 Solheim Cup team on Monday.
Those nine players include two rookies and seven others that have combined for
35 previous appeara
Bellamy withdraws from Wales for friendly >>
Cardiff, Wales (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wales captain Craig Bellamy withdrew from
the team on Monday for the upcoming friendly with Bulgaria.
The 28-year-old striker pulled out of Wednesday's contest because his wife,
Claire, is due to give
Lucio, Gilberto ruled out of Brazil friendly >>
Sao Paulo, Brazil (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brazil will be without two more defenders
for its upcoming friendly against Algeria on Wednesday as both Lucio and
Gilberto were ruled out of the match because of injury.
Last week, Roma's Juan and
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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