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01/02/2012 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The turn of the calendar brings so much promise.
New Year's resolutions are made and two weeks later, gyms will be back to normal attendance rates. Cigarette sales will return to averages and people will abandon any notions of improvement.
Is it cynical? Of course, but statistics bear out the positions. Personal experience accounts for some of those beliefs as well, but January is also a time for fearless predictions of the year to come.
So here are some thoughts on what we might see for 2012.
- Tiger Woods will win again, but not a major championship.
His victory at the Chevron World Challenge was something, but not a firm indicator he is back. If we take Woods at his word that injuries more than anything accounted for a down 2011, then he should have a productive 2012.
Woods will be two full years removed from the scandal and the more time that passes on that front, the better. He got that winning taste back in his mouth and that could lead to the old feelings.
No matter what, it's naive to think Woods would never win on tour again after the car accident. Why not 2012? He's indicated he will play at least one event he normally didn't, so it seems he's at least mildly interested in teeing it up more often.
- Yani Tseng makes a serious push for the single-season Grand Slam.
She is so clearly the best player in the world and dominance has run rampant on the LPGA Tour since 2000. First, Annika was unbeatable, then it was Lorena, and now it's Yani.
Both Sorenstam and Ochoa failed to threaten that single-season Slam, but if you can believe this, neither was as good a closer in majors as is Tseng already.
She only needs the Women's British Open for the career slam, and, she'll be 23 in mid-January. Tseng should still be carded in a state store, but she's so far ahead of the pace of her contemporaries, it's comical.
Tseng won two majors in 2011, but probably should've had a third. She didn't contend at the U.S. Women's Open. The chance at immortality could be too much to overcome, but Tseng's competition isn't as strong as Annika's or Lorena's. Cristie Kerr, Jiyai Shin and Ai Miyazato all regressed to some degree in 2011.
- The U.S. wins the Ryder Cup, then David Toms and Paul McGinley get the 2014 captaincies.
- The PGA Tour explores ways to get the season-opener out of Hawaii because attendance at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions is worse than Senior Cut Day. (It won't work.)
- No one gets suspended for failing a drug test.
- Jason Kokrak is your next PGA Tour star from the Nationwide Tour.
- Lexi Thompson struggles as a member of the LPGA Tour. Remember, she can't vote yet, so a full season of pressure like that will wear on her.
- The FedExCup playoffs will be better thanks to the additions of Bethpage and Crooked Stick to the rotation.
- The No. 1 player at the end of 2012 will be Lee Westwood, who wins the British Open.
- Pace of play in young golfers doesn't improve and my health is jeopardized becoming angry about it.
- Fred Couples dominates the Champions Tour without having to worry about the Presidents Cup captaincy. As a bonus prediction, Couples' name gets kicked around for '14 Ryder Cup gig, but he's dubbed "too old."
- He and Nick Price are the 2013 Presidents Cup captains.
- Phil Mickelson gets twitter and bores us to death with it.
- Rory McIlroy struggles a bit in 2012 after enormous expectations and celebrity status.
- People continue to complain about long putters, but nothing happens because they are completely legal and that will never change.
- Major winners - Masters (Adam Scott), U.S. Open at Olympic (Steve Stricker), British Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St. Annes (Westwood) and PGA Championship at Kiawah Island (Alvaro Quiros).
For now, the crystal ball gets put away with the Christmas ornaments.
<< Celtic continues to cruise with win over Dunfermline
Dunfermline, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Celtic continued its exceptional form
in the Scottish Premier League with a comfortable 3-0 win over last-place
Dunfermline at East End Park on Monday.
The Bhoys have now won 10 successive games
<< Blackhawks sign first-round picks McNeill, Danault
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Blackhawks signed forwards and 2011
first-round draft picks Mark McNeill and Phillip Danault to three-year
contracts.
The 18-year-old McNeill was selected by the Blackhawks with the 18th o
<< Stamkos highlights NHL's 'Three Stars'
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tampa Bay Lightning center Steven Stamkos,
Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin and Los Angeles Kings goaltender
Jonathan Quick have been named the NHL's "Three Stars" for the week ending
January
<< Buccaneers dump Morris
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have fired head coach
Raheem Morris after the team closed the 2011 season with a 10-game losing
streak to finish 4-12.
Morris was considered one of the NFL's up-and-coming head c
Casual Trick offers encouraging runner-up effort >>
Hallandale Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sunday's $100,000 Gulfstream Park
Derby put new names on the Kentucky Derby futures list for this year. The 1
1/16-mile race was the first stakes event of the year for Run for the Roses
hopeful
Troicki, Bogomolov Jr. open with wins in Doha >>
Doha, Qatar (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fifth seed Viktor Troicki and sixth seed Alex
Bogomolov Jr. were among Monday's winners at the season-opening $1.024 million
Qatar Open.
The Serbian Troicki got past Czech Lukas Rosol 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), while the
In the FCS Huddle: Breaking down Sam Houston State >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Head football coaches in the Southland
Conference are not allowed to pick their own team in the preseason poll, so
this past summer the coach of the defending champion relied on what he noticed
late last seas
Syracuse strengthens hold on No. 1 ranking >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Syracuse strengthened its hold on the top spot
in the latest Associated Press men's college basketball poll.
The Orange (15-0) earned 60 first-place votes -- six more than last week --
and a total of 1,61
Albert Pujols to be This Year's Home Run Champ Says Online Sportsbook
Barry Bonds is a 50-1 long shot to be this year's home run champ odds. The favorite to be this year's home run champ is none other than Albert Pujols, however.
Now that Barry Bonds is signed and in Giants camp, it is on to his pursuit of all of sports most prestigious records: the all-time home run mark. Bonds sits just 21 homers shy of tying Hank Aaron for the career mark at 755. Word out of Giants’ camp is that Bonds is the healthiest he has been in a few years. Bonds is just two seasons removed from his injury riddled 2005 campaign where he played in only 14 games and hit only 5 home runs. He did come back last year and had a solid season hitting .270 with 26 bombs. All eyes will be on Bonds this spring and summer not only because of his home run chase but his highly publicized steroid abuse allegations. If and when Bonds breaks the record, he surely will not get the positive attention one should for breaking a record that was once thought of as “unbreakable”. Despite Bonds decent season last year, he is just 50-1 at MySportsbook.com to lead the MLB in long balls this season.
Not surprisingly, the favorites to go deep the most times this season are Albert Pujols 5-1, Ryan Howard 6-1, David Ortiz 8-1 and Alex Rodriguez 12-1. With 49 homers, Pujols finished second in the National League behind Howard (58). Pujols is considered the favorite due to the consistent power numbers that he has posted since breaking into the league in 2001. Also one must consider the fact that he played in 16 fewer games then Howard did due to an injury. Howard smashed 58 homers in his first complete season of big league play en route to the National League MVP odds award. He silenced his critics by successfully hitting left-handed pitching. Howard also displayed the ability to use his power to the opposite field. Two attributes which should keep Howard amongst the league leaders in long balls for years to come. From the American League representatives, David Ortiz leads the field. Ortiz was second in the majors last year with 54 home runs. Except for 1999 when he only played in 10 games, Ortiz has improved on his home run numbers each year he has been in the majors (1997).
Be sure to log onto online sports betting site MySportsbook.com to check out the odds for who will lead the MLB in home runs this season. Below is just a sample of the players listed. With the highest credit card rates in the industry, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on baseball this summer.
World Series odds
Adam Dunn 15-1
Albert Pujols 5-1
Alex Rodriguez 12-1
Alfonso Soriano 15-1
Andruw Jones 25-1
Barry Bonds 50-1
Carlos Delgado 40-1
David Ortiz 8-1
Jermaine Dye 40-1
Ken Griffey Jr. 100-1
Lance Berkman 40-1
Manny Ramirez 20-1
Richie Sexson 40-1
Ryan Howard 6-1
Travis Hafner 20-1
Vladimir Guerrero 40-1
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.
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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