09/12/2008 - Loudon, NH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - UPS announced Friday that it will sponsor David Ragan's No.6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford team in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starting in 2009.
"This is an unbelievable opportunity to drive and represent a company that has become one of NASCAR's most respected sponsors," said Ragan. "I've watched the UPS car on the track for a number of years and now to be driving with the UPS colors is humbling."
Ragan, 22, is currently 14th in points in his second full season of Sprint Cup competition. He has scored nine top-10 finishes in 26 races this season with his best finish of third coming last month at Michigan.
UPS became the official express delivery company of NASCAR in 2000, and a year later joined Robert Yates Racing driver and 1999 Cup champion Dale Jarrett as primary sponsor of his No.88 Ford team. In 2007, UPS followed Jarrett when he joined Michael Waltrip Racing to drive the No.44 Toyota. Jarrett retired from Cup competition earlier this season as he was replaced by David Reutimann in the No.44 car.
<< Italy's heavyweights still searching for first win
Milan, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It's hard to believe that perennial title
contenders Inter Milan, Roma, Juventus and AC Milan combined for exactly zero
wins in the opening weekend of Serie A play.
However, those four teams will each be
<< Liverpool hopes to turn things around against United
Liverpool, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Liverpool has had plenty of success in
European competition under Rafael Benitez, but they have not been too much of
a factor in the Premiership, something that the Anfield faithful will be keen
for the
<< Columbus needs to stay focused on trip to Toronto
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After last week's win over New England, Columbus
Crew coach Sigi Schmid admitted it was time to target finishing first in Major
League Soccer's Eastern Conference.
"I think we can start talking about and think
<< Playoff picture starting to sort itself out
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With just over two weeks to go in the Major League Baseball
season, the playoff picture is starting to become a little more clear. Not
much, but a little bit.
I might not know how it is all going to shake out seed-wise in
Gasquet, Simon, Moya head into Bucharest semis >>
Bucharest, Romania (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Richard Gasquet, reigning
champion Gilles Simon and former runner-up Carlos Moya notched quarterfinal
victories Friday at the $525,000 BCR Open Romania.
The world No. 12 Gasquet came f
Jackets top pick to miss rookie camp with leg injury >>
Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Left wing Nikita Filatov, the sixth overall
pick in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets, will be
sidelined for 10-to-14 days with a lower leg injury.
The Blue Jackets announced o
New York trades defender Freeman to TFC >>
Secaucus, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Red Bull New York traded defender Hunter
Freeman to Toronto FC in exchange for a third and fourth round pick in the
2009 MLS Supplemental Draft, the Major League Soccer clubs announced on
Friday.
Collins Looks To Lead Titans Over Bengals >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Another stadium. Another game plan. Another replacement
quarterback.
But not just the same old Week 2 story for Kerry Collins and the Tennessee
Titans.
Rather than the novice signal-calling specter faced by the Tom Brad
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.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting