Archive for February, 2010
The Basics Of The NFL Point Spread
In order to successfully bet on NFL football its important to start with the fundamentals. Were talking about the fundamentals of understanding the wagering side of the equation. There’s a lot of misunderstanding about what NFL pointspreads mean and how they are set. A firm understanding of the bookmaking concept of setting NFL lines is a prerequisite for any sports betting success.
The general public has a tendency to oversimplify the meaning of an NFL pointspread. The conventional wisdom is that it is simply a prediction of which team will win and by how much. There is a component of that in the NFL bookmaking equation, but there’s a lot more to it. A sportsbooks primary goal is to equally divide the action they take on an individual game. If they do their job right, the outcome of the game is irrelevant to the bookmaker.
A bookmakers primary goal in setting NFL betting lines is to equally divide action. To do this they have to make each side of a wagering proposition attractive to a prospective player. For that reason, its more accurate to say that NFL lines are more of a reflection of the betting public’s perception of which team will win a game and by how much than anything else. A bookmaker may shade the NFL lines involving teams that are popular with the general public such as the Dallas Cowboys or New England Patriots to make their opponent a more enticing betting option. So if the numbers in a hypothetical game between Dallas and Cincinnati indicate that the Cowboys should be a -6 favorite a book may open the game at -7 or -7. For that reason going against public teams is almost always a strong wagering strategy.
In early season wagering there are a few additional factors at play. A bookmaker may consider a teams NFL preseason record for the simple reason that the NFL betting public gives it undue attention. Sharp players know that there is little correlation between a teams preseason success (or lack thereof) and their regular season performance. Another consideration is a teams performance in the previous season or, in some cases, their historical performance. A team with a winning tradition like New England or Carolina may be priced higher than the true odds indicate as a result.
Furthermore, its important to understand why NFL lines are moved after the opening numbers are posted. While it may occasionally be due to external factors such as injury or weather, more often than not its a direct result of the money a book is drawing on one side of the proposition or another. If in our hypothetical example above, Dallas opens -7 and not long after the line is moved to -7 that is an indication that the book has received the majority of their bets on the Bengals. The idea is that by moving the line it makes wagers on the side a book wishes to attract money on more attractive. Indeed, many sharp players base their NFL football bets exclusively on line movements.
NFL football betting is a very complex discipline, and many neophytes make the mistake of focusing exclusively on the nuances of the game itself. To successfully bet on NFL football, however, it is important to spend as much time understanding the intricacies of the sports gambling marketplace”and in this regard nothing is more fundamentally important than understanding how NFL pointspreads are made and why they are moved.
Ross Everett is a well known freelance writer who covers travel, casino gambling and sports handicapping. He is a staff handicapper for Anatta Sports where he is responsible for providing daily free sports picks. In his spare time he enjoys fine dining, fencing and scuba diving. He lives in Southern Nevada with four dogs and a pet coyote.
Free Agent Lamar Odom Returns To The Lakers
After a month long free agency soap opera, both Lamar Odom and the Los Angeles Lakers got what they really wanted all along. The Lakers retained the services of their valuable sixth man, and Odom will return to the team after an intense recruiting pitch from the Miami Heat. Odom officially signed his new contract with the NBA Champions and along with the addition of Ron Artest the Lakers may actually be stronger than last years title winning squad.
Terms of the deal werent immediately released, but both player and team appeared relieved that things had worked out. In early July, negotiations broke down after some miscommunication between Odom’s agent and Lakers’ owner Dr. Jerry Buss. While Odom worked to mend fences”including several personal phone calls to Dr. Buss”his agent was receiving interest from a number of teams. Miami, in particular, was extremely interest bringing out some heavy hitters including Dwayne Wade and Pat Riley to make a recruiting pitch.
When it was all said and done, Odom didn’t want to leave Los Angeles At the official signing ceremony, he hinted that a dynasty could be in the making:
“I guess basketball-wise, I feel complete. I want to feel it again. It’s kind of an overwhelming feeling. I get goose bumps when I think about it, and as long as I continue to play professional basketball, I want to always feel that. The way I feel during the summer, I always want to feel that. If we can win six, seven, eight, nine, 10 championships in a row, I want to experience that.”
While talk of 10 straight championships may be mere hyperbole, theres no reason the Lakers cant run off a repeat or better with their current lineup. The only significant loss to last years NBA title winning team was Trevor Ariza, but the teams signing of Ron Artest is likely an upgrade. Artest brings not only his infamous swagger and intensity, but an element of toughness and versatility that Ariza lacked. Such was Odoms commitment to the Lakers is that even during his free agency, he helped recruit Artest to sign with the team:
“I spoke to Ron two days before he signed, and I told him how important I think it is for him to come here. Because I know how hard he works, he needs to experience basketball at its best, at the highest level, and he needs to become a Laker. Two days after that, he signed.”
Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak sounded relieved that everything worked out in the end:
“Three or four months ago, I didn’t think it could be possible that we could basically bring this team back in whole. Lamar had a wonderful season that ended on the best possible note you could have, and Lamar had a lot of options. … Here it is, July 31, and we have brought back everybody that we wanted to bring back.”
Odom noted that Los Angeles was home to his family, and he never really wanted to play elsewhere:
“I didn’t want my kids to have to change schools — just the little things. I’m comfortable here. I’ve been here since I was’ years old. I’m proud to be playing for what I think is the most popular brand in sports.
Ross Everett is a widely published widely published freelance sports writer and respected authority on sports betting odds comparison. He writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and betting odds portal sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.
UFC 98 Flashback: Machida Blasts Evans
When golf legend Jack Nicklaus was still a young upstart in the sport and only starting to tear up PGA courses, legend Bobby Jones commented following ‘The Golden Bear’s”65 Masters win that “he plays a game with which I am not familiar”. Following Lyoto Machida’s absolute destruction of Rashad Evans in the main event of UFC 98, there’s likely a few MMA fighters saying the same thing. Machida completely befuddled Evans en route to a 2nd round TKO victory after which ‘The Dragon’ looked as if hed barely worked up a sweat.
The fight started slowly, with each man trying to get a feel for his opponent and wait him out to see who blinked first. Evans, who prefers to counter punch, quickly began to become uncomfortable with facing an adversary who didn’t come right at him. Late in the first round, Machida went on offense with frightening suddenness, flooring Evans with a nice straight right hand. Evans was able to recover and survive, but it only delayed the inevitable as Machida used another right hand to send his opponent down again and did so for the third time in the fight with a crisp combination that displayed the handspeed that hadn’t before been seen from ‘The Dragon’ . Evans gamely tried to fight back, but a final right hand from the Shotokan Karate master left him out cold.
After the fight UFC announcer Joe Rogan proclaimed the start of the Machida era and this is not just mere hyperbole. Machida is unlike any fighter before him, rooted in mastery of traditional martial arts but with the versatility of a modern MMA competitor. He’s essentially a Mortal Kombat character come to life–in a more realistic cross disciplinary comparison he shares many of the same characteristics as boxing great Floyd Mayweather, Jr. as he combines insane handspeed, underrated stopping power and nearly impenetrable defense into an unorthodox and extremely lethal package.
Outside of the cage, Machida is a modest and respectful gentleman who is quick to give credit to his father and his karate teachers for his MMA success. He spent most of his UFC 98 postfight interview not singing his own praises, but imploring others to strive to realize their dreams. In the past, his limited English was seen as a potential marketing liability here in the US but on this occasion he demonstrated vastly improved fluency in the language as a Portuguese translator stood by.
An odd trivia note about Machida serves as further repudiation for MMA neophytes who think that the sports kinship with pro wrestling began with Brock Lesnar: Machida was discovered by Japanese wrestling legend Antonio Inoki, and became something of his protege. He trained for some time at the New Japan Pro Wrestling dojo in Tokyo and made his MMA debut on a NJPW card in 2003, defeating Pancrase veteran Kengo Watanabe. For a time, Inoki had designs on pushing Machida as his predecessor, but his success in shoot fights quickly opened up other doors.
Perhaps the most frightening thing about Machida is that hes only now reaching his full potential as an MMA fighter. In other words, hes only going to get better which is a scary prospect for opponents given the fact that hes never lost in MMA competition. Early in his UFC career he had a reputation as a boring fighter, but in his recent bouts hes shown a downright lethal ability to end fights.
Machida will very likely face Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson at some point and its difficult to see him faring much differently than Evans did. One thing working in ‘Rampage’s’ favor is his greater experience and a resume filled with high level opponents of various fighting styles. Still, everyone comes back to the fundamental reality that no one has ever really seen a fighter quite like Machida before.
In the co-main event of the evening, Matt Hughes defeated Matt Serra by unanimous decision to gain the upperhand in their long running feud. It was a surprisingly entertaining fight, with Serra taking the first round with his power punching before Hughes used his takedown and ground control abilities to win rounds two and three.
Ross Everett is a experienced freelance writer experienced in travel, casino gambling and sports handicapping. He is a staff handicapper for Anatta Sports where he is responsible for providing daily free sports picks. In his spare time he enjoys fine dining, falconry and scuba diving. He lives in Las Vegas with four dogs and a pet coyote.
New Orleans Wins First Superbowl In Franchise History
The New Orleans Saints used a 14 point fourth quarter to defeat the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 on Sunday to win their first Superbowl in franchise history. Drew Brees broke open a tight game midway through the final quarter with his touchdown pass to Jeremy Shockey, and Tracy Porter scored on a 74 yard interception return as the Colts were driving on the next series to secure the victory. Brees was named Superbowl MVP on the basis of his 288 yard, 2 touchdown, 0 interception performance.
After enthusiasts had come in early on the favored Colts, a good deal of buyback on the Saints had pushed the line to -4′ and the New Orleans backers were enriched by their team’s outright victory. The underdog has now covered three straight Superbowls and taken the money in five of the last seven games. The 48 points scored stayed well under the posted total of 57, which was the highest over/under number in Superbowl history.
In his postgame interview, Brees gave much of the credit to the city of New Orleans:
“We play for so much more than ourselves. We played for our city. We played for the entire Gulf Coast region. We played for the entire Who Dat nation that has been behind us every step of the way. It means everything. We’re here because of their strength and everything they fought through here the last few years. They’ve given us so much support, so we owe it all to our fans.”
“Just to think of the road we’ve all traveled, the adversity we’ve all faced. It’s unbelievable. I mean, are you kidding me? Four years ago, whoever thought this would be happening? Eighty-five percent of the city was under water. Most people left not knowing if New Orleans would ever come back, or if the organization would ever come back. We just all looked at one another and said, ‘We’re going to rebuild together. We are going to lean on each other.’ That’s what we’ve done the last four years and this is the culmination in all that belief.”
Never known for his elocution, Peyton Manning had little to say after the game particularly about the decisive interception return:
“Made a great play. Made a great play. Corner made a heck of a play. Certainly disappointing, very disappointing. Disappointing.”
Saints’ coach Sean Payton made a bold call at the beginning of the second half when he called for an onside kick. New Orleans recovered and linebacker Jonathan Casalis suggested it was a game changing play:
“We were really excited when he made the call. That changed everything.”
Payton explained the unorthodox decision:
“We’re going to be aggressive. We’d seen the onside kick all week and guys executed it well. It turned out to be a big change of possession.”
The city of New Orleans will celebrate their team’s victory with a parade. With Mardi Gras celebrations already scheduled to begin shortly thereafter, it could be quite some time before New Orleans returns to business as usual. New Orleans is usually as fabulous as flamboyant skater Johnny Weir emerging out of a gold Faberge egg, but will be even more so now.
Ross Everett is a staff handicapper for Anatta Sports where he is in charge of providing daily free sports picks to Internet sites and broadcast media outlets. He is a widely published freelance writer specializing in sports handicapping, harness racing, wombat breeding and fencing. He lives in Las Vegas with three dogs and a wombat.
Need Help And Tips About Looking For A Plumber-Choose The Professional One – Find Them Here.
Everyone has seen awful stories about getting a crash with catastrophic builder or repairman, do more than they fix the disaster and charging you a fortune in the process. Dangerous traders more and sanitary care, but choosing the plumbing is especially important to ensure you spend a little time checking to the right.
Leakage of gas is flammable, very explosive and could lead to the destruction not only numbers, but in buildings, houses, complete cul-de-bags, villages and even cities. Large gas leak can cause an explosion, but ineffective fire or a gas stove flame or a gas product with an incorrect ventilated smoke can cause carbon monoxide poisoning, which will end life in a matter of seconds. All these risks show the reasons to hire a reliable, practiced and capable of heating engineer or plumber.
Choose X
Make sure that, depending on whether you hire a plumber is registered as a X. X only lists of qualified workers who have been tested and confirmed as proficient to work with gas systems and devices. The engineer must have an identity card with their number is registered, and must be situated on the database at the X. Replacing the old tools Corgi means the old Corgi certification is no longer used. All gas work carried out by an unregistered tradesman legal offense. For you, the customer, this means that any problems that arise as a result not covered by insurance.
Engineer fees & charges
Even if you choose plumbing engineer at X is still more investigating to be done. Number of plumbing work could lead to an increased bill, stuffed with extortionate prices of parts and costs, which were torn from the ceiling. Ideally, when the gas engineer saw the work you have to agree on a fixed price, including all parts and labor rates. This confirms not be presented with any charges and more experienced plumber should be pleased to work in this capacity in most scenarios. There are many times when the set value can not be ascertained, an example of when an emergency call out work such as the explosion pipes or blocked drains in these scenarios set hourly rate, should be provided along with an evaluation time period to complete work. This should give you an indication of the final price, and you can track how you go forward.
Although the above principles will really help you decide on a good plumbing company they can not guarantee this. The transition from friends or relatives means a lot, helps to keep good company in a permanent plumbing work and gives them a steady supply of work means that they can keep their marketing costs and, ideally pass along savings to you, the customer.
If you are suffering from any problems with bath equipment or you are looking for plumbing San Francisco services, please visit this site. The site presents much details about plumbing San Francisco services and how to order them should they are needed.
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