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07/09/2010 - Joliet, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jamie McMurray picked up his Sprint Cup Series leading third pole of the season after topping the charts in Friday's qualifying for the LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.
McMurray turned in a lap of 183.542 m.p.h. around the one-and-a-half-mile oval for his sixth career Cup pole.
"It's really amazing with our qualifying this year, and we've been really strong," McMurray said. "I'm really happy with our lap today."
McMurray began the season in February by winning the Daytona 500, but has dropped to 19th in the standings since then. He trails 12th-place Carl Edwards by 225 points with eight races remaining before the start of the championship Chase.
Jimmie Johnson will start on the outside pole after posting a lap of 183.281 m.p.h. Johnson, the four-time defending series champion, became a father earlier this week. His wife, Chandra, gave birth to their first child, a daughter. The couple has yet to choose a name, but are affectionately referring to her as "Baby J" for now.
"We didn't expect her to come this early, so that was a bit of a surprise," Johnson said. "With [crew chief] Chad [Knaus] leading this 48 team and all the support at Hendrick [Motorsports], we had everything in line. I feel bad for Aric [Almirola]. He didn't get a chance to drive the car, and I think he is a great talent, and hopefully he will be picked up by someone. He's doing a great job in the Truck Series, but I know he has aspirations to get into the Cup Series."
Almirola was on standby to drive the No.48 car for Johnson if his wife gave birth during the race weekend.
Johnson said he planned to fly back home to North Carolina this evening to be with his wife and daughter, and then return to Chicagoland in time for Saturday night's race here. Chicagoland is one of four tracks on the series schedule where Johnson has yet to win.
Tony Stewart, a two-time Chicagoland race winner, qualified third, while Greg Biffle and Sam Hornish Jr. rounded out the top-five.
"We had two hours and 45 minutes of practice and made only one qualifying run, so I'm pretty happy with our race car," Stewart said.
Jeff Gordon, David Reutimann, Martin Truex Jr., Paul Menard and Juan Pablo Montoya qualified sixth through 10th, respectively.
Kevin Harvick, the current points leader and winner of last weekend's race at Daytona, will start 27th, while NASCAR fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. will roll off two spots ahead of Harvick in 25th.
Harvick holds a 212-point advantage over Gordon heading into the 19th race of the season.
Michael McDowell, Dave Blaney, J.J. Yeley and Todd Bodine failed to qualify.
Saturday's 400-mile race at Chicagoland is scheduled to start just after 7:30 p.m. (et).
<< Clippers sign free agent Brian Cook
LOS ANGELES (AP) -The Los Angeles Clippers have signed free agent forward Brian Cook, bringing him back to the city where he began his NBA career with the Lakers.The deal was announced Friday, a day after the Clippers signed free agents Randy Foye a
<< Nationals option P Atilano
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Nationals optioned rookie
right-handed pitcher Luis Atilano to Triple-A Syracuse on Friday.
The move was made in order for Atilano to get extra work during the All-Star
break. However,
<< Tennessee dismisses one, suspends two others after bar brawl
Knoxville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The University of Tennessee football program
dismissed Darren Myles Jr. and suspended Marlon Walls and Greg King
indefinitely for their participation in a bar fight in Knoxville early Friday
morning
<< Rockies reinstate P De La Rosa from DL
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Rockies reinstated pitcher Jorge De
La Rosa from the 15-day disabled list in time to make his start against San
Diego on Friday.
De La Rosa, who was placed on the DL on April 27, missed the l
Clippers ink Cook >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Clippers have signed free
agent forward Brian Cook.
The 29-year-old has appeared in 349 career NBA games, most recently taking the
court for 15 contests for the Houston Rockets last se
Chappell sets 36-hole mark on Nationwide Tour >>
Clarksburg, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Chappell shot an eight-under 63 to
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Chappell finished two ro
Heat throw party to introduce James, Wade, Bosh >>
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With music blaring, lights glaring and nearly
13,000 fans staring, the Miami Heat put on a party in their home arena for
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Plumes of smoke ros
More power from Dunn paces Nats over Giants >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Adam Dunn hit a pair of homers and knocked
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a three
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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