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07/28/2010 - Orlando, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Orlando Magic have extended the contract of head coach Stan Van Gundy through the 2012-13 season.
The team also announced Alex Martins has been promoted to team president and Otis Smith to president of basketball operations with those deals also running through the 2012-13 campaign.
"Alex, Otis and Stan have brought great energy, dedication, leadership and vision to our organization," said Magic CEO Bob Vander Weide. "As a team, both from a basketball and business standpoint, they have us moving in a very positive direction and toward our ultimate goal of winning an NBA Championship."
Van Gundy's contract was set to expire after the upcoming season. He has a career NBA head coaching mark of 282-149 and a 170-76 record with the Magic. During the last three seasons with Van Gundy at the helm, the Magic have won three straight Southeast Division championships, reached the Eastern Conference Finals in back-to-back seasons and captured the conference title in 2008-09.
Martins had been the team's chief operating officer. Since re-joining the organization in June of 2005, Martins has led the Magic in its business operations, while overseeing a ticket sales effort which saw the largest increase in attendance in the NBA. He also helped to secure the new state-of- the-art Amway Center in Orlando, which is scheduled to open this October.
Smith was originally promoted to general manager on May 3, 2006.
<< Bartoli, Sharapova reach second round in Stanford
Stanford, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reigning champion Marion Bartoli and former
World No. 1 Maria Sharapova were first-round victors Tuesday at the $700,000
Bank of the West Classic tennis event.
The former Wimbledon runner-up Bartoli handl
<< Hot Fish pulls out of LA event; Blake advances
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Red-hot American Mardy Fish pulled out of
the $700,000 Farmers Classic tennis event on Tuesday, citing fatigue and an
ankle injury.
An eighth-seeded Fish was scheduled to meet German Benjamin Beck
<< Jack Roush hospitalized following plane crash
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jack Roush, co-owner of Roush racing, was
hospitalized Tuesday night following a plane crash at Wittman Air field in
Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Roush was landing his Hawker Beechcraft Premier jet when the crash took
<< Lackey beats old team as Red Sox use late surge
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - John Lackey returned to his former stomping
grounds and pitched 7 1/3 quality innings to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 4-2
win over the Angels in the middle installment of a three-game series.
Lackey (10-5
McCourty comes to terms with Patriots >>
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New England Patriots and first-round draft
pick Devin McCourty have agreed to terms of a contract.
McCourty's agent, Andy Simms, posted the news on his Twitter feed Wednesday
morning.
Terms of the
Blue Jackets re-sign Stralman >>
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -The Columbus Blue Jackets and defenseman Anton Stralman have agreed on a one-year contract, just minutes before they were to go to arbitration on Wednesday morning.General manager Scott Howson announced the re-signing.Stralman,
White Sox, Buehrle hope to extend home streak versus Mariners >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mark Buehrle tries to lead the Chicago White Sox to their
10th straight home win this evening when they resume their four-game series
against the Seattle Mariners at U.S. Cellular Field.
Buehrle has been a big reason behin
Astros vie to extend series win streak over Cubs >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Astros have yet to lose a series to the Chicago
Cubs this year. Starting pitcher Bud Norris getting his first victory in well
over two months would keep that stretch going.
Norris and the Astros aim for a fourt
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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