Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
07/10/2010 - Chester, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Jose Earthquakes earned an opportunistic 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Union in Major League Soccer action at PPL Park on Saturday evening.
The win was made possible because of a number of second-half saves by 'Quakes goalkeeper Jon Busch, who finished with seven in the game.
San Jose (6-4-4) scored both its goals in stoppage time, the first by Cornell Glen as the first half was winding down, and the second by Arturo Alvarez in the closing minutes of the game.
Philadelphia's Fred opened the scoring in the 14th minute when he ran onto a ball that was flicked into the area by Danny Mwanga. Fred then split defenders Ike Opara and Jason Hernandez and fired just under Busch's arm for the 1-0 advantage in the 15th minute.
The Union, who dominated most of the possession in the game, just missed going up 2-0 a minute later when Andrew Jacobson ripped a long-range shot off the post.
San Jose's Joey Gjertsen hit the crossbar with a dipping, long-range shot in the 42nd minute before Glen scored the equalizer.
San Jose striker Chris Wondolowski ran onto a long ball played from the back on the right side and quickly played a ball into the Philadelphia penalty area to Glen, who one-timed the shot just inside the far post, past goalkeeper Chris Seitz.
Busch made a series of strong saves in the second half to keep his team level, the first being in the first minute after the break when Mwanga broke in alone on a breakaway. The steady goalkeeper then came out and knocked the attempt away.
Busch got the best of Mwanga again in the 73rd minute when the rookie attacker pounced on a loose ball in the area after a corner kick.
Busch made a couple more game-saving stops in the final 10 minutes on Sebastien Le Toux before Alvarez's winner.
With the Union pressing forward aiming for the full points, Alvarez caught them on a counter attack, scooping up the ball at the center line and driving all the way in on Seitz. Alvarez then deked past a defender and slotted the shot past Seitz for his third goal of the season.
Philadelphia (3-8-2) will aim to rebound when it hosts Toronto FC on Saturday, while the 'Quakes play at Los Angeles on July 22 in their next MLS fixture.
<< Braves' Jones back in lineup in 4-0 win over Mets
NEW YORK (AP) -When Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones had back spasms after one night in the team hotel in New York, his solution was easy: sleep on the floor.Jones was back in the starting lineup in Saturday's 4-0 victory over the New York
<< Report: Redskins OL Williams to miss season
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Post is reporting that
Redskins starting right guard Mike Williams could be sidelined for the 2010
season because of blood clots near his heart.
Team sources have told the paper
<< Dutch, Spain both eye history-making victory
Johannesburg, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - History will be made at Soccer
City on Sunday in the final of the FIFA World Cup as either the Netherlands or
Spain will claim its first-ever World Cup title.
One of the two sides will becom
<< Soto and Castro carry Cubs past Dodgers
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Geovany Soto and Aramis Ramirez homered
and the Cubs scored six times in the first three innings to land a 7-3 win
against the Dodgers in the continuation of a four-game series from Chavez
Ravine.
Heyward pulls out of All-Star Game >>
Flushing, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Braves rookie right fielder Jason Heyward
won't play in the All-Star Game on Tuesday.
Heyward, 20, was voted as a starter by the fans but is currently on the 15-day
disabled list with a thumb ailment. He
Furcal replaces Reyes on NL All-Star roster >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes will miss
the All-Star Game on Tuesday due to a strained right oblique.
Dodgers shortstop Rafael Furcal was chosen to replace Reyes and will make his
second appearance in
Quentin powers ChiSox to seventh straight win >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Quentin clubbed two home runs and
Gavin Floyd pitched into the eighth inning as the Chicago White Sox took a 5-1
win over the Kansas City Royals in the second of a three-game set.
Floyd (5-7) won
Myers strong again as 'Stros clip Cardinals >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jeff Keppinger had two hits, including a home
run, to back another strong outing from Brett Myers in Houston's 4-1 win over
St. Louis in the middle contest of a three-game set.
Pedro Feliz chipped in with a
Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."
When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules.
The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.
The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.
“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”
The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.
“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”
The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.
“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”
Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.
“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."
So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?
“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.
Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.
Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.
Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.
“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.
Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.
The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.
“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.
Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
Is there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?
I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.
Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.
There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.
Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.
For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.
A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.
The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.
Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.
So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.
Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.
“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.
Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.
“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.
It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.
Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.
The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.
“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.
“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”
Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.
The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.
“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”
Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?
“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting