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Unpredictable tournament sets up USA-Cuba in quarters

Baseball Betting Lines

07/30/2010 - Thunder Bay, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After six exciting days and 30 hard- fought games of round-robin competition, the 2010 International Baseball Federation World Junior Baseball Championship is set to begin the medal round. Anything but predictable, the round-robin portion of the tournament had a touch of everything, from pitching gems to nail-biting, walk-off wins. Fans in Thunder Bay have been treated all week to a world class display of the best young talent the game has to offer.

Even before the first pitch was thrown, the drama had begun. Less than 24 hours before the start of the championship, the IBAF announced that Team Venezuela had dropped out of the tournament amid speculation of visa troubles, only to be reinstated the following day, enabling them to play in their second scheduled game. While Venezuela stumbled to a 1-4 record in round-robin play, their eventual participation in the tournament can be viewed as a minor victory.

Perhaps the most shocking storyline to emerge out of the preliminary round was powerhouse Cuba's 3-2 record and fourth-place finish in Pool B. Cuba enjoyed a blazing-hot start to the tournament capturing wins in each of their first three contests while outscoring their opponents 29-1, but following a 6-5 loss to the defending champions from South Korea in their fourth game, Team Cuba was beaten in extra innings by tournament underdogs the Netherlands. As a result, a potential gold-medal-game scenario will now take place in just the quarterfinals, as Cuba will take on undefeated Team USA.

"You never know what is going to happen in a tournament," said Team USA assistant manager Tom Succow. "I think all different types of things occur when you have a round-robin with as many games as we've played in the past week. The fact that we have drawn Cuba and Cuba has drawn us, it's not shocking,"

Equally unpredictable was Wednesday night's surprise thriller between Team Canada and the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic came into the game winless and hungry to upset the host nation in front of a patriotic sold out Port Arthur Stadium, and almost delivered another shocking tournament upset. After being up 6-2 through seven innings, Canada chipped away until Dalton Pompey hit a walk-off, opposite-field blast into the corner in the bottom of the ninth that gave Canada a quarterfinal berth versus Italy. Had Canada lost to the Czechs they would have had a much more daunting task in the round of eight, facing a talented Chinese Taipei team whose only loss came to gold-medal favorites Team USA.

Canada's path to the gold medal game could not have been scripted any better for the host nation. Should Canada beat Italy on Friday, they would face the winner of Team Netherlands and Chinese Taipei in the first semi-final matchup Saturday afternoon. Arguably the three toughest matchups in the entire tournament for Canada have fallen to the opposite side of the medal round bracket. In the process, Cuba, USA and South Korea are likely to beat up on each other vying for the remaining spot in the gold medal final. This all bodes well for a Canadian team looking to build off the momentum of a walk-off win but if we've learned anything from this past week, it's that nothing is certain. With the tournament shifting to single-game knock out, there's an even smaller margin for error, and an upset at this stage of the game doesn't permit for second chances.

Even though the round-robin hasn't shaken down exactly as experts had projected, contending teams are echoing the pragmatic words of Succow.

"You've got to play the best teams to win the gold medal...our mind set is to win the gold medal."

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NFL Football Betting : Odds on NFL Division to Win the Super Bowl

NFL Super Bowl Betting

The AFC South and the NFC East are the favorite divisions to have the next Super Bowl champ among them in the NFL betting odds. But more down to the point, these football odds are in favor of the Indianapolis Colts, by far the strongest team in the AFC South, and the Dallas Cowboys of the NFC East.

Most sports fans would agree that these two teams top the list to win it all before the season even begins. In the BetUS Sportsbook football futures, the Colts are +800 in the odds to win the Super Bowl, while the Cowboys are sitting at +1000 and the Super Bowl XLIV champions New Orleans Saints at +900. In the AFC South, the Colts won the division for five straight years after the 2002 realignment, before the Tennessee Titans won it in 2008. But the Colts came back strong in 2009 to win the division again en route to the Super Bowl. The Cowboys are the favorite to win the NFC East, as well as to advance far into the post season. The Cowboys won the division last season before their horrendous loss in the NFC Divisional playoff to Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings. But the ‘Boys will take that loss humbly and be ready for the playoffs this time around.

The NFC South is also very strong, at +600 in the NFL futures, considering that it is home to the defending Super Bowl champions. However, some predictions have the Atlanta Falcons with possibilities of claiming the divisional title this season in place of the Saints, as no team has won back-to-back division championships since the division realignment took place. Let’s not overlook the AFC North at +500. As TO goes to Cincinnati to join Chad OchoCinco and Adam “Pac-Man” Jones, this team looks to claim the division title again. And it is likely they will do so. The Bengals lost in the AFC Wild Card spot in a hard-fought battle against the New York Jets last season. Lest not forget the Pittsburgh Steelers, the XLII Super Bowl Champions… All these teams present interesting odds and matchups for the upcoming season, but the safest and surest bet seems to be with the Colts in the AFC South and the Cowboys in the NFC East. Play this weekly NFL Football Contestto see if you can win.

To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your NFL football betting needs.

What Is the Point Spread?

What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?

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.

How to Read Point Spreads

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:

  • Philly wins the actual game by any amount of points
    OR
  • Philly loses the game by less than 7 points.

  • 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.

    For Those Who Like to Consider Things Mathematically

    Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:

  • Subtracting the point spread from the favorite’s score (thus the minus sign before the number) and then compare to the underdog’s score
    OR
  • Adding the point spread to the underdog’s score (thus the plus sign before the number) and then compare to the favorite’s score

    Who Really “Won” the Super Bowl odds ?

    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.