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07/21/2010 -
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -Right wing Patrick Kaleta gave up an opportunity to go to arbitration by agreeing to a two-year contract with the Buffalo Sabres.
Terms were not immediately available, but Kaleta was expected to earn a raise over the $522,000 he made last year. The deal, announced Wednesday, comes before Kaleta was scheduled to have an arbitration hearing on July 29.
Buffalo's sixth-round pick in the 2004 draft, Kaleta set career highs last season with 10 goals and 15 points in 55 games. He also had 89 penalty minutes.
Overall, Kaleta has 17 goals and 14 assists, and 241 penalty minutes in 153 NHL games split over four seasons.
Second-year Sabres center Tim Kennedy has an arbitration hearing set for Tuesday.Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
<< Timberwolves make Ridnour signing official
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Timberwolves officially
announced the signing of guard Luke Ridnour on Wednesday.
According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Ridnour agreed to a four-year deal
worth close to $16 millio
<< Lukas has Mine That Bird work at Saratoga
Saratoga Springs, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former Kentucky Derby winner Mine That
Bird put in a one-mile workout Wednesday morning at Saratoga Race Course. The
four-year-old gelding is being readied for a start in the Whitney Handicap
next mo
<< Champions League to use more officials
Cardiff, Wales (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Champions League will follow the Europa
League's lead and have two extra assistant referees for the 2010-11 and
2011-12 campaigns.
The International Football Association Board (IFAB) has sta
<< Marlins designate Robertson, put Hayes on DL
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Florida Marlins designated Nate Robertson for
assignment Wednesday, a day after the starter struggled against the Colorado
Rockies.
He allowed eight runs (seven earned) in five innings and took the los
Mets extend partnership with Triple-A Buffalo through 2012 >>
Flushing, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Mets and the Triple-A Buffalo
Bisons announced a two-year extension of their player development partnership
through the 2012 season.
The Bisons began their affiliation with the Mets in 2009 a
Blues re-sign Perron >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Blues have re-signed
forward David Perron to a two-year contract.
The 22-year-old netted a career-high 20 goals last season and added 27 assists
while playing in all 82 games.
Duri
Sabres sign Kaleta, avoid arbitration >>
Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Buffalo Sabres have agreed to terms
with winger Patrick Kaleta on a two-year contract.
Kaleta had been scheduled for an arbitration hearing later this month.
The 24-year-old scored a career-high
NL Central: All eyes now on Oswalt >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With a 38-56 record and a 14-game deficit to make up in the
National League Central standings, it's safe to say the Houston Astros aren't
going anywhere this season. But will Roy Oswalt?
With the Seattle Mariners having sh
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.
Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"
A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."
Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.
In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.
"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."
Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.
But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"
Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.
This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.
Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.
In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.
No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.
And that's all any bettor can ask for.
To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.
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