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08/27/2010 - Barcelona, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Real Madrid had an incredible season last year, but still finished three points behind Barcelona in Spain's La Liga.
The nine-time Champions League winner spent nearly $400 million last offseason, but not even the additions of former FIFA World Players of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka was enough to unseat Barca.
Real made more moves this offseason to end Barca's two-year title run, but it was the addition of manager Jose Mourinho that was the most important.
Mourinho won the Champions League, Italian Serie A and Coppa Italia last year with Inter Milan, but was lured to the Bernabeu this offseason.
"The Special One" also captured the Champions League with Portugal's FC Porto earlier in his career, and now faces the task of ending Real's La Liga and CL droughts.
Real last won the Champions League in 2002 and has been eliminated in the last 16 each of the last six seasons. The club last won La Liga in 2008, a drought that is only unacceptable in Madrid.
"Winning is the only thing that counts at Real Madrid," Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso said.
Mourinho allowed veterans Raul, Guti and Christoph Metzelder to leave Madrid, turning to youth with the signings of Angel di Maria, Pedro Leon, Mesut Ozil, Sami Khedira and Sergio Canales.
Those four players cost Real around $85 million, and Argentina's di Maria is a talented 22-year-old who cost nearly half of that amount from Benfica. Khedira and Ozil, who cost a combined $34 million, both emerged for Germany during the recent FIFA World Cup. Leon and Canales are a pair of Spanish U-21 players who are the future of Spain's senior team.
Veteran Ricardo Carvalho, who played under Mourinho at Porto and Chelsea, was also brought in from Chelsea to solidify the defense.
Alonso, who was signed from Liverpool last season, believes Madrid will have a strong team this season, but it could take some time to completely get used to Mourinho.
"The team is still evolving. The internationals rejoined the squad throughout the preseason following the World Cup. The coach needs time for the players to act out his new ideas on the pitch. We have to continue working, but we will improve with time," Alonso said.
Barcelona had more notable departures this summer as Thierry Henry, Yaya Toure and Dmytro Chygrynskiy all left, but Pep Guardiola does have one new toy this season in Spain striker David Villa.
Villa joined Barca from Valencia for more than $50 million, adding another one of the pieces of Spain's World Cup squad to the already impressive club. Barca is also close to signing Argentina defensive midfielder Javier Mascherano, who would strengthen the best club midfield in the world.
Barca held off Real last season by three points, although it suffered just one loss in La Liga. With both teams again the class of La Liga, all that really is yet to be decided is which finishes first and which finishes second.
On Saturday, Hercules hosts Athletic Bilbao, Malaga hosts Valencia and Levante hosts Sevilla as the La Liga season kicks off.
Barca visits Racing and Real Madrid visits Mallorca on Sunday, when Deportivo hosts Real Zaragoza, Espanyol hosts Getafe, Real Sociedad hosts Villarreal and Osasuna hosts Almeria.
Atletico Madrid, which beat Inter Milan in the UEFA Super Cup on Friday, opens against Sporting Gijon on Monday.
<< United, Chivas square off at The HDC
Carson, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - D.C. United and Chivas USA square off in a
battle of Major League Soccer bottom-feeders on Sunday night at The Home Depot
Center.
Both teams sit at the bottom of their respective conference tables w
<< Baltimore P Johnson reinstated from 60-day DL
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baltimore Orioles reinstated pitcher Jim
Johnson from the 60-day disabled list on Friday.
Johnson has been on the 60-day DL since May 28, and hasn't pitched since April
30 against Boston due to right
<< Bodine tops in truck qualifying at Chicagoland
Joliet, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Todd Bodine will start on the pole for Friday's
EnjoyIllinois.com 225 Camping World Truck Series race after posting the
fastest lap in qualifying at Chicagoland Speedway.
Bodine, the last driver to make
<< Stakhovsky, Istomin land in New Haven finale
New Haven, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ninth-seeded Sergiy Stakhovsky was an easy
semifinal winner while 15th-seeded Denis Istomin battled to a three-set win
Friday to reach the final at the $750,000 Pilot Pen Tennis event, a final
hardcou
Day leads Barclays; Woods struggles >>
Paramus, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Australia's Jason Day posted his second
consecutive four-under 67 on Friday to take the second-round lead at The
Barclays.
Day, who earned his first PGA Tour win earlier this season at the Byron N
SMU signs Jones to extension >>
Dallas, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - SMU head football coach June Jones has
signed a two-year contract extension that will keep him with the school
through the 2014 season.
The Mustangs finished 8-5 under Jones last year and e
Rockies shuffle roster with four moves >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Rockies re-tooled their roster
Friday, making four separate moves that included disabling right-hander Manuel
Corpas and calling up lefty Franklin Morales from Triple-A Colorado Springs.
Infiel
Kane Hanson moves in front at Canadian Tour Championship >>
St. Catharines, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - American Kane Hanson posted a six-under
64 on Friday to move in front at the halfway point of the Canadian Tour
Championship.
Hanson finished 36 holes at St. Catharines Golf & Country Club at
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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