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04/25/2009 - Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brian McBride and Gonzalo Segares scored in the final five minutes as the Chicago Fire rallied for a 2-2 tie against the 10-man Columbus Crew on Saturday at Crew Stadium.
Chicago (2-0-4) improved its season-opening unbeaten streak to six matches - a first in franchise history - and moved back atop the Eastern Conference.
The Fire, who trailed by two goals at halftime, rallied after Columbus defender Gino Padula was ejected. McBride scored his league-high fifth goal in the 86th, and Segares added the match-tying goal in the 88th.
Columbus (0-2-4), which won the MLS Cup under ex-coach Sigi Schmid last season, remained winless in its first six matches under new coach Robert Warzycha. Chad Marshall and Alejandro Moreno scored for the Crew.
Reigning MLS MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto, who was off to a weird start with three goals and no assists in five matches, just missed his fourth goal of the season in the opening 10 minutes. He struck a nice turning volley, but Chicago goalie Jon Busch tipped the ball over the crossbar.
Schelotto continued to create, and nearly forced Chicago defender Logan Pause into an own goal minutes later. Schelotto tried to send a ball into the box and Pause headed to clear, but the ball sailed by Busch and off the left post.
Columbus broke through in the 25th minute when Schelotto picked out Marshall on a free kick. Schelotto bent the pass into the far side of the penalty area, and Marshall headed back inside the right post past a diving Busch.
Moreno had a great individual effort in the 34th minute to push the Crew's edge to two goals. With Busch waiting to a pick up a slow rolling ball on the side of the area, Moreno sneaked in and tapped the ball off his fingertips. Moreno then did well to get to the ball near the end line, tap it by a sprawling Busch again, dribble around a defender and score into the right side.
Marshall and Moreno combined for 16 goals last year - including the postseason - but were scoreless in their first eight combined appearances this season.
Chicago did not do much for the first 55 minutes but was handed a lifeline in the 57th when Padula got a red card after a foul on Cuauhtemoc Blanco. Although the foul didn't seem to be that bad, the card was immediately shown, and Blanco stayed down on the ground in pain.
Chicago's chances were still limited, though, with John Thorrington's blast in the 67th - which was cleared by the Crew's Eric Brunner - one of the few decent shots until the final minutes..
The Fire, who scored 10 goals through their first five matches and led the MLS in scoring, finally cut the deficit in half in the 86th minute when McBride got under a cross from Patrick Nyarko to head the ball into the right side from the edge of the six-yard box.
Segares, who picked up the second assist on McBride's goal, notched the tying goal two minutes later after a quick passing combo from Chris Rolfe and Tim Ward. Rolfe and Ward made two quick passes on the edge of the area, with Ward dropping the ball off to Segares outside the top of the box.
Segares hit the ball first-time and it swerved past Andy Gruenebaum, who played in place of injured starter Wil Hesmer, and into the left side.
Columbus will try to end its season-long winless skid on May 2 when it visits Toronto FC. Chicago will try to extend its undefeated run when it hosts Seattle Sounders FC on May 2.
<< Red Sox win ninth straight, beat Yankees in offensive showcase
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason Varitek stroked a grand slam and Mike
Lowell drove in six runs, as the Red Sox won their ninth straight game with a
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from Fe
<< Kansas truck race postponed due to rain
Kansas City, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rain and impending darkness forced NASCAR
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Heavy thunderstorms with fl
<< Ellis and Smith lead Mexican PGA
Mazatlan, Mexico (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defending champion John Ellis and Eugene
Smith are knotted atop the leaderboard after Saturday's third round of the
Corona Mexican PGA Championship.
Ellis and Smith both posted rounds of five-under
<< Howard helps Mavs beat Spurs, take 3-1 lead in series
Dallas, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Josh Howard scored 28 points to lead a balanced
attack, as the Dallas Mavericks staved off the third-seeded San Antonio Spurs,
99-90, in Game 4 of their Western Conference quarterfinal series.
Jason Kidd chipp
Kinnear signs extension with Houston >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Dynamo signed coach Dominic Kinnear
to a four-year contract extension that will keep him with the team through the
2012 season.
Since starting his career as a head coach in 2004, Kinnear has had
Tigers power past Royals >>
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Gerald Laird and Curtis Granderson each hit
a two-run homer as Detroit blasted Kansas City, 9-1, in the middle test of a
three-game series.
Laird had three hits, and Magglio Ordonez recorded his first ext
Kinsler homers twice as Rangers edge Orioles >>
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ian Kinsler belted two of Texas' four home
runs, knocking in three as the Rangers took the second test of a four-game set
against the Baltimore Orioles, 6-5.
Chris Davis and Andruw Jones each had solo hom
Twins' Slowey baffles Indians >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Slowey allowed only one run in eight-
plus spectacular innings, and the Minnesota Twins cruised past the Cleveland
Indians, 7-1, at Progressive Field.
Slowey (3-0) allowed eight hits and struck o
Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error.
“You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said.
“The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10).
Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades.
Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias.
The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line.
Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game
Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action.
Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite.
Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.”
To visit this internet sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your sports betting needs and World Series odds.
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.
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