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12/20/2006 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With all the possible playoff scenarios catching everybody's attention, let's not forget about the battle for the No. 1 overall pick in next year's draft, the only race that currently involves the Oakland Raiders.
The Raiders (2-12) dropped their seventh straight game this Sunday and are still tied with Detroit for the worst record in the NFL. The Lions hold the tiebreaker currently, as they have a worse opponents' record, but that race is still very much in the air.
If the Silver & Black do finish with the coveted No. 1 pick, they may wind up picking Notre Dame's Brady Quinn, who would be the first QB selected by the Raiders in the first round since they took Todd Marinovich in 1991. For the record, Marinovich's short stint with the Raiders was not a shining moment in the franchise's history.
But before moving on to Quinn's tenure in Oakland, we should first take a look at the current regime of hapless Raiders.
Oakland was at home this past weekend, but was still handed a 20-0 loss by the St. Louis Rams. It was another example of sloppy Raiders' football, as Oakland wound up turning the ball over five times.
Head coach Art Shell also created controversy by pulling starting quarterback Aaron Brooks early in the fourth quarter in favor of Andrew Walter. Both quarterbacks have been terrible this season, and that trend continued in Sunday's game against the Rams.
Brooks completed 11-of-19 passes for 98 yards with no TDs and one interception. Walter threw for 131 yards on 14-of-20 passing, but was picked off twice without throwing a touchdown.
The move was made with Oakland down 13-0, and was obviously a feeble attempt to see if Walter had any fourth-quarter magic in him. Instead, he tossed an interception on his first drive, and St. Louis used that miscue to force a 20-0 lead.
So on top of not working in the game, the benching of Brooks also left the QB with a bad taste in his mouth.
"I can't make miracles happen," Brooks said. "Right now, it seems like we need a miracle to make something happen offensively."
Shell and Brooks are obviously frustrated at the way this season has gone, considering it was a big second chance for both. Shell was given another shot at head coaching after spending over a decade in various offensive line coaching and league office positions. His only previous job as head coach was with the Raiders from 1989-94.
Brooks, meanwhile, was signed by the Raiders after getting released by the Saints after the 2005 season, his fifth straight campaign as New Orleans' starter.
It's clear the fresh starts haven't worked for Shell and Brooks, but at least Oakland fans have some new faces to attach to this terrible era in Raiders history.
It's just sad to see a team with such a large and passionate fan base like the Raiders become a laughing stock.
MOSS IS LOST
Once upon a time, being without wide receiver Randy Moss for a game would have been a pretty tough obstacle to overcome, but the Raiders can hardly blame this week's loss on Moss' injury.
Moss missed his first game in his two seasons with Oakland, as he was forced to sit out the test against St. Louis with a sprained left ankle.
The five-time Pro Bowl receiver is on the way to his worst season in the NFL. Moss has 42 receptions for 553 yards and three touchdowns.
When Oakland acquired Moss in a trade with Minnesota after the 2004 season, the move was supposed to energize this Raiders offense and give his new club a better shot at executing the "vertical offense".
Instead, Moss has become just an overpaid component of an overall broken unit.
DUBIOUS RECORD ALERT
The Raiders are in the midst of the worst stretch in franchise history, as they are nearing the close of their fourth consecutive season with double- digit losses.
In fact, the team needs to win its final two tests of the year to avoid the club's worst post-merger record. The Raiders set the franchise mark with 4-12 season in 1997, 2003, 2005.
Oakland is also in danger of having its fewest wins in a season since going 2-12 in 1961, the second year of the franchise's existence.
UP NEXT
The Raiders play their final home game of the season next Saturday night, when they host the Kansas City Chiefs at the Coliseum
<< Jackets and Red Wings wrap up home-and-home
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Columbus Blue Jackets aim for a home-and-home sweep
of the Detroit Red Wings tonight, when the clubs meet for the finale at Joe
Louis Arena.
The Blue Jackets snapped a two-game losing streak Monday evening with a 4-3
<< Rams winners for second time in 10 weeks
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Though it came against the AFC doormat -- the NFL's? -- a
shutout is still a shutout.
And so the St. Louis Rams' 20-0 victory over the Oakland Raiders on Sunday
allows those who write about the team to try something novel
<< A sour celebration for Saints
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Orleans Saints clinched their first division title
in six years on Sunday, but the newly-crowned NFC South champions were hardly
in a jubilant mood.
The Saints sewed up a playoff home game despite a 16-10 loss to t
<< Flyers acquire York from Isles
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Flyers acquired
forward Mike York from the New York Islanders on Wednesday in exchange for
forward Randy Robitaille and a fifth-round pick in the 2008 draft.
The 28-year-old
Sixers try to get back to concentrating on basketball vs. Pacers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Allen Iverson era in Philadelphia is officially over
as the new-look Sixers take the court this evening against the Indiana Pacers
at the Wachovia Center.
Iverson and forward Ivan McFarlin were dealt to the Denver Nu
Jazz visit Atlanta >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Northwest Division-leading Utah Jazz resume their
road trip tonight when they visit the Atlanta Hawks at Philips Arena.
Utah is 1-1 so far on a five-game road trip and suffered a 97-96 overtime loss
to the New York K
Wounded Hornets fly into Orlando >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Southeast Division-leading Orlando Magic will host
the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets this evening at TD Waterhouse Centre.
Orlando ended a three-game losing streak with Saturday's 81-74 home win over
the Clevelan
Celtics try to stay hot against Golden State >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlantic Division-leading Boston Celtics will try to
extend their winning streak tonight when they host the Golden State Warriors
at TD Banknorth Garden.
Boston has won five in a row and kept the streak alive with Sa
Sportsbook betting odds favor Europe in Ryder Cup
September 19, – Despite holding a decided edge in the all-time series, with 24 wins, 2 ties and 10 losses, Team USA is the underdog again heading into the Ryder Cup in Kidare, Ireland this weekend, according to MySportsbook.com. The Europeans have captured four of the past five editions, including their largest victory ever, an 18 ½ to 9 ½ thumping in Michigan in 2004. Current Ryder Cup betting odds favor the Europeans to continue their winning ways; they are a 4-5 bet to take the title, compared to 6-5 for the Americans.
Despite being knocked out in the first round of World Match play by Shaun Micheel, Tiger Woods is predicted to lead the US charge and be their highest point scorer for the week, with odds listed at 9-4 that he outpoints all other American players, including Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson and Chris DiMarco to name a few. Team USA has four relatively unknown players on the roster but all four are 2007 tournament winners and have posted some of season’s best performances, each earning over $1.5 million on the PGA TOUR. They include Zach Johnson, Vaughan Taylor, JJ Henry and Brett Wetterich.
The experienced European squad includes the likes of Luke Donald, Sergio Garcia, Padraig Harrington, Jose Maria Olazabal and Darren Clarke, who’s emotions will be tested after the passing of his wife to a battle with cancer. Donald and Garcia are in particularly good form and each is a 5-1 bet to lead the European squad in the points race. Donald has proven he can go head to head with Woods at a major event after a run for the $1.2 million purse at the PGA Championship. Garcia’s Ryder Cup credentials prove he’s ready for battle too.
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Ryder Cup Odds| Europe Tie USA |
4-5 10-1 6-5 |
| Tiger Woods Jim Furyk Phil Mickelson Chris DiMarco David Toms Stewart Cink Chad Campbell Scott Verplank Zach Johnson Vaughan Taylor JJ Henry Brett Wetterich |
9-4 4-1 5-1 7-1 8-1 12-1 15-1 15-1 25-1 30-1 30-1 50-1 |
| Sergio Garcia Luke Donald Padraig Harrington Colin Montgomerie Darren Clarke David Howell Lee Westwood Paul Casey Henrik Stenson Jose Maria Olazabal Paul McGinley Robert Karlsson |
5-1 5-1 6-1 13-2 8-1 9-1 9-1 11-1 12-1 12-1 20-1 25-1 |
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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.”
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