Johnson, Chiefs run all over Raiders
Football Betting Lines
12/24/2006 - Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Larry Johnson ran for 135 yards and scored a touchdown to lead the Kansas City Chiefs over the Oakland Raiders, 20-9, at McAfee Coliseum.
Trent Green ended 12-of-24 for 148 yards with a touchdown and an interception for the Chiefs (8-7), who ended a three-game slide and kept their slim playoff hopes alive.
Justin Fargas ran for 90 yards and Andrew Walter threw for 226 yards for Oakland (2-13), which has lost eight straight games in a single season for the first time in 34 years. Walter, however, also threw two picks and committed four turnovers, as the Raiders' horrid season continues.
The last time the Raiders dropped eight straight in a single season was in 1962 when the club lost 12 in a row to end that year 1-12. Oakland also went winless in the division for a second straight year with this setback. The Raiders' last win against an AFC West foe was on November 28, 2004 at San Diego.
The Raiders started out strong, scoring in the first quarter when Sebastian Janikowski capped a 57-yard, nine-play drive with a 25-yard field goal.
That, however, was the only time the Raiders would lead in the game as Kansas City took its ensuing possession in for a score. Green ended an 11-play, 60- yard march with a six-yard pass to Eddie Kennison for a 7-3 lead. The key play of the drive was a 4th-and-eight 24-yard completion from Green to Samie Parker. The Chiefs also converted a pair of third downs on the drive, including the touchdown play.
Lawrence Tynes later increased the Chiefs' lead to 10-3 when he converted a 29-yard field goal. The possession started after Walter lost a fumble at the Oakland 48-yard line.
The Raiders cut the deficit to 10-6 early in the second quarter when Janikowski nailed a 37-yard field goal, but that would be as close as Oakland would get the rest of the way.
Later in the quarter, after Walter lost his second fumble of the contest, Johnson ended a short five-play drive with a one-yard TD run for a 17-6 halftime advantage. The score came with just 40 seconds left in the stanza.
The second half went by with very little excitement. Janikowski kicked a 53- yard field goal at the 8:49 mark of the third quarter and Tynes answered with a 28-yarder with 1:20 gone in the fourth.
Ronald Curry had 106 yards on 11 catches for the Raiders.
Game Notes
Oakland's troubled wide receiver tandem of Randy Moss and Jerry Porter were both inactive...Raiders QB Aaron Brooks missed the game with a stinger...Johnson has scored the Chiefs' last 30 rushing TDs, an NFL record...Kennison ended with the one catch. He also had a rush for five yards...Tony Gonzalez remains one TD catch shy of tying Shannon Sharpe (62) for the all-time lead for a tight end. Gonzalez finished with a team leading 67 yards on five catches..The Chiefs ended with four sacks.
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bill Guerin's second goal of the night, coming 1:35 into overtime, sent the St. Louis Blues to a 3-2 overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres at Scottrade Center. Ryan Johnson picked up the other goal
<< Boyle's hat trick helps Lightning past struggling Rangers
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all three goals coming in the third period, as the Tampa Bay Lightning
completed a stunning comeback to defeat the New York Rangers, 4-3, at St. Pete
Times F
<< No. 4 Wisconsin destroys Pacific
Madison, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kammron Taylor had 17 points to lead the
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the Kohl Center.
Alando Tucker had 15 points and Brian Butch and Joe Krabbenhoft e
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Memphis, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Boozer poured in 24 points, pulled down
11 rebounds and dished out five assists to lead Utah past Memphis, 100-97, at
FedExForum.
Mehmet Okur posted 20 points and grabbed nine boards while Deron W
<< Stars hang on to beat Oilers
Dallas, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jon Klemm scored a goal and added an assist to
lead the Dallas Stars past the Edmonton Oilers, 3-2, at American Airlines
Center.
Marty Turco made 20 saves and Eric Lindros added two assists for the Sta
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ben Gordon poured in 23 points as the Chicago Bulls crushed the Charlotte Bobcats, 115-76, at the United Center. Andres Nocioni had 19 points and 11 rebounds for the Bulls, who rebounded from a 103-92 loss
Spurs topple Hornets >>
Oklahoma City, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tony Parker scored 19 points and tallied
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Hornets, 112-77.
Manu Ginobli scored 17 points to help the Spurs win their se
Predators blank Kings >>
Nashville, TN (The Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason Arnott, J.P. Dumont and David
Legwand each scored twice and Chris Mason stopped 34 shots to record his sixth
career shutout as the Nashville Predators defeated the Los Angeles Kings 7-0
at Gayl
Wolski's pair send Avs over Blackhawks >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rookie Wojtek Wolski tallied two goals to lead
the Colorado Avalanche to a 3-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks at the
Pepsi Center.
Joe Sakic added a goal and an assist for the Avalanche, who returned
Tellqvist, Coyotes blank Ducks >>
Glendale, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mikael Tellqvist stopped 29 shots for his
first shutout of the year, as the Phoenix Coyotes registered a 2-0 win over
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Shane Doan and Fredrik Sjostrom tall
Sportsbooks to bet on football
Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.
He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.
"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.
He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.
Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.
Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.
Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.
Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.
With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.
Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).
And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)
The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.
While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.
Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.
One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.
Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.
What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.
That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.
MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.
"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.
"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."
So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.
In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.
MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.
The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.
Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.
MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.
To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
MySportsbook.com week 1 NFL lines
Now that the 2008 NFL schedule is finally out, it is only matter-of-course for lines on “Week 1” to follow. Of course MySportsbook.com is the first to churn out odds for the NFL’s inaugural week for the upcoming season. Expect a lot of fireworks the first Thursday night of the season as the defending champion Indianapolis Colts face off against the surprise of the 2008 season, the New Orleans Saints. These teams were ranked #1 and #3 in the NFL respectively a season ago so a high scoring affair could be in order. As of now, the Colts will be giving 6 points to the Saints; keep in mind the Saints were one of the better road teams last season going 6-3 SU and 7-2 ATS. The first Monday night of the season will again provide a “double feature”. Coming off a disappointing season, the Cincinnati Bengals will look to get back to playoffs and improve their public image as they take on the AFC North favorite Baltimore Ravens. The second game features a couple of teams that haven’t had too much success recently but each could make some noise if the NFC is as weak as it was last year as the San Francisco 49ers host the Arizona Cardinals. The most interesting game of the opening week will feature the NFC champion Bears as they hit the road to take on the NFL’s top team during last year’s regular season, the San Diego Chargers.
MySportsbook.com Week 1 odds:
Saints +6 @ Colts -6
Falcons @ Vikings (pick ‘em)
Panthers @ Rams (pick ‘em)
Broncos -3.5 @ Bills +3.5
Chiefs -1 @ Texans +1
Dolphins +3 @ Redskins -3
Patriots -5 @ Jets +5
Eagles -3.5 @ Packers +3.5
Steelers -4 @ Browns +4
Titans +6 @ Jaguars -6
Bears +6 @ Chargers -6
Lions +3 @ Raiders -3
Bucs +6.5 @ Seahawks -6.5
Giants +4 @ Cowboys -4
Ravens +3 @ Bengals -3
Cardinals +3 @ 49ers -3
Super Bowl line (2008)
NFC +6.5 vs. AFC -6.5
MySportsbook is a large, publicly traded company with strong financial backing. You will find their customer service is second to none and their web site is extremely user friendly and easy-to-use. All major professional sports games are available. Once you signup with MySportsbook, you may never use another online sportsbook again.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football sportsbook needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.