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02/16/2012 - Doha, Qatar (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - World No. 1 Belarusian stalwart Victoria Azarenka and rising American teenager Christina McHale were among Thursday's third-round winners at the $2.168 million Qatar Open.
The Australian Open champion Azarenka, playing in her first tournament as the world No. 1 star, leveled capable Romanian Simona Halep 6-3, 6-1 in 1 hour, 20 minutes on the hardcourts at Khalifa International Tennis Complex.
The 22-year-old Azarenka is now a sizzling 14-0 this season, which also includes a title in Sydney last month.
Azarenka's quarterfinal opponent on Friday will be Belgian slugger Yanina Wickmayer, who was a 6-4, 6-0 victor against Russian Ksenia Pervak on Day 4.
Joining Azarenka in the round of eight were third-seeded U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur and fourth-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska. The Aussie Stosur stifled Czech Petra Cetkovska 6-3, 6-2, while the steady Radwanska rolled past American qualifier Varvara Lepchenko 7-5, 6-1.
In other third-round action, the 19-year-old McHale overcame Israeli Shahar Peer 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and Romanian Monica Niculescu topped Ukrainian qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko 7-6 (7-5), 6-4. McHale's next assignment will come against Radwanska, while Niculescu will meet Stosur on Friday.
The 2012 Doha champion will earn a first prize of $385,000.
<< Berdych lands in Rotterdam quarters
Rotterdam, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former Wimbledon runner-up
Tomas Berdych reached the quarterfinals at the $1.6 million ABN AMRO World
Tennis Tournament.
The second-seeded Berdych, fresh off his title in Montpellier, France two
<< Four to compete for All-Star dunk title
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Indiana's Paul George, Minnesota's Derrick
Williams, Houston's Chase Budinger and Iman Shumpert of the Knicks will vie
for the dunk title as part of festivities at the 2012 All-Star weekend.
The Slam D
<< Hornets ink Thomas to another 10-day contract
New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Orleans Hornets rewarded forward
Lance Thomas with another 10-day contract on Thursday.
Thomas has posted averages of 2.0 points and 2.4 rebounds in seven appearances
for the club this season.
<< Dynamo reacquire Ching from Impact
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brian Ching's stay in Montreal is over before
he even played a match for the expansion Impact.
Just three months after losing him in the expansion draft, the Houston Dynamo
reacquired the forward Thursday f
Timbers sign Cameroonian midfielder Songo'o >>
Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Portland Timbers signed Cameroonian Franck
Songo'o, a former Barcelona youth player, on Thursday.
The 24-year-old Songo'o, capped one time by Cameroon, left Barca in 2005 and
began his pro career in the
Red Wings' Cleary placed on IR >>
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Red Wings placed forward Dan
Cleary on injured reserve, retroactive to February 8, on Thursday.
Cleary has been out since then after re-aggravating an existing knee injury.
In 55 games th
Stepanek ousted in San Jose >>
San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former champion Radek Stepanek was a
second-round upset victim Thursday at the $531,000 SAP Open.
Belgian Steve Darcis bounced the fourth-seeded Czech 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-2)
on the hardcourts at HP Pavilion.
United tops Ajax in Europa League >>
Amsterdam, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ashley Young and Javier Hernandez
scored in the second half as Manchester United opened its Europa League round
of 32 series against Ajax with a 2-0 win Thursday.
With a combined seven European t
In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.
And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.
Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.
So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.
Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)
The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.
As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.
The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.
In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.
Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.
And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.
So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.
There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.
So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.
And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.
There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)
Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.
Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.
Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.
So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.
To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your college football betting needs.
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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