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08/12/2010 - Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Portland Trail Blazers rounded out their front office staff on Thursday by hiring Bill Branch and Steve Rosenberry as assistant general managers.
Terms of the contracts were not disclosed.
"I've had the opportunity to work closely with both Bill and Steve and have always been impressed by their tremendous basketball acumen, work ethic and character," said Portland GM Rich Cho. "I am thrilled to have them join me, Chad (Buchanan) and Mike (Born) as part of our front office staff."
The 44-year-old Branch joins the Trail Blazers from the Oklahoma City Thunder, where he worked with Cho for the past three seasons as the organization's director of pro player personnel.
Branch brings 23 years of NBA experience to Portland. From 1997-2007 he was employed by the Denver Nuggets, where he served in several capacities. Prior to that he worked in the Charlotte Hornets' basketball operations staff from 1987-97.
"I'm very excited to have the opportunity to work for a team with such a rich tradition, great fan base and talented staff," said Branch. "I look forward to doing everything I can to contribute and help the Trail Blazers move forward and build upon some great pieces."
Rosenberry, 55, broke into the NBA as a scout with Seattle, where he spent six seasons before moving on to Charlotte to take a similar position from 1991-94. He then returned to the Seattle organization in 1994 and lasted 13 years, recently in the role of director of scouting.
Rosenberry also had a stop in Milwaukee before spending 2008-10 with Atlanta, where he was director of pro personnel and college scouting.
"I am grateful to have the opportunity to work with Rich, and while I have tremendous respect for him as a basketball person, he's been a great friend throughout the years," said Rosenberry. "It's exciting to be a part of an organization with a storied history and winning tradition such as Portland's."
Cho was named the Trail Blazers GM on July 19, replacing Kevin Pritchard, who was fired in late June.
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STANFORD, Calif. (AP) -When it comes to replacing Toby Gerhart and his 28 touchdowns, 1,871 rushing yards and countless big plays, Stanford will have a hard time finding one person to fill the job.Gerhart's running duties will likely be shared by Je
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LOS ANGELES (AP) -UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel insists he takes no pleasure in his crosstown rivals' troubles.He wants the Bruins to win the Race for Los Angeles because they're better than Southern California, not because the Trojans were tripped up b
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EUGENE, Ore. (AP) -When Oregon's season ended in Pasadena on New Year's Day, it appeared all but certain that the Pacific-10 champions would lead the conference again this fall. But after a tumultuous offseason, the Ducks' outlook in the league is f
Jets, Revis will keep talks confidential >>
Cortland, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Jets and holdout cornerback
Darrelle Revis will keep the remainder of their contract negotiations
confidential.
Revis, who has three years remaining on his rookie contract, wants
Dolphins sign Hobbs >>
Davie, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Dolphins have signed defensive back
Kevin Hobbs and guard Ray Feinga.
Hobbs has appeared in 34 games with Seattle and Detroit over the past three
seasons. He has 49 career tackles, including 13 s
Capello: Beckham too old for England >>
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - England coach Fabio Capello has signaled
an end to former captain David Beckham's international career.
The 35-year-old midfielder, who currently plays for the Los Angeles Galaxy in
Major League Socce
United signs striker Bebe from Guimaraes >>
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester United signed 20-year-old
striker Bebe from Portugal's Guimaraes on Thursday.
Bebe joins Mexican Javier Hernandez as new signings this offseason for United.
The 6-foot-2 forward just sign
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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