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10/09/2007 -
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) -Brandon Tate has spent the first half of the season proving something to coaches who no longer are with North Carolina.
With every acrobatic catch and end-around rush, the Tar Heels receiver has tried to prove that his fired former coaches made a mistake by seemingly pigeonholing him as a kick and punt returner.
Finally given a chance to contribute by new coach Butch Davis, Tate has shown a knack for rolling up yards - and scoring touchdowns - in a variety of ways.
``When I go out there and make great plays, I told the coaches last year I could do it, and I guess they didn't believe me,'' Tate said Monday. ``But they see now.''
His breakout junior season is halfway over, and Tate already has scored three different types of touchdowns this year alone - receiving, rushing and on a punt return.
His 14 receptions are nearly three times as many as he had combined during two seasons under John Bunting - who cast him almost exclusively as a return man - and his 955 all-purpose yards has him in position to challenge Don McCauley's 37-year-old school record of 2,021.
Tate's latest highlight came in last week's win against Miami when he took an end-around 54 yards down the left sideline for the first rushing touchdown of his career. It stands with the three touchdown passes he caught this season, his two career punt-return TDs and the three times in his career in which he brought back a kickoff for a score.
``Reverses to receptions to kickoff and punt returns, he's a field-position changer,'' Davis said. ``Because of his speed ... potentially any play has a chance to maybe go to the house.''
Bunting's failure to involve Tate in the offense may be one reason why he's the Tar Heels' ex-coach since it appears that last season's offense - which was desperate for playmakers - might have had one hidden on the sideline.
Tate said he jokingly lobbied to last year's staff, begging for more involvement, ``because I didn't want them to get mad at me,'' but they never explained why he was stuck behind senior Jesse Holley on the depth chart and couldn't get on the field more often.
He finished last season with five catches for 72 yards, and closed the season against Duke by becoming the ninth player in NCAA history to return a kickoff and a punt for touchdowns in the same game.
``Sometimes the coaches would tell me I'm going in for certain plays, but they'd never call those plays for me,'' he said. ``They didn't ever say (why). I didn't really ask.''
When Davis arrived and began studying film, he wondered why Tate wasn't a bigger part of the offense. Now he hopes the receiving corps that also includes Hakeem Nicks and Brooks Foster can develop into a pick-your-poison scheme that someday might rival the collection of talent he had in Miami, which at one time boasted future NFL players Santana Moss, Reggie Wayne, Andre Johnson and Jeremy Shockey.
``As talented as Brandon was a year ago in all the kicking situations (he was) someone that maybe emerged earlier,'' Davis said. ``Not being here and not watching practices, I can't tell you why that maybe was ... We can't get stereotypical. The best teams I've been on have been teams where it's been very difficult to defend just one guy.''Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
<< Clemens replaced on roster before Yankees' loss
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The possibility that Roger Clemens has made
the final appearance of his Hall of Fame career became even more likely
Monday.
The Yankees replaced him on their AL Division Series roster with le
<< Tigers' Sheffield has shoulder surgery
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Tigers announced Gary
Sheffield underwent successful surgery on his right shoulder Monday in Miami.
The arthroscopic procedure, performed by Dr. John Uribe, was needed to fix a
tear in the lab
<< Falcons lose Gandy to torn ACL
Flowery Branch, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Falcons starting left tackle Wayne Gandy
suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during Sunday's
loss to the Tennessee Titans and will miss the rest of the season.
The injury occ
<< Folk tale: Cowboys stun Bills on last-second FG
Orchard Park, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nick Folk connected on four field goals,
including a game-winning 53-yarder with no time remaining, to help the Dallas
Cowboys stun the Buffalo Bills, 25-24, in a wild game at Ralph Wilson Stadium.
The
2007 VS. CLEVELAND >>
BATTERS AVG OBA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS ERamirez .417 .517 24 7 10 4 0 3 7 5 4 0 0 0Pedroia .370 .433 27 3 10 2 0 0 2 2 2 0 0 0Clayton .364 .4
2007 VS. COLORADO >>
BATTERS AVG OBA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS EHammock .400 .455 10 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Salazar .375 .545 8 3 3 1 1 0 2 3 3 2 0 0Smith .333 .3
Leafs and Hurricanes tangle in Toronto >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Maple Leafs will continue an early-season
homestand tonight, when they welcome the Carolina Hurricanes to Air
Canada Centre.
Toronto was swept in a season-opening home-and-home series with Ottawa, but
did earn
Peer, Razzano win Bangkok openers >>
Bangkok, Thailand (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Third-seeded Israeli Shahar Peer and red-
hot Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano highlighted Tuesday's first-round winners at
the $200,000 Bangkok Open.
Peer got past Hungarian Melinda Czink 7-6 (7-3), 6-4,
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.
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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