07/02/2009 - San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In the top of the ninth inning of a game between the Houston Astros and San Diego Padres, a swarm of bees took over part of left field and caused the game to go into a delay.
With Miguel Tejada at the plate with two outs in the frame, Padres left fielder Kyle Blanks began walking toward the infield as the bees became thick in the air.
The rest of the players soon left the field as the game went into a delay until a beekeeper arrived at the park.
The swarm eventually centered around a jacket on a chair near the stands and fans were evacuated from several sections near the swarm.
When the beekeeper arrived, he sprayed down the jacket and, after a 52-minute delay, the game resumed.
<< RSL, S.J. to battle in Friday fixture
Sandy, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Jose Earthquakes travel to take on Real
Salt Lake in Major League Soccer action on Friday night as the two Western
Conference rivals battle for position.
Both team are in the bottom half of the con
<< Kim's record 62 leads AT&T National
Bethesda, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defending champion Anthony Kim set the course
record with an eight-under 62 at Congressional, taking the first-round lead
Thursday at the AT&T National.
Tiger Woods, the tournament host, shot a six-
<< Chelsea secures Turnbull signing
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chelsea has completed the signing of goalie
Ross Turnbull on a four-year contract from relegated Middlesbrough.
The 24-year-old former England Under-21 international was out of contract with
the Teessider
<< Ribery will only leave Bayern for Real
Munich, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chelsea and Manchester United appear to have
missed out on signing Franck Ribery after the France star revealed he will only
leave Bayern Munich for Real Madrid.
The two Premier League heavyweights were
Pressel among Jamie Farr leaders >>
Sylvania, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Morgan Pressel, Laura Diaz and Song-Hee Kim
each fired rounds of seven-under 64 on Thursday to share the opening-round
lead of the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic.
Suzann Pettersen and Michelle Wie ar
CFL's Bruce fined for Michael Jackson celebration >>
Mississauga, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Toronto Argonauts All-Star wide receiver
Arland Bruce III was fined an undisclosed amount for a celebration tribute to
Michael Jackson in the team's victory over Hamilton on Wednesday.
After scoring a
Astros swarm Padres; bees delay game >>
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wandy Rodriguez threw seven strong innings to
help the Houston Astros take a 7-2 win over the San Diego Padres in an unusual
finale of a four-game set.
Rodriguez (7-6) gave up just one run on seven hits w
Holy Cross tabs Kearney to replace Willard >>
Worcester, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Holy Cross named Sean Kearney its new head
men's basketball coach on Thursday.
Kearney, who becomes the 15th head coach in the history of the program,
replaces Ralph Willard who resigned last mo
MySportsbook.com: New College Football Clock Rules Examined
Coaches and bettors alike are desperate to make sense of the new time-keeping rules on the NCAA gridiron. One of the big stories to come out of the Ohio State-Texas clash last weekend was Texas coach Mack Brown's criticism of the NCAA's new clock rules that are intended to shorten the duration of college football games, therefore affecting college football betting.
"They scored with six minutes left and the game was over before we had a chance to do anything," Brown told ESPN.com. "I really hope whoever made these changes will go back and look them over."
Sure, it might be sour grapes; the Buckeyes thoroughly trounced the defending national champion Longhorns 24-7. However, Brown isn't alone in giving the changes their due thought. Bettors are also wondering about them, albeit for a completely different reason. Most experts agree that the changes will result in games being shortened by anywhere from 10 to 20 plays. The obvious consequence is lower scores, with more time rolling off the clock during changes of possession. (The Ohio State-Texas game flew well under the total of 52.)
According to research at the online sportsbook MySportsbook.com, more than 18 plays a game disappeared last weekend into thin air. That's a 10-percent reduction. In 2005, a typical game had 168.58 plays. For 2007 already, it's down to 150.26.
As a result, teams combined to gain an average of about 100 fewer yards a game last weekend versus the 2005 openers. Scoring was also down by about 4.5 points (attention Las Vegas sports lines).
Of course, oddsmakers were able to adjust to the changes before the season started. Proof of that came as the over went a balanced 8-9 at My Sportsbook on Saturday.
Other angles to consider:A shorter game should theoretically result in shorter lines. Whereas Team A might have been a 14-point favorite in a 168-play game (last year), if there are 10 percent less snaps in 2007, the line should also be reduced by 10 percent (to 13 or 12.5). Of course, this is an over-simplification of the matter, but something to keep in mind.
Less possessions means a better chance the game will be decided by three or seven points. For example, what might have been a 20-10 final score in 2005 may end at
17-10 in 2007. Granted, a 24-17 game last year might end at 21-17 these days, but the former - a three- or seven-point advantage being preserved as opposed to created - is the most likely scenario.
*UPDATE* - Sept. 25, 2007
New Clock Rules Boon for online bookmakers
By adjusting the time-keeping rules to shorten the duration of college football games, the NCAA hoped to make its product more enjoyable for the fans. While the NCAA's success in this regard is still up for debate, bookmakers couldn't be happier with the results.
"We are seeing a massive jump in college football betting," noted the MySportsbook.com management team. "With all the early Saturday games (12 a.m. ET) ending before the second wave begins (3:30 p.m. ET) - something that didn't always happen before the changes - bettors are now able to re-invest their winnings from the morning session in the afternoon games."
While not all bettors will choose to roll over their winnings, it doesn't take much for an impact to be seen on the bottom line. "Not all of the millions of dollars in morning payouts get re-bet. In fact, it's probably only 10 to 20 percent," noted the sportsbook management team. "Still, the increased football betting lines window will create a ton of growth for us over the course of the season."
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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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