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09/18/2007 - Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kansas City Wizards forward Scott Sealy has been named Major League Soccer Player of the Week for week 24 following a two- goal performance in a 3-2 dramatic comeback win against the Columbus Crew Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium.
"It's always a good feeling to be recognized," Sealy said. "The most important thing is that we won the game and gave our home fans a lot to cheer about."
Sealys first goal came in the 31st minute to put Kansas City ahead 1-0 on a play he created and finished. Sealy was fouled outside the 18-yard area and then stood over the ball with defender Jose Luis Burciaga Jr. Both players started their approach, with Burciaga stopping and Sealy bending a right- footed free kick over the wall and into the upper-left corner past Crew goalkeeper Will Hesmer for his third goal of the season.
Sealy then provided the game-winner to cap a historic Wizards comeback in minute 94th minute. Sasha Victorine played the ball out of the back, finding Eddie Johnson with his back to goal 25 yards out. He turned, then spun the ball wide for streaking midfielder Eloy Colombano before Johnson and Sealy continued their runs toward goal. Colombano took a touch then served in a hard, right-footed cross for Sealy at the near post. The Trinidad and Tobago international hit a snap header past Hesmer from six yards out for his second goal of the match and first-game winner of the season. The Wizards became just the third team in MLS history to erase a stoppage-time deficit to win a match.
"Our team is not a desperate team, but we were at home and we didn't want to disappoint the fans," Sealy said. "We went into the half one-nil and then they got two goals and we had two options, either give up or come back and our team has shown that we can come back and tonight was a perfect example."
"Scoring in the 90-plus minutes shows that our team is a fit team and a team that doesn't give up and we have been talking all week that it might take 90 minutes to win this game and it was a great ending," Wizards coach Curt Onalfo said.
Sealy has now won Player of the Week twice during his three-year MLS career, the first came in week 12 of last season after a two-goal performance against the Chicago Fire.
Below are the 2007 Player of the Week Winners:
Week 1: Jeff Cunningham (Real Salt Lake)
Week 2: Eddie Johnson (Kansas City Wizards)
Week 3: Maykel Galindo (Chivas USA)
Week 4: Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy)
Week 5: Dwayne De Rosario (Houston Dynamo)
Week 6: Taylor Twellman (New England Revolution)
Week 7: Juan Pablo Angel (New York Red Bulls)
Week 8: Eddie Johnson (Kansas City Wizards)
Week 9: Eddie Johnson (Kansas City Wizards)
Week 10: Ben Olsen (D.C. United)
Week 11: Luciano Emilio (D.C. United)
Week 12: Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo)
Week 13: Nicholas Addlery (D.C. United)
Week 14: Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo)
Week 15: Juan Toja (FC Dallas)
Week 16: Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Columbus Crew)
Week 17: Ante Razov (Chivas USA)
Week 18: Luciano Emilio (D.C. United)
Week 19: Juan Pablo Angel (New York Red Bulls)
Week 20: Jozy Altidore (New York Red Bulls)
Week 21: Maykel Galindo (Chivas USA)
Week 22: Ben Olsen (D.C. United)
Week 23: Luciano Emilio (D.C. United)
Week 24: Scott Sealy (Kansas City Wizards)
<< Sean Burke announces retirement from NHL
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Longtime goaltender Sean Burke announced his
retirement from the National Hockey League on Tuesday.
The well-traveled Burke appeared in 820 games over his 19-year career with the
New Jersey Devils, Hartford
<< Browns experience offensive explosion against Bengals
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Brady Quinn era might have to wait a little longer in
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After a disappointing opening-week loss to Pittsburgh, the Browns capped a
strange week with an unbelievable 51-45 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
Fo
<< Give some love to the Sun Belt
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - There were more important games played
this past week than Oklahoma State at Troy and Minnesota at Florida Atlantic,
such as Kentucky topping Louisville and USC demolishing Nebraska, but the
number one story
<< This Week in Auto Racing September 21 - September 23
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It's round two of NASCAR's "Chase for the
Nextel Cup" as racing in Dover dominates a light racing weekend.
NASCAR
Nextel Cup
Dodge Dealers 400 - Dover International Speedway - Dover, DE
After Clin
Harrison cleared to play >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Steelers revealed some
positive news regarding the injury of linebacker James Harrison. Harrison was
diagnosed with a stiff neck and is not expected to miss significant time.
Harrison
Schaub, defense lead Texans to 2-0 start >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - There's a buzz going on right now in Houston and it has
nothing to do with the Astros on the cusp of missing the postseason for a
second consecutive year.
It's too early to start talking playoffs in the NFL, but the Housto
King ousts Bartoli in Kolkata >>
Kolkata, India (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - American Vania King upset top-seeded
Marion Bartoli in first-round action Tuesday at the $175,000 Sunfeast Open.
The 18-year-old King dismissed the Wimbledon runner-up Bartoli in 6-1, 7-5
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Hester not slowing down in year two for Chicago >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sometimes when you cage the beast, the beast gets angry.
Words of wisdom from perhaps a famous general, a ruthless dictator, or maybe
even a high-energy athlete?
Actually, it was Wolverine (played by Hugh Jackman) from X
Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.
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.
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