Help me understand this...

[bishop]

I listen to a couple of sports talk shows on the way home from work every day and one show always does picks. I vaguely understand point spreads but can't put my finger on what the host means when he says:

"Gimme Team A over Team B, plus the 2.5."
or
"I'll take the Team A minus the 11.5."

I don't gamble, I just want to understand what the heck he's saying.

 

[AlanL]

When you "give" points, it means the team only has to come within that many points for you to win the bet.

For example, let's say you want to bet on the Giants vs. the Jets game. If the teams are not of equal talents, then a straight bet would not be fair, everyone would bet on the favorite. So you give points to the team that's the underdog. Perhaps the Giants are favored by a touchdown. When you bet on the Giants, you then have to give 7 points to the Jets.

If the final score is Giants 20 - Jets 14, the Giants win the game, but if you wagered on the Jets you win the bet, because they're within 7 points. Or put another way, the Giants have to win by MORE than the 7 point spread.

Horse racing manages to do this by offering odds.

 

[Go West Young Man]

Another specific example - last week I bet on the Eagles. Everyone assumed they were going to win (and in fact did), so no-one would take my bet on those terms. To even out the odds, I had to 'give' them 3.5 points, ie bet that not only would they win, they would win by more than 3.5 points. This is also known as "covering the spread".

Naturally, leading by 10 points with about 2 minutes left the Eagles gave up a BS touchdown that didn't affect the outcome of the game in the slightest but made the final score 27-24. They only won by 3, I lost the bet.

The spread is a good shorthand to measure the relative strengths of 2 teams, at least in the eyes of Vegas oddsmakers!

 

[bishop]

So, for the two examples:

1) You would say "Gimme the Jets, minus the 7 against the Giants?"

2) You would say "Eagles plus the 3.5?"

I suppose one of my problems in understanding this is that there are different ways of saying it. Can you break down the two examples I gave in the OP?

 

[Greybeard]

I listen to a couple of sports talk shows on the way home from work every day and one show always does picks. I vaguely understand point spreads but can't put my finger on what the host means when he says:

"Gimme Team A over Team B, plus the 2.5."
or
"I'll take the Team A minus the 11.5."

I don't gamble, I just want to understand what the heck he's saying.

In the first example you're betting that the favored team will cover the spread, i.e. win by more than 2.5 points.

In the second example you're betting that the favored team won't cover the spread. The favored team may win but they will win by less than 11.5 points.
Edit: In other words you would be betting on the underdog.

 

[DrColossus11]

So, for the two examples:

1) You would say "Gimme the Jets, minus the 7 against the Giants?"

2) You would say "Eagles plus the 3.5?"

I suppose one of my problems in understanding this is that there are different ways of saying it. Can you break down the two examples I gave in the OP?

You have the 2 switched around. The favorite team gives up points and the underdog gets points.

1. "gimme the Jets +7" = if the Jets lose by less than 7 points, you win the bet.

2. "I'll take the Eagles -3.5" = the Eagles have to win by more than 3.5 points to win the bet.

 

[Pescara]

Football is the most popular game for betting because you don't have to figure odds. One other point about spreads, if the winning margin is the same as the spread (e.g. you bet the Eagles as 3-point favorites and they win by 3) you have a push -- bets are off and unless you're dealing with a bookie who takes a commission, or vig, on every bet you neither win nor lose any $. You can also bet the over/under (total points scored by both teams), and points scored by quarter and half. If you want a brief summary of the options available to the degenerate gambler, check "football sports betting" at bodog.com.

 

[AlanL]

I should have looked here first:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spread_betting

 

[bishop]

Many, many thanks. Now I can wrap my mind around this stuff.

 

[ouch]

Now explain 7 1/2 - 8 1/2.

 

[TimmyBoston]

Now explain 7 1/2 - 8 1/2.

Only half your kneecap gets broken.

 

[Go West Young Man]

Now explain 7 1/2 - 8 1/2.

7 1/2 is a smaller hat than 8 1/2.

 

[bishop]

Now explain 7 1/2 - 8 1/2.

Easy, a win by a touchdown. 7 points is right smack in the middle of the two figures you gave.