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07/16/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - There is an adage in politics - never let a serious crisis go to waste.
In these tough economic times, rank and file workers across America have never been more suspicious of management.
Most agree that the world's largest economy is not running on all cylinders right now and some even argue that it's come off the tracks completely, but most middle class employees can't help but get the feeling that management is using a bad situation to take advantage of them by scaling back on benefits and salary.
That kind of suspicion is about the only thing NBA players have in common with the middle class.
Since the league instituted a salary cap in 1984, it has grown from $3.6 million per team to a staggering a $57.7 million last season. In turn, player salaries have exploded, climbing from an average of $330,000 in '84 to $5.2 million by 2007-08. The numbers have stagnated a bit since then, but the average NBA salary has stayed above the $5 million mark.
That growth had the NBA crying poverty at every turn when the economy went south. Before the 2008-09 season, commissioner David Stern slashed 9 percent of his office staff in New York and played hardball with his officials, gaining significant reductions in the referees' retirement packages after threatening a lockout.
During the NBA's annual owners meeting in Las Vegas, buried among all the hoopla over the "Summer of LeBron," Stern claimed his league lost a combined $370 million thanks to the recession, a figure NBA Players Association executive director Billy Hunter balked at.
With the current collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and its players set to end on June 30, 2011, Hunter thinks Stern is using fuzzy math in an attempt to control salaries and make other changes to the CBA.
"David's numbers are unfounded," Hunter told ESPN. "It's a severe exaggeration."
Stern cited slowing ticket sales in some markets and a hit in both television and merchandising revenue to back his claim, while Hunter pointed to the league's overall increase in ticket sales and a much-increased television audience for the NBA playoffs to bolster his case.
Recent empirical evidence supports Hunter and the players.
A doom-and-gloom prediction by the NBA that predicted the salary cap would decrease from $57.7 million to $50.4 million in 2010 was way off and the league announced that the cap would actually increase next season to $58 million, a development that actually upset a number of the league's owners, who were taken by surprise.
"As soon as we get it, we spend it," Stern said of the league's still solid revenue streams. "That is the current system. We try to compete. Our fans love that. So we'd like to keep the league as competitive as possible, give all of our teams the opportunity to tell their fans they have a chance to win, and have some profit in it for the owners."
Those same owners are continuing to spend at a breakneck pace despite the sour economy and Stern's moribund words, giving even pedestrian players like Chris Duhon and Hakim Warrick big paydays.
Meanwhile, the Golden State Warriors, not exactly the gold standard in the league, are set to sell for a record price. The Warriors. who were a disappointing 26-56 last season, are a lot closer to the Los Angeles Clippers than the Los Angeles Lakers or Boston Celtics, but that didn't stop an investment group led by Joseph Lacob to pony up a record price $450 million for the franchise, exceeding the $401 million Robert Sarver needed to buy the Phoenix Suns in 2004.
Both sides are distrustful of each other and are hunkering down and preparing for the worst work stoppage since the 1998-99 lockout.
"I'm preparing for a lockout right now, and I haven't seen anything to change that notion," Hunter said.
Don't expect Stern, a master negotiator, to blink and let this crisis go to waste.
"I don't know how many collective bargainings I've participated in over the last too many years," the commissioner said. "We've thus far only had one failure to reach a deal in 1998. And many of the others have started out poorly, had predictions of doom and gloom, et cetera. You just keep on plugging. I think we've got a long way to go, but we have a lot of time to get there. That's the optimism
"Judging from (the players') proposal, which basically embraces the current system, we haven't closed any gap yet. But we're going to be resilient and prepared to spend the time necessary to see whether there's a deal to be had here, and we're going to do it for as long as possible."
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While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.
Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.
The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.
What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.
These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.
College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.
Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.
Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.
Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.
I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.
Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.
It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.
As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.
Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.
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