Memo to UEFA: Ovrebro must go

Soccer Betting Lines

02/19/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It wasn't quite as high-profile a match - a Round of 16 contest as opposed to a semifinal - but for the second consecutive year, Norwegian referee Tom Henning Ovrebro has managed to make a mess of a Champions League match.

You remember Ovrebro, don't you?

He is the big bald guy whose name is certain to elicit a profanity-laced tirade if uttered anywhere near west London after his performance in the second leg of Chelsea's Champions League semifinal match with Barcelona at Stamford Bridge.

Ovrebro famously turned down a number of penalty appeals from the Blues, only for Barca to score a last-gasp goal to knock Chelsea out of the competition.

He was essentially chased out of the English capital by a torch-wielding mob following the game, and after Wednesday's 2-1 win by Bayern Munich over Fiorentina, in which a number of dubious calls went against the Italian side, he should probably take Florence off his list of possible vacation destinations this summer.

The play that will come under the most scrutiny is the goal that Bayern's Miroslav Klose scored in the 89th minute that won the match for his team, despite the fact that he was easily three or four yards offside.

However, Ovrebro didn't exactly do a great job over the first 88 minutes of the match either.

Bayern's Mark van Bommel, who is not likely to win an award for fair play any time soon, was up to his usual tricks in the first half as he was guilty of committing a clumsy challenge on Stevan Jovetic in the 20th minute, and then just seven minutes later, came in with a terrible two-footed tackle on Riccardo Montolivo, forcing Montolivo to leave the game in the second half.

The play on Montolivo rightly earned him a yellow card, but you can make the case that he could have been sent off in the 39th minute when he flopped like a fish out of water just five yards from where Ovrebro was standing.

It would have been one thing to call a foul on the Fiorentina player, because he wouldn't be the first official to be fooled by the theatrics of a player, but if he didn't feel that a foul occurred, why was Van Bommel not booked for diving?

Instead, Ovrebro just stood there like an innocent bystander and allowed play to go on.

The end of the opening half also brought about a questionable decision as Bayern's Franck Ribery was knocked over inside the penalty area by Per Kroldrup.

The referee rightly called a foul on the play and awarded Bayern a penalty kick, but just a split second after Ribery was fouled, Mario Gomez followed up the play and scored.

Instead of playing the advantage and awarding Bayern the goal, Ovrebro took it away and gave the German side a penalty kick. Fortunately for the referee, Arjen Robben successfully converted the attempt, which spared Ovrebro further controversy, but it is those types of calls that should be handled properly on this kind of stage.

Fiorentina was able to equalize five minutes into the second half, and it looked to be anyone's game with the final 40 minutes still to play.

Instead, Ovrebro completely shifted the balance in the 73rd minute when he hit Fiorentina's Massimo Gobbi with a straight red card after he obstructed Robben near the sideline.

Gobbi certainly fouled Robben, who predictably made the most of the contact, but it was the type of foul that usually warrants a yellow card at most, and it was not as dangerous as the studs-up tackle by Klose on Felipe just five minutes later, when the German striker received only a yellow card.

The red card forced Fiorentina to sit back and defend over the final 20 minutes of the game, and they just about made it until the dubious goal that Klose scored just minutes from the final whistle.

Ovrebro can't take full credit for this one because his linesman on the far side was standing there watching the play unfold, and somehow did nothing.

To the best of my knowledge it has not been medically proven that incompetence is contagious, but if anyone in the medical community is looking for exhibit A, they need look no further than Ovrebro.

This is not even the first time that Ovrebro has short-changed an Italian team, as his terrible offsides call against Luca Toni robbed Italy of a goal against Romania in the Euro 2008 competition.

Florence mayor Matteo Renzi saved most of his venom for the linesman and UEFA president Michel Platini, who must bear a large portion of the criticism for even putting Ovrebro out there in the first place.

"I have never seen anything like it in the history of professional football," the mayor told FirenzeViola.it. "It was a complete embarrassment.

"Platini should be worried about sending linesmen out in good faith instead of remaining in the stands and smiling.

"Tonight, UEFA has embarrassed the city of Florence."

In fact, it is UEFA that should be ashamed as they have continued to hand important assignments to an official who is clearly incapable of handling them.

The mistake in the Euros was one blown call, albeit an important one that cost a team points in a major tournament, but most referees will have that kind of moment at least once in their career if they do it long enough.

UEFA could be forgiven for handing Ovrebro more assignments after that, but they certainly opened themselves up to criticism for putting him in charge of a Champions League semifinal when exceedingly more qualified referees were available.

After the debacle at Chelsea, UEFA should have taken Ovrebro off its list of potential match officials for Champions League play, but instead they put him back into the line of fire, and he failed miserably.

Now, for the second consecutive year in a Champions League match, the officiating has overshadowed the play on the field, and that can't be something that UEFA wants.

"We played the game we wanted to play, but it's really sad to see certain things happening at this stage of the Champions League," Montolivo told Rai Sport following the match.

"Even I saw the offside from the bench and it's really frustrating that we were robbed like this.

"We are still on course to qualify, but we could have been in a better position if it wasn't for the officials."

The positive for Ovrebro and UEFA is the fact that this terrible display took place in the first leg of the Round of 16 clash, and not the second, leaving Fiorentina a chance to save everyone involved from further humiliation.

The Viola may use the injustice of the first leg as motivation to help them get the result they need at home, but if Fiorentina does get through, it should not gloss over UEFA's terrible decision to appoint Ovrebro, or the referee's ineptitude.

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Football Betting: Defensive Rookie of the Year Awards

Oddsmakers have released the odds for the 2009 AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award and Seattle Seahawks linebacker Aaron Curry has been made the opening favorite.

Bet on NFL Football

Seattle took Curry with the fourth overall pick in April's NFL draft and plan on inserting him into its starting lineup right away. The Hawks traded linebacker Julian Peterson in the offseason, so Curry is expected to have a significant role in Seattle's defense next year and that's one of the primary reasons he is the favorite to win the NFL ROY Award.

Oddsmakers from online sportsbook MySportsbook.com have made Curry a 5/1 favorite to win this year's NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award. Given that he was the best defensive prospect in this year's draft and how he'll have plenty of opportunities to make plays in '09, Curry offers a ton of value at 5/1.

Another thing working for Curry is the position he plays. A linebacker has won the defensive ROY award six straight times and eight of the last nine years. Jerod Mayo, Patrick Willis, DeMeco Ryans, Shawne Merriman, Jonathan Vilma, Terrell Suggs, Kendrell Bell and Brian Urlacher were the most recent linebackers to take home the award.

Following Curry at 5/1 are Tyson Jackson (Chiefs) at 7/1, James Laurinaitas (Rams) at 8/1, Brian Orakpo (Redskins) at 10/1, Rey Maualuga (Bengals) at 10/1 and Jerry Peria (Falcons) at 10/1.

All the players mentioned above are expected to start for their respective teams, but Jackson and Peria are going to have a tough time being recognized on a national level given they're both defensive linemen. D-linemen rarely put up the numbers that it takes to win an individual award like the ROY.

A couple of players with some value are Clay Matthews (Packers) at 12/1 and Larry English (Chargers) at 15/1. Matthews is expected to start at outside linebacker in Green Bay's new 3-4 defense and could rack up a ton of tackles. English, who was an impressive player at Northern Illinois, is expected to be a situational pass rusher for the Chargers and could rack up a ton of sacks.

For complete odds on the 2009 AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award, see below. And for complete odds for the 2009 AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Award, click the link provided.

2009 AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award

Robert Ayers (DEN) 12/1

Ron Brace (NE) 25/1

Everette Brown (CAR) 16/1

Darius Butler (NE) 40/1

Patrick Chung (NE) 30/1

Aaron Curry (SEA) 5/1

Brian Cushing (HOU) 12/1

Vontae Davis (MIA) 30/1

Louis Delmas (DET) 30/1

Larry English (SD) 15/1

Evander Hood (PIT) 25/1

Tyson Jackson (KC) 7/1

Malcolm Jenkins (NO) 25/1

Paul Kruger (BAL) 50/1

James Laurinaitas (STL) 8/1

Sen'Derrick Marks (TEN) 20/1

Clay Matthews (GB) 12/1

Aaron Maybin (BUF) 15/1

Rey Maualuga (CIN) 10/1

Roy Miller (TB) 20/1

Michael Mitchell (OAK) 45/1

Fili Moala (IND) 30/1

Brian Orakpo (WAS) 10/1

Jerry Peria (ATL) 10/1

B J Raji (GB) 7/1

Clint Sintim (NYG) 35/1

Alphonso Smith (DEN) 40/1

David Verkune (CLE) 20/1

Jason Williams (DAL) 30/1

Field (Any Other Player) 6/1

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Who Makes the Sportsbook Betting Lines?

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. “

What are the Football Betting Lines Trying to Accomplish?

There is a common misconception that point spreads represent the oddsmakers’ prediction of how many points the favorite will win by. That is not the case at all – their intent is NOT to evenly split the ATS result between the teams; rather, their goal is to attract equal betting action on both sides. Stated another way, they want to create a line that half the people find appealing to bet one way while the other half find it appealing to bet the other way (known as ‘dividing the action’).

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).

How the Opening Line Is Made

The opening line is the first line created by the oddsmakers, which is then sent out to sportsbooks. Of course there is an entire method to the madness on how the opening line is created. Seba explained that it all starts with each oddsmaker creating a line on each game based upon their own personal approach. This usually includes having up-to-date power ratings on each team.

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.

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Once the opening line is released by LVSC, the individual sportsbooks decide if they want to make any adjustments before offering it to the public. Reasons for such adjustments include:

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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