05/10/2008 -
ATLANTA (AP) -The early reports that Herschel Walker's new book would reveal he has lived with a multiple-personality disorder sparked a wave of surprise and even disbelief from many who know the former football star.
Family members, including Walker's father and brother, said they had no hint he had a multiple-personality disorder. Walker's former University of Georgia coach, Vince Dooley, also was surprised Walker has been found to have what also is called dissociative identity disorder.
Some critics have said Walker just wanted to bring attention to himself. Others said he was just weaving a creative element into the book ``Breaking Free'' to make money.
The reaction hasn't surprised Walker, who says he also was skeptical when initially told by a doctor that he had DID.
``This is very unknown with people. This is very foreign,'' Walker said last week. ``They don't know about it. Coach Dooley said 'I don't know anything about DID, but if it's a personality that plays football, I like it.'''
Walker said Dooley's assessment was closer to truth than the coach realized. He said Walker the football player was different from Walker the student or Walker the family man.
``That's what you've got, you've got what you look for,'' Walker said. ``I tell people I guarantee you Coach Dooley did not want that football player baby-sitting his grandkids. That's a different person.''
Walker wrote that his 12 personalities he calls ``alters'' were created as defense mechanisms, in part because he was bullied as a boy who stuttered and was overweight.
``What helped me to recognize there was such a thing as DID and I may be suffering from this was when the doctor first asked me to go look at my writing from a year ago to a couple of months ago to today, and as I was looking at my writing, I could see the content and style was totally different,'' he said.
``I still wasn't convinced until I went to outpatient therapy at a hospital to see for myself if somebody was just pulling my leg. That's when I started taking it a little more seriously.''
Walker revealed in his book he once played Russian roulette at his kitchen table. He said he pulled the trigger with the gun pointed to his head and in his mouth.
Walker won the 1982 Heisman Trophy and played 15 years in the USFL and NFL. He still lives in Dallas, where he enjoyed his most successful NFL seasons with the Cowboys, and operates a food distribution service with offices in Texas and Savannah.
The 46-year-old Walker says that because of his disorder he doesn't remember winning the Heisman Trophy, but skeptics remain. He says a TV crew from New York left an interview without following through with plans for a story when he couldn't reveal one of his alters on the spot.
``People say Herschel is just trying to write something to make money,'' he said. ``I say, 'Guys, why would I write something like this to make money? I could write about football.' You look at my life and my approach to life and the things that I do and I'm very serious about it and very straightforward.
``What DID really is, is a coping mechanism to overcome some type of trauma that they may have suffered at the hands of someone else or some type of trauma they may have seen. I say it's God's guardian angel taking care of you.''
Frank Ros, Coca-Cola's assistant vice president for Latin affairs, was captain of the 1980 national championship team at Georgia and one of Walker's best friends. Ros says he never saw signs of extreme behavior that people may associate with DID.
``I think to get the context of the book you really have to read it,'' Ros said. ``I think what he's trying to tell you is we all have different personalities and different issues. The key really is to make sure you have them all in balance on the right occasion.
``I've known him for years. He's a wonderful guy. I've never seen him do anything erratic that would bring attention to him.''
Walker says he doesn't mind if skeptics doubt his sincerity.
``It doesn't matter what people think about me,'' he said. ``I know who I am. I know where I've come from and where I'm at. What matters is whether this can touch someone and help someone, and not only someone with DID but someone who is struggling with any problem they have been hiding in their closet who is ashamed, that people put them down because of it.
``This is to let them know it's OK to ask for help and correct it because I think a strong man is a man who is going to do that.''Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
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In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
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