The Baltimore Ravens certainly beat the point spread in their 35-7 beatdown of the Pittsburgh Steelers in their week one match-up, but how did they do in their week two match-up with Pittsburgh? What week two match-up you say? At BetOnline, you can bet on two teams who are not even playing each other in what they call their Imaginary Match-Ups.' BetOnline takes two teams and comes up with a point-spread based on how many points each team will score in their individual games.
For example, this past weekend, while the Baltimore Ravens were playing (and losing) at the Tennessee Titans, the Pittsburgh Steelers were hosting (and shutting out) the Seattle Seahawks. However, BetOnline came up with a point-spread for how many more points the Steelers would score in their game than the Ravens would score in their game and offered it up to bettors as an Imaginary Match-Up' wager. The Steelers were "favored" by five points in this match-up and of course, easily covered the point-spread.
What all of this really points out is that if you are dead-set on putting your hard-earned cash on the line, many betting sites will find a way to lure you into either a traditional or not-so-traditional way to ante up. If you're huge NFL fan, then why just pick one "normal" game when you can have another great Ravens-Steelers match-up every week of the NFL season?
(See the full story on the Wall Street Journal's Market Watch)