I still live part time in Vegas and have been since moving there in 1998. the scene here is huge, and has been for ages. That's going from having the TOC at the Showboat, then Castaways to the mini and international Eliminator, the True Amateur Challenge (now TAT tournaments), BVL, the Military tournaments, Senior Masters, all of the other USBC and PBA tournaments, Collegiate tournaments, and then the leagues. It really says a lot when you have a 70 lane house for league and every lane is packed.

And that's not even taking into account the arena at South Point. Vegas has had a great scene, but not only that, as you have to include the entire Southern Nevada USBC area, and include Laughlin and Mesquite (Virgin River).

Funny you should mention Portland, as we are still considering the move up there. Good to know the scene is active there, but I do have a question: do any of the colleges up there still have a Collegiate program? The last collegiate team I remember from that area was Washington State, but that was 25 years ago.

BL.

I think the only college that has a bowling team is Portland St but from what Ive heard, they sometimes don't get enough bowlers to fill a team and they don''t give out any scholarships.. Oregon St use to have a team but they don't anymore..

Michigan has been really good.  Midwest Scratch Bowling Series (scratchbowling.com) has a sweeper most every day of the week and larger tournaments on the weekends.  The Michigan Masters, SSO, 10k Memorial tournament had 448 entries in Grand Rapids.  It was a little sad to see this weekend though for the MSBS we had a 3k guarantee for first and only had around 90 entries (with reentries) for $120.  With that much guarantee and lower entry, would have liked to have seen well over 150 entries.   There were a ton a great bowlers in the state that didn't show.

The tournament scene in Vegas is horrible. In every casino with a bowling center on any weekend you'll probably have enough competitive players to field a decent tournament, but due to so much else to do in town, you'll see get a mix of the world beaters and the league bowlers that want to bowl a sport shot for cheap on the weekends. The scratch tournaments have LOL-bad prize funds until you get to the big national level ones. I was shocked at how "dead" the competitive bowling scene is in my 5 years there.

At least 10 houses in the Omaha area, though several have closed within the last 10 years.   During the spring, you can usually find about one tournament a weekend.  One scratch league (annual draft), travel league, and a robust youth bowling environment.  You can see high school finals on TV here. There is a local bowling newspaper (Nebraska Bowler).  Three pro shops that I know of...

I was just going to mention Omaha, as that's my hometown. With Scott Sedlak closing Kelley's Hilltop (he was a year behind me in high school), that still leaves more alleys in the entire Omaha metro area than all of Sacramento and its suburbs. Plus with UNL 60 miles away, Midland 30 miles away, and UNO wanting to start up another program, there's plenty of life there.

The Omaha World Herald (local newspaper) just put together a photo of the timeline of the Crossroads shopping mall, from inception to current status, and one of the photos they have is from 1955, where there is nothing but a dirt lot across the street with a small building there, for West Lanes Bowlatorium. The mall hadn't been built yet, but that bowling alley is still there.


At its peak, there were 22 alleys open in the metro area, and that includes the 2 in Council Bluffs. I can only count 10 that have closed and that's going back to when I was a kid, with the earliest of them closing in 1991: Ames, King Louie's Rose Bowl, Kelley's Hilltop, Leisure Lanes, Sky Lanes, Wildcat, Cougar, Gateway, Gretna, and one in Council Bluffs that was on Broadway. Valley View (now Thunderbowl) is still there.

Plus with those 3 big pro shops (all run by PBA members, one of which was in my graduating class and bowled youth and collegiates with), then add in Erin McCarthy (who just won her first PWBA title after representing the US at the QubicaAMF World Cup) there's a HUGE scene in Omaha. Always has been.

BL.

Yes, by all means, DrBwlr15, maybe you better consider moving to Omaha.

Whats the tournament scene like in Omaha? Do they have any scratch leagues or tournaments?

Looks like the New England area with NEBA and the Michigan area with MSBS are the two hotbeds for tournament bowling.. Its too bad I have no desire to live in either area...

That's because we kinda get over the whole playing in the snow thing rather quickly and turn to bowling haha.

Grew up in southwestern Iowa and recently spent some time in Omaha.  Nice area.  Quiet, clean, fairly cheap, good education, great place to raise family.  Weather can be a bit brutal out there on the plains and doesn't have a big city feel if that is what you are into.  Horses for courses.  Will say straight up the education system in Arizona is trash (barely acceptable in some of the richer districts like Tempe, Chandler, etc at least).  Also its 111 out as I write this (but also hasn't snowed here since the Great Depression).  Good to know everything you can before deciding.   I love the southwest and my desert but its not for everyone for sure.  Both are good choices for bowling though.

Quote from: DrBwlr15 on June 12, 2018, 11:44:45 AM

Quote from: jimjames on June 12, 2018, 09:20:18 AM

Yes, by all means, DrBwlr15, maybe you better consider moving to Omaha.

Whats the tournament scene like in Omaha? Do they have any scratch leagues or tournaments?

Sandhills Tournament is held twice a year at various houses; difficult flat pattern that still plays different from house to house.  A couple weekends of qualifying then a final cut on the last Sunday, then stair-step, I think (if I made it that far, I'd know, eh?)

Leopard Challenge is another scratch, flat pattern held in June.

I only know of the one scratch league where 3 man teams are drafted by the top 32 averages every year.  Largest payoffs I've ever seen in a league.

I believe West Lanes still has a scratch league on Tuesdays that a lot of those bowling collegiately from UNL even make the drive up for.

Mockingbird has a huge scratch league as well. The Joe Tomsu tournament is a huge drawer of bowlers as well; it's run by Matt Tomsu, who runs one of those 3 big pro shops.

The league Rich Abboud runs is also a huge draw for scratch bowlers, then there's the aforementioned Leopard challenge.

I don't remember if the travel league is still running - if it is, I'll see who's running it. They hit every house in the area at least twice, and that includes Peacekeeper Lanes at Offutt AFB.

The youth programs in the city are huge. And as mentioned, the Metropolitan Sports Foundation runs the competitive high school bowling leagues there, so youth are definitely covered outside of their normal Saturday leagues as well as the Junior Traveling Classic, which is now a Junior Gold qualifier.

BL.