Rebel Tank - Sometimes Straighter is Greater!

[Amyers]

There's two reasons for that that I can see:

1) Every bowler assumes the house they bowl at has a tough shot. Very few bowlers will admit to, know, or feel that they bowl in an "easy house"; especially if they only bowl in one house. So it's very possible that if you have 6-7 guys over 230...your shot is rather easy. I used to think the variations between houses was minor...but now I've seen the light and have literally experienced first hand just how different a center can make their conditions.

2) Southern California has a lot of talent and a lot of centers and a lot of leagues. Kinda like Vegas. But that means competitive bowlers don't always bowl with non-competitive bowlers. For example, my Tuesday league has a former pro shop owner bowling...but the rest of the league...none of them bowl tournaments or anything like that. Meanwhile, the current pro shop owner...he bowls in all kinds of different leagues, some travel leagues, some tournaments...but he's in leagues at other centers..."competitive leagues". I tried my hand at that when I joined the sport pattern league...but I just wasn't ready for that level of competition.

The center I've chosen to bowl at in the Fall, that is next to my apartment, they have many more options for leagues, some scratch leagues, and most of their leagues have average caps for the teams. It's a center a bit more popular with competitive bowlers. My Tuesday center is not viewed as a "competitive bowling center"...it's viewed more as a trendy entertainment venue....so it doesn't attract the bowling talent. And the house where I bowl on Wednesdays is an old AMF house...it lost a lot of it's devoted bowlers over the years due to how run down it is and poor management and then the bowlmor buyout. So while it has a handful of talented bowlers...the league is fairly small and it's a lot of "old timers" that have been loyal to that house since back when it was more legitimate.

Vegas is a bit more interesting...and Rob or Chuck may be able to comment better....but I'm sure there are some leagues and even centers that are more the happy/fun/night out kinda leagues with less actual "talent" and then there are leagues where Rob is bowling next to PBA Regional players.

I guess that makes sense our leagues tend to be more balanced other than the scratch/sport shot leagues. My area is smaller too so I know most of the top level bowlers on a first name basis in our area and probably a large portion of those in the state as they tend to bowl in the same tournaments.

[Aslan]

I guess that makes sense our leagues tend to be more balanced other than the scratch/sport shot leagues. My area is smaller too so I know most of the top level bowlers on a first name basis in our area and probably a large portion of those in the state as they tend to bowl in the same tournaments.

Just as another example...I was courting the idea of bowling in a league at a center on the LA County/OC border that is a 4-person men's league and that league has been around for a long time. I looked at THAT list of bowlers and it included many tournament level bowlers, Glenn Allison (1st 900 series), and at least one former PBA pro. So there IS talent in California...they just tend not to bowl in THS, handicap, mixed, vegas sweep leagues. I know of another league that bowls near where I'm moving...that it's a scratch trio league with a lot of big name players...but it bowls in the morning during the week...a convenient time for the retired and pro shop operators...a bad time for everyone else.