Golf courses come and go, but Red Rock rules the sports roost

The Las Vegas stereotype is a person who sits around on his duff playing at a gaming table. Or, he stands around dealing at a gaming table.

The athletics-oriented community of, let's say, Vail, Colo., we clearly are not. (Unless you count all the brain energy and dollars that are expended at local sportsbooks.)

Perhaps because of that stereotyping, the Sports Spots listing included in the annual Best of Las Vegas readers' poll has been slow to develop. Sports Spots didn't even merit a separate section on the ballot until 1984.

Before that, a few sporty categories were included in the first Best of Las Vegas poll in 1982 under the Locations heading. Sunset Park was voted Best Recreational Park, Desert Inn was voted Best Golf Course and Red Rock Canyon was selected as having the Best Hiking Trail and Best Bicycle Path.

When we began inquiring, in 1984, what R-J readers think about local Sports Spots as a distinct section, we barely scraped the surface. That poll had four sports questions: Best Health Spa (Camelot), Best Golf Course (Desert Inn), Best Bowling Alley (Sam's Town) and Best Public Tennis Court (Sunset Park).

What a difference two decades make. Not only do we have more contenders in each of those categories, we ask an abundance of other sports questions, too. The 2001 ballot contains 17 categories under Sports Spots.

Here's a little look at the evolution of our questioning.

Reflecting a national increased interest in fitness, we introduced a Best Place to Walk or Jog category in 1989, which was won by Bob Baskin Park.

In 1990, we added some other now-classic questions to Sports Spots, including the best place for bicycling (Red Rock Canyon), playing softball (Sunset Park) and shooting pool (Doc & Eddy's). (Hey, pool's a sport, even if it uses those fine-motor muscles instead of the big muscle groups.)

The number of sports categories took a big jump in 1994, when we added such staples as swimming (Wet 'n Wild), skiing (Brian Head, Utah) and playing outdoor basketball (Green Valley High School).

In subsequent years, we've added more staples. Cases in point are Rollerblading and racquetball courts in 1995 (won by Summerlin and the Sporting House respectively). Best Place to Snowboard was added in 1996, with Brian Head Ski Resort in Utah taking the first prize.

The Best of Las Vegas poll of 1999 added several new categories, including Best Driving Range (Angel Park Golf Club), Best Indoor Rock Climbing (GameWorks) and Best Miniature Grand Prix Course (Las Vegas Mini Gran Prix).

Some additions reflect new sports technology. Twenty years ago -- when Best of Las Vegas began -- how many people even knew what in-line skates were? Or snowboards? Or indoor rock faces?

And here are some interesting flash-in-the-pan sports categories that we've inserted and deleted over the years.

Best Fishing Spot? We told readers to be specific and the Las Vegas Wash was declared the winner. But fishermen are secretive. "Find your own!" was a recurring answer on many of those 1990 ballots.

We tried again in a more sneaky way, asking for Best Marina in 1994. Callville Bay on Lake Mead was the winner, but you had to find your own cove for fishing.

There was plenty of confusion when we added Best Off-Road Location in 1994 and 1995. Readers picked Red Rock Canyon (by now a national conservation area) both times, although off-roading isn't allowed there. It seems driving the dirt roads in the park were deemed sufficiently rough enough by readers.

It's also revealing to see what names have come and gone over the years as winners in Best of Las Vegas.

Remember the now-defunct Camelot Health Spa? It won the fitness center competition in the early days because it had two convenient locations in town. Today, 24 Hour Fitness has 10 branches -- with more coming on line.

On the other hand, the Las Vegas Athletic Club is a classic that first surfaced in the poll in 1987 and became a regular winner in the fitness category.

In the past 20 years, casino-owned golf courses have declined. In contrast, golf courses have proliferated away from the casinos, which probably reflects the increase in the town's residents, rather than its tourists. Think of Badlands Golf Club, Painted Desert Golf Club, and Spanish Trail Golf and Country Club, all of which have had their time in the Best of Las Vegas limelight.

Battling bowling lanes is another sign of healthy sports competition. In the early balloting, it was always a two-way contest between Sam's Town and Showboat, with the Gold Coast entering the fray in 1989, the Santa Fe in 1997 and The Orleans in 1999.

But several sports categories have remained consistent.

Red Rock National Conservation Area is a frequent winner of the hiking and biking categories. Mount Charleston is a common winner in skiing and snowboarding. In the category of man-made outdoor wonders, don't expect anything to displace Lake Mead National Recreation Area, which scores well in swimming.

But there's a cautionary tale in Sunset Park's continual winning of ribbons for walking or jogging, and playing softball, basketball and tennis.

As beloved as Sunset Park is, this track record of one park serving so many needs tells us the Las Vegas Valley is lacking in regional parks that can satisfy the recreational demands of assorted users.