Sports & Recreation >>

• Best New Slogan for CU Buffs
  "Excitements to Match Our Indictments"
  Just as Governor Bill "Sparky" Owens was able to turn the fearsome 2002 wildfire season into a national promotion for Centennial State s'mores, surely the University of Colorado and its spin-meisters can capitalize on all of the national press over the recruiting-party sex-assault scandal.... More >>
• Best Next Career for John Elway
  Very Special Assistant Broncos Car Hiker
  We really, really want John to do well at something. Anything, really. After all, he's our icon, our stainless hero. So it'd be nice to have him around for a while longer -- at least until someone better comes along. The problem is figuring out what, exactly, he's good at. He can't start a... More >>
• Best Next Career for Gary Barnett
  Custodian of the primate house, Denver Zoo
  Yes, yes, we know. Not all of the evidence has been collected and analyzed. The strippers have not laid their souls bare. The bills from the liquor store are still coming in. And the regents have not yet admitted that they, too, smoked a little dope in their undergraduate days. Nonetheless, the... More >>
• Best Sports Quote
  Jay Leno
  CU football's sex-and-recruiting mess has inspired many a wiseguy's raw humor, but the lantern-jawed host of The Tonight Show, Jay Leno, nailed the thing cold on February 25 during his monologue. To wit: "Today the Taliban denounced the University of Colorado for its treatment of women." More >>
• Best Trial in the Court of Public Opinion
  Denver Nuggets v. Los Angeles Lakers, January 7, 2004
  Say what you will about L.A. Lakers star Kobe Bryant and that scrape he got into last summer up at Cordillera. Everybody else does. Thousands of Denver Nuggets fans have apparently already reached a verdict in Kobe's rape case, and they aren't afraid to announce it from the cheap seats. When the... More >>
• Best Plea for Acquittal
  Kobe Bryant
  It's impossible to know if he was motivated by sincerity, self-interest or an undeniable urge to expand his social life at high altitude, but when embattled L.A. Laker Kobe Bryant was asked in mid-February what teams he might consider signing with should he exercise his options next year as a... More >>
• Best Nugget
  Carmelo Anthony
  The drama of the Denver Nuggets' sudden rise from the doldrums of incompetence to the heights of playoff contention features rookie sensation Carmelo Anthony as its leading man. After just one glory year at Syracuse (the underdog Orangemen won the NCAA championship), the 6' 8", 220-pound small... More >>
• Best Pro Coach
  Jeff Bzdelik
  Even last year, when the Denver Nuggets were still an awful mess and the departed Juwan Howard was their only scoring threat, NBA sharpies noticed that coach Jeff Bzdelik was bringing some fierce new attitude and commitment to one of the league's worst teams. This season, the former Miami... More >>
• Best New Hoopnasium
  Gold Crown Fieldhouse
  Call it the House That Hanzlik Built. Ex-Nugget Bill Hanzlik, who co-founded the Gold Crown Foundation in 1986, is justly proud of the Gold Crown Fieldhouse, which opened last fall in Lakewood. Most weekends, its six gyms runneth over with Gold Crown youth basketball teams. The courts are also... More >>
• Best Youth Basketball Organization
  The Colorado Hawks
  When the Police Athletic League sixth-grade championship series was played recently at the Hiawatha Davis rec center, the Colorado Hawks were guaranteed a winner. That's because the two finalists were the Hawks' fifth- and sixth-grade teams. Since George Williams started the Denver-based... More >>
• Best Athletic Performance -- High School
  Kyle Sand
  It's pretty difficult to improve on perfection, so Arvada West senior wrestler Kyle Sand earns this year's designation as best high school jock. All the shaggy-headed Sand did is finish his wrestling career without once losing a match: 125-0, with four state titles, the last one at 189 pounds.... More >>
• Best Bronco
  Rod Smith
  Now that Ed McCaffrey has retired and Shannon Sharpe could well spend next season with his mouth in front of a microphone, the Broncos' receiving corps will be anchored by tireless team leader Rod Smith, the ten-year veteran out of Missouri Southern who holds Broncos franchise records for career... More >>
• Best Sack of a Bronco
  Shanny's Adios to Daryl Gardener
  After a year in which Daryl Gardener went from presumptive defensive superstar with a seven-year, $39 million deal to an offensive-name caller who played in a total of five games, the only question was how the Broncs would disappear his 300 pounds of petulance. After a final spat over the... More >>
• Best Trade
  Clinton Portis for Champ Bailey
  See it in this light: Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan is so good at developing running backs (good morning, Terrell, how's the leg?) and working them into the West Coast offense that he could probably pluck a 160-pounder out of junior college and turn him into an all-pro. By contrast, Shanny's... More >>
• Best Mammoth
  Gary Gait
  He'll turn 37 on April 5, but Colorado Mammoth lacrosse star Gary Gait is still the league standard, the Michael Jordan of his sport. Last year, the 6' 2", 210-pound forward out of Syracuse broke his own National Lacrosse League single-season scoring record with 58 goals and once more became a... More >>
• Best Rockie
  Todd Helton
  No one else comes close. In his eighth season with Colorado, Todd Helton, the rock of the Rockies, remains the team's most consistent hitter and a Gold Glove candidate at first base. When he batted .358 last year with 33 home runs and 117 runs driven in, he became just the second player in... More >>
• Best Av
  Joe Sakic
  Like the team itself, the Colorado Avalanche's staunch captain, center Joe Sakic, has had his ups and downs this season. But as the playoffs approach and coach Tony Granato's much-battered troops try to get past the Steve Moore/Todd Bertuzzi trauma, put Peter Forsberg and Alex Tanguay back... More >>
• Best Mascot
  Slapshot , Colorado Eagles
  Ralph Backstrom, the ex-Montreal Canadiens great and former coach of the DU Pioneers, has enjoyed great success in his first year as principal owner of the Colorado Eagles, the new minor-league hockey team that plays at the Budweiser Events Center (aka the Bud Barn) near Loveland. For every... More >>
• Best Sports-Ticket Scalper
  Willie, "The Chief Boot Knocka"
  Listen, people, Carmelo or no Carmelo, you can still pay less than face value for Denver Nuggets tickets. True, the days of the ten- dollar, weeknight, center-court, lower-level NBA ticket are over (at least for this season), but Willie still can hook you up. He's the ringmaster of the... More >>
• Best Crush
  John Dutton
  CEO John Elway's struggling arena football team managed to win just two of sixteen games in its first year (neither of them at the Pepsi Center), and halfway through the debacle, you half expected old Number 7 to suit up and spark a couple of comebacks himself. But this season, the Colorado... More >>
• Best Rapid
  Pablo Mastroeni
  Now in his third year with the Colorado Rapids, defense-obsessed mid-fielder Pablo Mastroeni has revealed a new taste for attack, but there's no one better in Major League Soccer as a stopper. Just 5' 9" and 150 pounds, the Argentine native moved to Phoenix when he was four and played college... More >>
• Best Fan Promotion
  Hot-tubbing with models, Colorado Mammoth
  Sure, it's swell to nab a T-shirt at a Nuggets game or pick up the latest bobblehead doll. But for sheer feel-good, trouser-tightening reward, nothing beats the Colorado Mammoth's promotion of letting some lucky fan (in one instance, volunteers were asked to race across the field in swimming... More >>
• Best CU Athlete
  David Harrison
  He's seven feet tall and his skills look a bit raw, but sometimes he handles the ball with amazing grace, and the minute you see him work his way into the paint, you see he's one of the strongest, most instinctual centers in college basketball. Without David Harrison, their junior redwood from... More >>
• Best CSU Athlete
  Nolan Martin
  Look out, Tiger. Put a three-iron in Nolan Martin's hands and he'll inevitably knock it stiff. Last fall, the Colorado State senior from Colorado Springs led the Rams golf team to the best single season in school history. They played six tournaments (against multiple schools) and finished in the... More >>
• Best DU Athlete
  Adam Berkhoel
  He's had his moments of self-doubt this season, and when the University of Denver Pioneers hockey team went 3-4-1 in January while getting outscored 16-22, senior goaltender Adam Berkhoel knew he wasn't playing up to form. But then the team put together a nine-game unbeaten streak that propelled... More >>
• Best College Coach
  Mike Dunlap, Metropolitan State College of Denver
  When a couple of big-deal basketball schools came calling, Metro State hoops coach Mike Dunlap politely said no and got back to the business of keeping his Roadrunners at the top of the Division II game. Since 1997, Dunlap has won a pair of national championships for the big commuter school on... More >>
• Best Individual College Athletic Performance
  Dathan Ritzenhein
  When Dathan Ritzenhein came to CU two years ago from Michigan, he was one of the most highly touted prospects to arrive at the Boulder campus in any sport. But the first-ever winner of two consecutive Foot Locker cross-country championships was kept out of the running last year with an early... More >>
• Best Sports Team -- College
  Air Force Academy Men's Basketball
  The Falcons may not get the big ink, but this year there was no better Colorado-based team sports story -- that didn't appear in the crime blotter, at least -- than Air Force basketball. Credit coach Joe Scott. First as a player, then as an assistant coach under the masterful Pete Carril, Scott... More >>
• Best Sports Team -- Professional
  Colorado Avalanche
  All right, so the Avalanche has been in a swoon of late. Even the Zamboni drivers have heard the rumors about coach Tony Granato's departure, and some Avs veterans have questioned their teammates' work ethic as the NHL playoffs draw near. Still, the two-time Stanley Cup champions remain a scary... More >>
• Best Race-Car Driver
  Jerry Robertson, Colorado National Speedway
  The three-eighths-mile ovals of the world -- paved and dirt -- will never get the ink or the airtime accorded the big super-speedways, and the drivers who spend their Saturday nights careening around these circuits don't get any Jeff Gordon-style endorsement contracts. But they are the lifeblood... More >>
• Best Place to Release Your Inner Earnhardt
  Denver Indoor Kart Racing
  The track at Denver Indoor Kart Racing isn't one of those wussy kids' tracks with accelerator regulators and lanes that are too narrow to pass in. This is the real deal -- and worth the hunt to find the obscure warehouse just north of I-70. Helmets are required -- yes, the carts can spin out --... More >>
• Best Athlete -- Voluntarily Disabled Division
  Aron Ralston
  We've heard of men changing genders and then competing in women's events, and even of women switching teams to compete. Michael Jordan changed sports, and boxer Roy Jones Jr. juggles weight divisions so often you never know where he'll end up. But there's only one athlete we know of who went... More >>
• Best Athlete -- Lifelong
  Larry Imperiale
  You think Patrick Roy had an illustrious career? Ha! While Roy hung up his pads last year, Larry Imperiale, the king of freestyle Frisbee, is still hucking disc with the best of them. The software developer, who lives in the foothills west of Denver, has been finishing on top of 'bee tournaments... More >>
• Best Gym Deal
  Dumbbells: A Fitness Club
  The wait for machines and the posturing at those big fitness centers is enough reason to skip the gym altogether. And the steam-room culture -- and price -- of Denver's elite clubs isn't much better. But at Dumbbells, $50 a month for singles and $80 for couples buys you access to a clean,... More >>
• Best Yoga Deal
  The Oxford Club
  There are yoga studios and yoga styles to suit almost any practitioner -- but not just any budget: A serious yogi is looking at dropping $120 a month for a class card at most studios. At the Oxford Club, $50 a month ($600 a year) buys yoga seven days a week, plus access to the work-out... More >>
• Best Pool Hall
  Jillian's, Colorado Mills
  Okay, okay: Jillian's isn't one of those smoky, spit-scarred old pool halls that have earned top honors in the past. But let's remember that pool is a social event as well as a sport. So it's about time we paid homage to a company (yes, Jillian's is part of a chain) founded on the... More >>
• Best Place to Light One Up
  Lyons Classic Pinball
  Ding! Ding-ding! (Bump.) Ding! Ding-ding! If you ever walked into a pinball arcade going full-bore in the late '70s, you'd know the sound immediately, because there's nothing like it. Unlike the robotic Pacman and its cavalcade of increasingly sophisticated computerized offspring, pinball is a... More >>
• Best Old-School Video Arcade
  Climax Lounge
  Sure, the front of the Climax Lounge is one of Denver's finest black-box live-music venues, but the vintage video arcade in the back lounge is where we like to spend our spare change. The selection of early- to mid-1980s games is truly a hall of fame: Donkey Kong, Pac Man, Centipede, Galaga,... More >>
• Best Place to Play Shuffleboard
  Candle Light Tavern
  At the Candle Light Tavern, bar games are taken seriously. And while the dart boards, pool tables, foosball and Golden Tee Golf games are always popular, the kick-ass shuffleboard table is where the serious action happens. The long wooden table is covered with plenty of smooth sand, and an... More >>
• Best Place to Lose a Day Playing Monopoly
  Recovery Room
  Monopoly is not a game of speed. And whether you prefer to be the cannon, the dog, the top hat or the thimble, there is a built-in Monopoly board in a booth at the Recovery Room that is just waiting for challengers to cover its Park Place and Marvin Gardens with houses and hotels. And this dark,... More >>
• Best Vacations for Dogs
  Colorado Canines Adventure Trips
  Now more than ever, people are traveling with their dogs. Leave it to someone in this hound-huggin' state to come up with a better way to do it. Boulder pet-supply retailer Alex Teller decided last year to organize adventure travel packages tailored especially for shared human/canine enjoyment.... More >>
• Best Day Trips for Kids
  Cruisin' Kids
  Littleton mother of two and former teacher Alison Weems noticed how hard it was to keep up with local children's events, despite the fact that there were plenty of them to choose from. Unfortunately, she found, you needed a stack of newspapers and magazines, a strong word-of-mouth network and a... More >>
• Best Day Trips for Dogs
  Denver Hound Hikers
  Aw, go take a hike! For a mournful pooch accustomed to being locked up all day with nothing to keep him company but destructible furniture, the context is anything but negative. After all, what hound wouldn't rather go for a walk? Save your sofa: Denver Hound Hikers provides various dog-walking... More >>
• Best New Playground
  Altair Playground
  Altair playground, which opened nearly a year ago near Park Meadows mall, is out of this world, and that's all part of the plan: In addition to its picnic shelter and spanking-new toddler-friendly equipment geared to the two-to-five set, Altair's centerpiece is a literal wreck -- an alien ship... More >>
• Best Kids' Swimming Parties
  Golden Community Center
  The Golden Community Center's got it all under one roof: a six-lane lap pool, a therapy pool and an awesome kids' pool designed to provide a great swimming experience for all, regardless of age or level of water wisdom. Babies in swim diapers are in their element in gradually graded shallows... More >>
• Best Little Parties on the Prairie
  Four Mile House Historic Park
  Four Mile Historic Park, perched along the Cherry Creek Greenway, is an agrarian jewel, a throwback to earlier times smack-dab in the middle of the city. And it's a heck of a lot better than the rigors of Chuck E. Cheese's for kids' birthday parties. Instead of video games and rides, Four Mile... More >>
• Best Tennis Court -- Urban
  Blake Street Bath and Racquet Club
  Few people know it, but deepest concrete LoDo boasts its own tennis court. Available by invitation only, the Blake Street Bath and Racquet Club was built as part of a condo project in the 1970s. Now surrounded by new lofts with iron-fenced balconies, the court is just barely visible from the... More >>
• Best Tennis Court -- Leafy
  If you're looking for perfect bounces and ideal lighting, the solitary, hidden tennis court at 10th Avenue and Olive Street might not be for you. But if you want atmosphere, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better place to play a few sets. Encased by beautiful mature, ivy-covered fences, the... More >>
• Best Private Tennis Courts
  Denver Tennis Club
  Plenty of new tennis courts have sprung up around the metro area as wealthy residents have pushed into the suburbs. But after a layer of Har-Tru and a chain-link fence, what really distinguishes one place from another? The answer is feel and tradition; after all, Wimbledon without history is... More >>
• Best Golf Course
  Fossil Trace
  Let's just agree that any golfing experience is enhanced by the presence of a genuine triceratops footprint etched into the rocks dotted about the course. This summer will mark the first anniversary of the opening of Fossil Trace, the city of Golden's entrance into the lucrative business of... More >>
• Best Skate Park
  Denver Skatepark
  Hate to be obvious, but as the city boasts, the Denver Skatepark is the largest free public skate facility in the nation. With over 50,000 square feet full of planters, curbs, rails and a half-pipe, the park was envisioned and designed as a way to lure away the hordes of young skaters who... More >>
• Best Use of a Horse
  Arapahoe Hunt
  Tired of guiding your old nag around and around the indoor arena? Then ride him like he was meant to be ridden -- hurtling across field and stream alongside a pack of baying hounds in search of a varmint to shred. Most weekends from October to April, as well as on the occasional Wednesday, the... More >>
• Best Private Wildlife Sanctuary
  Karin Heine property , Wheat Ridge
  This one's for the birds. That's who Wheat Ridge resident and nature-lover Karen Heine had in mind (along with the foxes, squirrels and occasional deer wandering through) as she worked to create a woodland paradise on undeveloped land she purchased expressly for that purpose. Located off 44th... More >>
• Best Defense of Nature
  Douglas County Open Space
  When Douglas County and Great Outdoors Colorado purchased a conservation easement on this 577-acre property in December, they acquired the final piece of a twelve-mile-long stretch of open space along I-25 south of Castle Rock. More than 30,000 acres are now preserved on both sides of the... More >>
• Best Indoor Shooting Range
  The Shootist
  Opened four years ago, the Shootist stands out for several reasons. For one, the ten 75-yard lanes are situated underground, so the place stays cool, even in the summer. It's also well-lit, and because the owners used to be in the heating and air-conditioning business, the ventilation is... More >>
• Best Outdoor Shooting Range
  Cherry Creek State Park Shooting Center and Range
  The more Denver grows, the harder it is to find a place to bust up a few clays, sight in your rifle prior to hunting season, or just make a lot of noise with your gun collection. Legally, anyway. Fortunately, there is the four-decade-old shooting center in Cherry Creek State Park. There, within... More >>
• Best Paintball Fields
  Paintball Adventures, Sedalia
  Want to be ready to make your homeland really secure? Then join the camo crowd that gathers on Saturdays and Sundays on a 110-acre outdoor site near Sedalia. Paintball Adventures divides folks up and then lets the paintballs fly -- as God and referees sort out the casualties. With a number of... More >>
• Best Mountain-Bike Rides
  Team Evergreen
  Road-ride organizer of the killer Triple Bypass, Team Evergreen has begun offering kinder, gentler mountain-bike rides. While some can be challenging, others serve merely as an excuse for socializing while rock-hopping. Check the team's website (www.teamevergreen.org) for upcoming events, then... More >>
• Best Getaway From 1.5 Million Chatfield Park Visitors
  Waterton Canyon
  While nearby Chatfield draws millions, Waterton Canyon, on Denver Water Board land just south of the popular recreation mecca, allows cyclists, hikers and trout-killers a chance to get away from it all -- and them all -- along the South Platte River. On the wide bike trails, you can quickly... More >>
• Best Camping Spot With Maroon Bells Access
  Silver Campgrounds, Aspen
  The Maroon Bells outside of Aspen have long been considered one of the most stunning sights in a state full of eye-poppers. But folks were loving them to death, so in July 2000, traffic access was closed to most vehicles, and tour buses began running sightseers from Aspen Highlands to the... More >>
• Best Scenic Snowshoe Dash
  Screamin' Snowman, Eldora Mountain Resort
  Gone are the days when folks donned snowshoes for a leisurely stroll through the wilderness. Today's fanatics can't get enough of charging through the powder and breaking a big sweat. And that's where the Screamin' Snowman comes in. For the past several years, hard-core harriers have gathered on... More >>
• Best Reason to Stay Out of Gangs and Shred
  Snowboard Outreach Society
  Some anti-gang programs send kids door-to-door selling candy bars. Others stress the importance of education. But the Snowboard Outreach Society's message is as clear as it is radical: Ride to live! The ten-year-old Avon-based organization introduces at-risk kids to the joys of shredding --... More >>
• Best Terrain Park
  Freeway Terrain Park, Breckenridge
  Set at the bottom of Peak 8, Freeway is the consensus winner among serious riders. With its wide variety of jumps, funboxes and rails, and its nearly twenty-foot superpipe -- not to mention a blasting digital satellite sound system -- Freeway has it all. And unlike some terrain parks,... More >>
• Best Secret Snowboarding Spot
  Pikes Peak
  There are plenty of stops on the secret snowrider's expressway, where the general public doesn't even know you can get on board. And we're not just talking about hills at traditional resorts, where you have to hike off the trail in order to drop through some trees. No, we're talking about the... More >>