Best Mammoth 2004 | Gary Gait | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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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 first-team NLL All-Pro -- something he's done every year since he began playing pro lacrosse back in 1991. Tough, smart and relentless, Gait led three Syracuse teams to NCAA championships, and he's a five-time most valuable player in two pro lacrosse leagues -- not least because he holds the league records for goals, assists, points and shots. Amid the raucous theater that is a Mammoth game, Gait is the rock star who commands the most attention.

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 first-team NLL All-Pro -- something he's done every year since he began playing pro lacrosse back in 1991. Tough, smart and relentless, Gait led three Syracuse teams to NCAA championships, and he's a five-time most valuable player in two pro lacrosse leagues -- not least because he holds the league records for goals, assists, points and shots. Amid the raucous theater that is a Mammoth game, Gait is the rock star who commands the most attention.

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 big-league history to hit at least .315 with 25 homers and 95 RBIs in each of his first six full seasons. The other player? Guy by the name of Joe DiMaggio. Helton's lifetime average of .337 is the best in both leagues, and his .616 slugging percentage leads all players who've gone to the plate at least 3,000 times. Rox general manager Dan O'Dowd keeps experimenting with the secondary parts on the team's faulty baseball machine, but he never messes with the engine: Number 17, Todd Helton. To watch the perennial All-Star and sometime NL batting champ play is a privilege Rockies fans savor even as the team flounders summer after summer.

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 big-league history to hit at least .315 with 25 homers and 95 RBIs in each of his first six full seasons. The other player? Guy by the name of Joe DiMaggio. Helton's lifetime average of .337 is the best in both leagues, and his .616 slugging percentage leads all players who've gone to the plate at least 3,000 times. Rox general manager Dan O'Dowd keeps experimenting with the secondary parts on the team's faulty baseball machine, but he never messes with the engine: Number 17, Todd Helton. To watch the perennial All-Star and sometime NL batting champ play is a privilege Rockies fans savor even as the team flounders summer after summer.

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 together again and prepare for battle with the NHL's top teams, it is their 34-year-old leader who has emerged as their most consistent, fiercest competitor. Thanks to an incredible scoring surge in mid-March, Sakic could win his first-ever league scoring title. To be sure, the Art Ross Trophy would look good next to Sakic's pair of Stanley Cup rings, his world and Olympic gold medals and his other NHL trophies -- the Hart, the Byng, the Patrick and the Conn Smythe. Sakic is the oldest player on the team, and he remains its heart and soul come crunch time.

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 together again and prepare for battle with the NHL's top teams, it is their 34-year-old leader who has emerged as their most consistent, fiercest competitor. Thanks to an incredible scoring surge in mid-March, Sakic could win his first-ever league scoring title. To be sure, the Art Ross Trophy would look good next to Sakic's pair of Stanley Cup rings, his world and Olympic gold medals and his other NHL trophies -- the Hart, the Byng, the Patrick and the Conn Smythe. Sakic is the oldest player on the team, and he remains its heart and soul come crunch time.

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 game, the arena is packed, the hockey is relentlessly rough-and-tumble, and the mascot is perfect. Meet Slapshot, a huge, yellow-beaked Eagle with compact-car-sized feet and claws Godzilla would envy. The big fellow is not always surefooted out there on the ice -- he's taken a couple of falls and had a time of it getting back up -- but the kids adore his goofy, large-scale pranks. So do we.

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 game, the arena is packed, the hockey is relentlessly rough-and-tumble, and the mascot is perfect. Meet Slapshot, a huge, yellow-beaked Eagle with compact-car-sized feet and claws Godzilla would envy. The big fellow is not always surefooted out there on the ice -- he's taken a couple of falls and had a time of it getting back up -- but the kids adore his goofy, large-scale pranks. So do we.

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 ticket-scalping circus happening outside the Pepsi Center before and during the first quarter/period of Nuggets and Avalanche games. You can't miss him: He's an African-American gentleman, about 6' 3", who usually wears a long leather coat with a faux-fur collar. He's also the guy shouting, "Yeah, what?" to all the other scalpers crying out, "Hey, Willie!" For the Nuggets, pay no more than $30 for lower-level corner seats, $60 for centers. That's still about fifteen to thirty bucks less than face. Buying tickets for the Avalanche on the street is a different game entirely, however. You may have to actually pay more than face value, which is illegal in Denver, but, hey, it's a thrill. And you should always go to Willie: He bargains fast and hard, but he's the fairest of the lot.

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 ticket-scalping circus happening outside the Pepsi Center before and during the first quarter/period of Nuggets and Avalanche games. You can't miss him: He's an African-American gentleman, about 6' 3", who usually wears a long leather coat with a faux-fur collar. He's also the guy shouting, "Yeah, what?" to all the other scalpers crying out, "Hey, Willie!" For the Nuggets, pay no more than $30 for lower-level corner seats, $60 for centers. That's still about fifteen to thirty bucks less than face. Buying tickets for the Avalanche on the street is a different game entirely, however. You may have to actually pay more than face value, which is illegal in Denver, but, hey, it's a thrill. And you should always go to Willie: He bargains fast and hard, but he's the fairest of the lot.

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