Sports & Recreation

The new Elway’s at the Ritz-Carlton is such a great people-watching spot that your neck will hurt after a few drinks at the bar, but that’s far from the only head-bobbling going on. The steakhouse also has “a roomful” of real bobbleheads featuring its namesake, retired Bronco legend John Elway, and they’re free for the asking to anyone who wants one. They read “Class of 2004” and look nice on a souvenir shelf. Make ours a 7 and 7, and keep ’em coming.

There comes a time every winter when you reach the brink of madness. You’ve had enough of snow sports and snow in general, and you just want to put on shorts and play in the sand. A trip to The Island is what you need. With year-round indoor sand volleyball, it’s as close to summer as anything you’re going to find in Colorado during the winter months. The food is good, and cheap. The drink specials are plentiful, the people are friendly, and there’s lots of action to take in. While Denver does have a cult-like group of serious players who eat, sleep and breathe volleyball — playing every night in clothing straight outta Margaritaville — casual players are welcome, too. They can opt to play backyard-style 6 on 6 instead of the ultra-competitive and exhausting 2 on 2. A lot of the action is league play, but drop-ins happen most days. The Island serves up summer all year round.

Who needs sand and water when you’ve got snow and sunshine? The Beach at A-Basin is simply the place where snow meets parking lot, but it’s become a legend in its own right. In years gone by, it was a venue for wild parties as people camped and tailgated overnight to get first tracks in the morning. It’s said that people even pulled stunts like hiking up the mountain with a couch on skis. The scene has mellowed since then — you can’t camp out anymore — but you can reserve a parking spot. So when spring comes, it’s an idyllic place to pull in, turn up the stereo, set up your lawn chairs and grill, throw a couple of beers on ice — or snow — and spend a day at the beach.

If you’re already the kind of skier who wakes up before sunrise to beat traffic and be the first in line for the yet-unopened lifts, this deal might be worth a shot. For an extra $20 a day above your lift-ticket price, or in addition to your season pass, you can load the American Eagle lift fifteen minutes earlier than your cash-poor peers and get the day’s very first fresh tracks. The extra $20 will also get you into Copper’s version of HOV lanes at the American Eagle, American Flyer, Super Bee, Excelerator, Kokomo, High Point and Timberline Express lifts for the rest of the day. It’s a good way to buy time and spend less of it in line.

It might have taken a while to get it, but the Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum, which opened in Golden in February, was worth the wait. This is no mere exhibition hall; the cutting-edge, 3,000-square-foot facility, a joint venture of the Colorado Mountain Club, the American Alpine Club and the National Geographic Society, is the Smithsonian of mountaineering and a Disneyland for adrenaline junkies all rolled into one. Massive scale model of Mount Everest? Check. Legendary artifacts like the Schoening ice ax, used on K2 in 1953 to save five climbers from tumbling to their deaths? Check. Uber-realistic prefabricated rock crevasse on which visitors can finesse their technique? Check. Everything’s here but the vertigo.

There are no hotels here. No jewelry stores, no $10 hamburgers. You don’t have to pay to park, and you don’t see many Texans on the hill. Most of the people who ski and ride “Lovie” do it with pride, a great deal of them professing their affection with bumperstickers. Sure, it’s windy and the lifts are slower, but when the breezes blow the right way, the snow stacks up quickly, and without all the crowds. Loveland is our land.

Not that there’s ever a good year for driving I-70 to and from the mountains, but this seems to be an exceptionally bad one. Either the traffic is stop-and-go, cars are sliding backward on the ice coating the uphill stretch from Silverthorne to the Eisenhower Tunnel, or the road is shut down completely due to blowing snow. But fear not — there is an escape! On a good I-70 day, this alternate route would be foolish, as it adds a good hour to your drive. But on a bad day, it can save you — if you have four-wheel drive, that is — from wasting hours sitting in traffic or, worse, getting stranded. You simply go the long way. From Breckenridge, stay south on Colorado 9 and go over Hoosier Pass. Twenty-two miles later, you’re in Fairplay; from there, take U.S. 285 for seventy miles north to C-470 near Morrison and you’re practically home. Meanwhile, the cars you left in your dust haven’t even made it to Georgetown.

Season ski passes are only as good as you make them. You have to use them to get your money’s worth, and the newest mountain pass is no exception. At first it might seem silly for someone in Denver to consider buying a season pass to Monarch Mountain — nearly 140 miles away — but this is no ordinary pass. Monarch has teamed up with nine other resorts in three states that are “unique and off the beaten path.” Thus, a $399 season pass to Monarch comes with three days each at Crested Butte, Loveland, Durango, Sunlight, Powderhorn and New Mexico’s Angel Fire and Pajarito, as well as half-price tickets at Alta, in Utah, and one day in the steep-and-deep extremes of Silverton Mountain. It’s the perfect package for an epic road trip. And if those plans crumble, the pass won’t be a total loss: Monarch’s only twenty miles farther than Vail, and you don’t have to deal with bumper-to-bumper traffic on I-70.

Granted, Arapahoe Basin is still teeny tiny compared to its sisters in the Vail Resorts umbrella. But this season marked the largest expansion of its sixty-year existence. With 400 acres and 36 blue, black and double-black runs, the opening of Montezuma Bowl made the ski area 80 percent bigger. Accessed by the new fixed-grip quad Zuma lift, the area is wide open, with lots of different terrain options — from soft bumps and moderate steeps to rocks and drops and trees. You can spend the whole day there and never go down the same way twice.

In baseball, they call it “strength up the middle.” The term refers to a team whose second baseman/shortstop combo gains a reputation for vacuuming up everything that comes its way. And last season, the Colorado Rockies were strong up the middle and everywhere else, making .98925 percent of their plays given 6,326 total chances. In fact, the Rockies made history as the best fielding team ever, beating out the 2006 Boston Red Sox, who racked up a .9891 fielding percentage. A bittersweet prize considering they lost to the Sox in the World Series, but one worth remembering.

Between increasingly heavy traffic and Texans who’ll never learn how to maneuver in snow, the drive up I-70 has become a double diamond, the toughest run you might make all day. All aboard the Ski Train! This Denver tradition got its start generations ago, when kids in the Eskimo Ski Club met up at Union Station for the trip by train to Winter Park; it was resurrected in the late 1980s, when Phil Anschutz acquired the train along with its parent company, the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad. Over the past twenty years, the train has gotten a complete overhaul, including new cars with comfortable seating and bars, and it’s also expanded its schedule from just weekends to include Fridays in February and Thursdays in March. No matter the weather, the Ski Train pushes on, depositing you at the base of Winter Park, Denver’s own ski area. But the real treat is the return trip, when you can ride — and drink — in style while I-70 drivers just spin their wheels.

When Winter Park opened its Parsenn Bowl, it introduced skiers to miles of great new runs and untracked tree skiing — but also the sort of lines it hadn’t seen in decades, since there was only one very slow, two-person chair taking you to the top. But all that ended this year when the resort added the speedy, $8 million Panoramic Express, North America’s highest six-person chairlift. The name — supplied by Winter Park fan Pat Barron, who was inspired by a train that once had that moniker — is fitting, because the Panoramic takes you above 12,000 feet, where you get a stunning view of the mountains and the valley below.

When Winter Park opened its Parsenn Bowl, it introduced skiers to miles of great new runs and untracked tree skiing but also the sort of lines it hadnt seen in decades, since there was only one very slow, two-person chair taking you to the top. But all that ended this year when the resort added the speedy, $8 million Panoramic Express, North Americas highest six-person chairlift. The name supplied by Winter Park fan Pat Barron, who was inspired by a train that once had that moniker is fitting, because the Panoramic takes you above 12,000 feet, where you get a stunning view of the mountains and the valley below.

After “Ponderosa” Harv Teitelbaum saw an arborist on television talking about a new sport he’d just invented — recreational tree climbing — his life was never the same. Recreational tree climbing uses a harness, arborist rope and special techniques to safely climb into trees. Teitelbaum met the arborist and trained under him, and now he’s the Evergreen man behind Tree Climbing Colorado, an affiliate in good standing of Tree Climbers International. Private climbs are available for booking at $25 to $30 per person; individual basic tree-climbing courses, which are designed to teach potential climbers everything they need to know to climb on their own, are $450. You could use the tree in your mom’s back yard, of course; just try not to break any limbs — yours or the tree’s.

Pilates of Cherry Creek wins big by keeping it small. Mother and daughter Hope and Jolie Petrine — both of whom came to the world of Pilates through dance — opened their small studio in 2001, offering one-on-one training sessions. As their popularity grew, so did their studio, but the Petrines never lost sight of the personal touch that drew people to them in the first place. Small-group sessions are now offered along with solo ones, and participants of all abilities are made to feel at ease. Looks like Pilates of Cherry Creek, which also offers instructor certification and a variety of massages, has managed to stretch without pulling a muscle.

It seems like every other whistle-stop on the map needs some claim to fame these days, but we’re glad that the hamlet of Glendale chose rugby for its raison d’être when it could just as easily have hyped its strip clubs and sex-toy stores. SuperTarget, move over: State-of-the-art Infinity Park, which boasts an all-grass regulation rugby pitch, is the first municipal rugby stadium in the country, sports a big-ass wide-screen JumboTron, seats 5,000 and will eventually house a Rugby Hall of Fame. And not only does it host the Glendale Raptors’ men’s and women’s teams (as well as youth teams and camps), but it’s also a sweet little outdoor venue for summer movies and concerts-to-be. Welcome to the scrum.

Skateboarders weren’t expecting much from Commerce City when it announced plans to build a new concrete skatepark. After all, bigger metro-area cities have consistently blown good intentions (and public funds) by relying on non-skateboarding landscape architects who produced designs that functioned better in CAD than in real life. Fortunately, Commerce City went with top-notch skater design/build outfit California Skateparks, and when the free outdoor facility opened last fall, it became one of the best on the Front Range. Most notable in the park’s 20,000 square feet is a clover-shaped bowl attached to a massive, twenty-foot-tall capsule. Street skaters are offered a plaza-style section with stairs, rails and ledges, all capped with grind-easy angle iron. Though the circular layout seems more about overhead aesthetics than a coherent flow pattern, it’s totally sick compared to the one at Green Valley Ranch.

There’s a lot of electricity at Purple Martini’s south location, and we’re not just talking about the night a Greenwood Village police officer tasered former Nuggets bench-warmer DerMarr Johnson. “Purple,” as the cool kids call it (also known as “Second Stringers”), is a top spot to watch backup Nuggets picking up chicks. In fact, these guys probably score more here than they do on the floor of the Pepsi Center.

On hip-hop nights, there’s a line out the door at Blue Ice, and people pack the dance floor. But in the back, behind the cloth screens, you can usually find a Nugget or two chilling, sipping expensive champagne and macking on hotties. Big man Marcus Camby frequents the spot, and Kenyon Martin and Carmelo Anthony come around from time to time. The ballers keep their distance from the dance-floor drama, but their presence is always made known through the grapevine.

She’s outlasted two head coaches and hordes of players. She’s seen bowl games and busted seasons. And now she’s getting close to retirement. Ralphie IV, the University of Colorado’s live buffalo mascot won’t run with the football team this year (except for special appearances); she’ll be replaced with the spryer Ralphie V, who was introduced last fall and is now in training says Ralphie program manager Gail Pederson. But Ralphie IV has carried the shaggy mantle of fame for a decade, and her graceful exit will allow the school to have two Ralphies for the first time, which will be easier on both and give college football’s coolest mascot a chance to move on to greener gridirons.

The combination of singers Britney Spears and Whitney Houston sounds nightmarish, given that both performers have turned into walking/talking versions of E! True Hollywood Story. But the basketballing Spears and Houston make a much more effective pair, with Brittany, a freshman, ending the 2007-2008 season as the Lady Buffs’ second-leading scorer, and Whitney, a sophomore, providing steady play off the bench. Of course, ESPN produced a segment on the pair because of their famous monikers, not their ability to dribble and shoot. But if things keep going the way they did this season, they’ll soon be making names for themselves.

Starting on September 15, 2007, the Colorado Rockies took 21 of 22 games, going on the greatest winning streak of any team to get into the World Series. Four games back in the Wild Card race, they steamrolled the Dodgers; humiliated the Padres in a game that included the second-best moment in Denver sports when Matt Holliday, um, crossed home plate; rolled the Phillies; and shut up a too-cocky Eric Byrnes in a sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks. And when Todd Helton lifted his arms in the air after recording the final out in the final game of that match-up and sent the Rockies to the World Series, the team gave this city one of the greatest sports moments it’s ever seen.

Drew Goodman has been a reliable play-by-play man for ages, but he really proved his value during the Colorado Rockies’ 2007 season. When the team started off poorly, he kept things in perspective without ever turning into a paid apologist — a skill he honed as a witness to years of Rockies ineptitude. And he maintained this same admirable balance once the tide began turning, properly reflecting the enthusiasm this unexpected twist engendered even as he resisted the temptation to root like an out-of-control fan. Goodman’s professionalism is a real asset, whether he’s calling contests by a cellar-dweller or a World Series combatant.

Kathy McConnell-Miller faced a tough task when she took over as the Lady Buffs’ coach in 2005. Not only did she have to replace legendary predecessor Ceal Barry, but from a talent standpoint, the cupboard was bare. During the three seasons since then, however, the team has improved from respective records of 9-21 and 13-17 during her first two years to a 16-14 mark and a bid to the National Invitation Tournament to cap her third. Better yet, she’s got a large returning cast, with just two seniors on the 2007-2008 roster. The onetime powerhouse is on its way back to respectability, and McConnell-Miller is a big reason why.

In April 2007, when Clint Hurdle received a two-year contract extension, a significant portion of the Rockies nation was agog. In most major-league cities, doubters argued, a skipper with a putrid .447 winning percentage would have been given the heave-ho, not guaranteed employment for two more seasons. But Hurdle proved his worth during the roller-coaster campaign that followed, keeping the team from cratering during the dreadful early months and preventing players from losing their heads after the wins began piling up. Critics may gripe about some of his in-game moves, but his good humor and prodigious skills as a motivator and communicator make him the right manager at the right time.

The Falcons seemed sure to take a dip in 2007 thanks to turmoil at the top: Fisher DeBerry, who made headlines two years earlier after suggesting that a bowl-game loss could be traced to AFA’s dearth of “Afro-American players,” stepped down before the season started, ending a 23-year run as head coach. But Academy grad Troy Calhoun, who’d coached in the NFL for the Broncos and the Houston Texans, came home and immediately set things on the right path. In the end, gutsy signal-caller Shaun Carney guided his squadron to a totally unexpected 9-3 record and an appearance in the Armed Forces Bowl, which the team might’ve won had the QB not gone down with a knee injury. With Calhoun back for a second season, the Falcons’ outlook is sky-high.

Could it be anything else? Early in the 2007 campaign, after the Rox lost a series to the woeful Kansas City Royals (at home, no less), at least one website demanded that owners Charlie and Dick Monfort sell the franchise to someone who might actually invest in making the team better. But then something funny happened: The Rockies’ talented young nucleus of Matt Holliday, Troy Tulowitzki and others began living up to their potential, then exceeding it. As a result of the slow start, the Rockies needed a miracle to reach the World Series, and they got one: a stretch of 21 victories in 22 games. Granted, this fairy tale didn’t have a happy ending; it was as if Cinderella tried on the glass slipper and accidentally amputated several toes. But the core Rockies are back, and so is the suddenly realistic prospect of even better things to come.

The Crush boasts a seasoned quarterback, John Dutton, and a corps of effective receivers, including Brad Pyatt, a University of Northern Colorado product who’s returned to the state where he got his start. Still, the reason for the organization’s popularity remains a man who hasn’t played a down for the team: co-owner John Elway. Number 7 is a relentless salesman for the Arena Football League in general and the Crush in particular, as the team’s website acknowledges: A photo of Big John gets more prominent play on the home page than anyone currently wearing a helmet and pads. Fans can’t see him throw touchdown passes anymore, but sharing an arena with him is the next best thing.

For years, Argentina-born Christian Gomez anchored DC United, one of Major League Soccer’s premier franchises; the crew earned the MLS Supporters’ Shield for best regular-season record in both 2006 and 2007. Since the Rapids haven’t performed at a comparable level this millennium, they clearly need some help, so praise be that Stan Kroenke’s minions put in a call to D.C. United after the latter obtained the services of Gomez’s countryman, Marcelo Gallardo. One man does not a team make, but if anyone can put the Rapids back on the right foot during the season to come, it’s Gomez.

The pride of Buffalo, New York’s modest Canisius College, forward Dan Carey has played in the National Lacrosse League for three years, and he’s made the all-star game three times — an indication of his offensive dominance. In 2006, the Mammoth won the NLL championship, but the team wouldn’t have gotten there were it not for Carey, who scored the winning goal against the Arizona Sting in the playoffs’ second round. If Carey keeps racking up scores at his current pace, and if he gets some help from fellow all-stars forward Gavin Prout and goalie Gee Nash, the team has a chance to hit such heights again. Talk about a Mammoth achievement.

Colorado hockey lovers were in a state of bliss when the Avalanche brought back icons Peter Forsberg and Adam Foote earlier this year. But because of their age, not to mention Forsberg’s physical condition, neither can be considered long-term solutions for what ails the team — a fact reinforced in early March when both got hurt. Paul Stastny, in contrast, is the team’s future. He’s just 22 and looks about twelve, but he’s developed into a prolific force around the net, leading the team in points, goals and assists despite his own stretch on injured reserve. Forsberg and Foote, as well as fellow elder Joe Sakic, who’s also had some mending to do of late, will play a major part in determining how far the Avs go this season. As for Stastny, he’ll be key in 2008 and hopefully for years to come.

In spite of the cohesion, the positive attitude and the talent, the Colorado Rockies will suffer from a 2007 playoff hangover in 2008. But in 2009, with several of the core pitchers and position players now signed to multi-year deals — and Matt Holliday playing for big bucks and a new contract — the Rox will overpower the rest of the National League and head back to the World Series. Now, let’s play some ball!

Ann Slocomb sees tennis not merely as recreation, but rather as a healthy form of mind-body gestalt, something like life itself. So she opened Positive Strokes for Women, a tennis shop and wellness center that caters to the fairer sex. Here you can not only work on your serve, visit an in-house nutritionist, let an expert customize your racquet or take part in a fitness workout, but you can also pick and choose from the latest court fashions by LBH, Jerdog, Balle de Match and Wilson, yoga and workout gear by local designers Stonewear Designs and VivaDiva, or a message T-shirt from be.ology. And, for your comfort, it’s all ladies-only. Ace.

Yeah, we know: The Nuggets would be nowhere without Carmelo Anthony, Allen Iverson and so on. But we also realize that the team would be in a much better playoff position if everyone on the squad exhibited the passion and heart of Eduardo Najera. Although he’s not as naturally gifted as many, if not most, of his fellow ballers, Najera expends maximum effort each time his sneakers touch the court, hustling after every loose ball, risking life and limb against bigger, stronger players and making defense a priority. If Melo, A.I. and company followed suit, the Nugs could be world beaters instead of underachievers.

Matt Holliday had better numbers, but there is no denying the hold that shortstop Troy Tulowitzki had on the city last season. From his early, I-don’t-play-on-losing-teams clubhouse speech to the chants of Tu-lo! that shook Coors Field long into October, the rookie Rockie left an indelible imprint on the greatest run in franchise history, setting the record for most home runs by a first-year National League shortstop, leading all shortstops in several defensive categories and converting an unassisted triple play. The team rewarded the 23-year-old with a record-breaking contract, locking him up for the next six years in hopes that the player oft-compared to Cal Ripken and Derek Jeter will become the face of the franchise. He’s off to a great start.

Hot rod culture lives in Golden! From May until October, every first Saturday of the month, classic-car enthusiasts and John Milner wannabes roll up their sleeves and rev up their old cherry wheels to cruise up and down Golden Road. The action begins at 6 p.m. near an overcrowded Sonic Drive-In parking lot at 17191 South Golden Road; then, around 7:30, there’s a group cruise into downtown Golden, with DJ Van Jeffries doing his Wolfman Jack from a van. Go on: Rediscover your inner Curt.

Old-time Denverites never quite sidled up to the idea of “Six Flags” Elitch Gardens. While it might not have made a difference to the typical thrill-seeking park-goer, anyone who remembers the real Elitch Gardens that once thrived near the now-redeveloped intersection of 38th Avenue and Tennyson Street must have smiled, at least a little bit, when Six Flags dumped the relocated Platte Valley amusement park and the new management company immediately reinstated the original name. Now, if they could only conjure up the beautiful flower-filled pathways and picnic grounds of yore, the once-renowned Trocadero Ballroom or the original Wildcat and Mister Twister roller coasters.

Mostly built in the 1920s and ’30s, the cottages that dot Boulder’s Colorado Chautauqua grounds are a reminder of why Chautauqua was built in the first place. Designed in 1898 as an educational and communal summer respite, it was originally a place where folks could participate in the national Chautauqua movement while living in tents. Eventually, cabins replaced the tents; nearly 100 years later, they’ve been refurbished into nicely appointed cottages that can be rented year-round. Most are simple, with access to some of Chautauqua’s other charms, including a gourmet dining hall, barn-like auditorium, community house and hiking trails, but a few come with their own unique historical narratives. Rates start at $99 a night.

No raggedy pots of geraniums here. The showcase “green roof” on the EPA’s new regional headquarters is a tri-level, 20,000-square-foot spread of grasses, perennials and groundcover designed to absorb carbon dioxide, reduce stormwater runoff and battle the heat-island effect of asphalt-encased skyscrapers. We never thought a green toup on a high-rise could look this pretty, but this one’s alive.

The Rockies’ startling, exhilarating run to the World Series may have caught the baseball world by surprise, but souvenir-makers took it in stride, cranking out merchandise and memorabilia by the truckload. T-shirts, hoodies, baseballs, flags, pennants, mugs, pins and programs were just the beginning. But the best souvenir was the limited-edition clay Rockies muerto made by Chicano artist Jerry Vigil and featured on the November 1 cover of Westword. The folk figure’s quirky individuality showed just how deeply the team has ingrained itself into Denver’s cultural fabric.

Pitcher Jason Jennings is no longer a member of the Colorado Rockies — he’s currently hurling for the Texas Rangers — but he left behind a tremendous gift for baseball fans facing physical challenges. The Jason Jennings Sports Made Possible Field features rubberized surfaces that allow disabled children and adults, including those who get around using wheelchairs, to play baseball with the assistance of helpers from the non-profit Sports Made Possible. No matter what the final score, participants and volunteers alike leave feeling like winners.

Because Copper Mountain hides more than 50,000 Easter eggs throughout the Village and the mountain, other hunts don’t stand a chance when it comes to sheer scale. But since there are 50,000 eggs, the kids can’t possibly gather all of them…right? That’s why Copper holds specialized hunts for different age groups — so the smallest searchers can still have a chance to find some colorful ovals hiding in the grass — but the all-ages hunt lasts all day long. This year’s Largest Easter Egg Hunt was March 23, but you can start gearing up for next year. Note: You don’t need a lift ticket to participate. Sounds eggstremely eggscellent!

The second annual Mile High Amazing Race is scheduled for Saturday, May 17, in downtown Denver, which should give you enough time to gather your team of four and prepare for the adventure. For $55 a person (which, incidentally, counts as a tax-deductible contribution to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society), teams decipher clues requiring them to race to checkpoints throughout the city, overcoming challenges, detours and roadblocks and interacting with hired actors. Teams are awarded points based on speed, strategy and discovering hidden bonus challenges. It’s not really a race, and it’s not really a scavenger hunt: It’s a challenge of technique and the ability to think creatively, all while vying for fantastic prizes. Last year’s first-place package was worth $1,500, but every team had the chance to win free Chipotle burritos, airline tickets and massages throughout the game. On your mark…

A good night of trick or treating requires several things: closely-spaced homes that cut down on walking and result in more candy gained; good lighting, but not too good; some large, well-decorated spooky houses; a safe neighborhood; and, most important, wealthy homeowners who give out the good stuff. While there are plenty of areas that combine these elements in Denver, Seventh Avenue Parkway has them all and more. Just ask the vanloads of kids from other neighborhoods who swoop down each October 31 like vampire bats and then disappear in the ghoulish night.

Hikes need not be relegated to weekends and vacations. What better way to de-stress after a long workday than by taking in a sunset on a brisk scenic walk? Alderfer/Three Sisters Park is close enough to get to in forty minutes and far enough to feel like an escape from the city. Part of the Jefferson County Open Space program, it’s anchored by the rock formations known as the Three Sisters and The Brother, which overlook Bear Creek Basin. The park boasts over ten miles of trails, with most in the half- to two-mile range. Sisters, which weaves through large boulders for just over a mile, is the most strenuous. But keep your eyes open and leave the iPod at home, because it’s a popular trail for mountain bikers, too.

Tucked behind an old water-treatment plant (now Northside Park) and a recycling plant, quiet Heron Pond is the perfect place for solitude and stellar bird watching. Located on the South Platte River Greenway going north from downtown, the park is home to a huge variety of birds, including herons, avocets, kingfishers and red-tail hawks, as well as numerous kinds of water fowl. And because it’s so quiet here, they aren’t likely to be scared away by a dog let loose by an inconsiderate condo-dweller. There may be more scenic rides around town, but when it comes to Sunday solitude, Heron Pond soars above the rest.

Take a good look around you, gals: Little boys never truly grow up. Sure, they morph and mutate, but in the end, they all still want to play with big trucks. New Zealander Ed Mumm of Steamboat Springs wasn’t any different, but he turned his stunted childhood fantasy into a big idea, opening what is probably the nation’s (if not the world’s) first heavy-equipment theme park. For a fee, Mumm will put willing grownups into the driver’s seat of a bona fide excavator or bulldozer for a half- or full-day romp in the sandbox, complete with orientation, instruction and special activities. Open year-round (in winter, participants can push snow; after it melts, there’s a fantabulous dirt pile), Dig This is like primal therapy, only better.

Keyo the baby zebra was special and the snow leopard was certainly cute, but the two sets of golden lion tamarins were clearly the best Denver Zoo babies, for a couple of reasons. First, they are soooo cute, and the parents, Rosy and Simao, look like fuzzy three-headed monkeys as they move around with their babies on board. Second, the tiny tamarins — fuzzy, long-tailed Brazilian primates — are highly endangered (there’s only about 1,000 left), and the zoo has had a lot of success with them. In fact, there were two sets born — Annie and Alex on June 25, and two as-yet-unnamed babies on March 10 — which tripled the Denver population. Here’s to the happy family.

During their glory days, the Broncos had plenty of players who were arguably the finest at their position in the NFL. Now they’ve got just one: Champ Bailey. Because of the Broncs’ erratic, all-too-often anemic pass rush last season, the appropriately named Champ didn’t rack up the interceptions he’d earned in years past. But he hasn’t lost a step, and he remains a smart, instinctive defender, a vicious hitter and a role model for his teammates professionally and personally. As a bonus, he lured one of the team’s most important off-season acquisitions: linebacker Boss Bailey, his talented younger brother. If there are any more Baileys like these two, send ’em over.

Like many other teams, the Colorado Rockies pump a song over the loudspeakers every time a player comes to bat. The tunes are chosen by the ballers themselves, and second baseman Kaz Matsui clearly took home the Most Valuable Song trophy in 2007 for his selection of Run-D.M.C.’s “It’s Tricky.” Not only is the 1986 old-school jam a great-ridiculous classic, but the cultural juxtaposition of the Kings from Queens and the Japan-born Kaz made it even better. Sadly, Kaz was traded in the off-season, so a new champ will have to be crowned this year.

Like a lot of sports, tennis is played better with an audience: You don’t let your feet get lazy or stick to safe shots when people are watching. You want them to see you ace your serves and charge the net on returns. But unless you’re Roger Federer, your matches aren’t likely to draw a crowd. The next best thing is Center Court at Gates Tennis Center, where $5 an hour for singles or $6 for doubles will make you feel like a star even if no one is there. Set below ground and separated from the others by a cement ledge, the court has a decided air of importance. (And the ledge makes for excellent spectator seating in case any fans do show up.) You could say it’s an ace in the hole.

A lot of us got carried away when the Rockies temporarily entered the can’t-lose zone last fall, including the folks in the team’s marketing office, who announced their intention to trademark the term “Rocktober” to commemorate the playoff run. Apparently, they forgot that both Denver dailies had splashed the word across their pages, or that rock radio stations have used it in promotions since time immemorial. But Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert knew better, chiding the team by putting mini-Red Sox helmets on KISS action figures in a Rocktober crèche and suggesting that the Rockies try to lock up the term “Choketember” instead. That was a funnier gag than the real thing.

The story goes like this: Rocco was a French pilgrim who traveled around northern Italy during the Middle Ages, risking plague-ridden towns to care for the ill. He eventually became the patron saint of pestilence, and the Potenza Lodge has honored him annually for more than sixty years at the three-day Feast of St. Rocco festival. Modern-day patrons can take part in games of chance as well as near-continuous raffles for home-baked cakes, salami, capicola and provolone. Attendees also vie for cash prizes at booths featuring pickle cards and an old carnival-style Big Six wheel. Both games have a house edge that would make the casinos in Black Hawk drool. But after a few pizzelles, Italian sausage sandwiches and cheap Coors Lights, a little risk in the name of pestilence doesn’t seem so bad.

Alongside the incredible selection of books and records at Black and Read, nestled next to the science-fiction paperbacks like some fantastic dragon hoard spilling over with powerful artifacts and fabulous jewels, is the most impressive collection of role-playing games and accessories most mortals will ever lay eyes on. The place is a virtual museum of RPG history, from the obvious — enough Dungeons & Dragons-related material to choke a troll — to the genuinely obscure, such as Gary Gygax’s Cyborg Commando. Rule books, source books and dice of every shape and size await those brave souls who seek adventure, riches and glory in any of the hundreds of fantastic worlds found within. And fret not: Black and Read also stocks an impressive collection of other nerd fodder, such as the classic Settlers of Catan board game and Magic: The Gathering cards.

Video games are quickly ascending to a place of cultural dominance, joining movies and music in terms of earning power and cultural cachet. One of the biggest and best websites covering this transformation is Denver-based www.kotaku.com, which includes live coverage of key events, such as the recent Game Developers Conference, and original features on nearly every important thing in gaming. Managing editor Brian Crecente, a longtime veteran of the Rocky Mountain News, runs the megablog, continuing a tradition of delivering top-notch coverage.

Rocky Mountain Rollergirls co-founder Catherine Mabe, aka Jayne Manslaughter, loves roller derby so much that she had to write a book about it. And you can sense her enthusiasm throughout Roller Derby as she traces the sport from its earliest days to its modern revival. Although Mabe has moved on — she now lives in Arizona — you can still pick the book up at local bouts. Girls rule!

The Rocky Mountain Rollergirls have come a long way since their 2004 debut. The league is now nationally ranked and has a substantial fan base. Of course, they’re awesome on skates, but let’s give credit where it’s due: These girls have a totally killer party bus. The Roller Derby Party Bus leaves the Skylark Lounge, 140 South Broadway, at 5:30 p.m. on bout nights, traveling to Bladium Sports Club for lots of hot girl-on-girl derby action. It leaves Bladium at 9:30 for a 10 p.m. party at Skylark with the Rollergirls. A mere $25 fee includes admission to the bout and a seat on the bus. Oh, and did we mention that the bus has unlimited free beer and Rollergirl hostesses for your drinking and viewing pleasure? Get on the party bus!

Rock-paper-scissors is the ultimate way to end any dispute. If the formula were applied to our issues in Iraq, world peace could be achieved by 2009. Or maybe not. Still, it’s fun to play, and this year’s Roshambo competition at Wahoo’s Uptown had the additional benefit of raising money for the Snowboard Outreach Society, a nonprofit that provides support to at-risk youths. Hint: Don’t always shoot rock.

There’s a foosball tournament somewhere in the Denver metro area almost every night. For example, on Mondays you can get your foos on at the Colorado Cue Club in Northglenn; on Tuesdays, it’s the Attic in Boulder. The list goes on, and the tournaments are easy to find thanks to www.coloradofoosball.com and its extensive day-by-day schedule. The website also includes the International Table Soccer Federation’s official rule book in .pdf format, plus forums and player stats for all of Colorado’s mad foosball-heads out there. Goal!

Wheat Ridge Lanes caters almost exclusively to league players during the week, but on Friday and Saturday nights, anyone can enjoy open bowling and $6 pitchers of Bud poured from the bar. And not just any bar: This one is called Ye Olde Country Club, and while it is indeed olde, it doesn’t look much like a country club. But that’s a good thing, because the goal here is to sit back and relax, maybe catch a game on TV. The twelve-lane alley has remained relatively free of the newfangled gimmicks found at other spots around town. This is kickin’ it olde-school.

Bowling is the rock and roll of sports. It’s loud, unabashedly rough around the edges and involves embarrassing fashion choices. It seemed like the perfect match, then, when the fading Sport Bowl Lanes & Billiards on South Broadway was snatched up last August by Steve Schalk, owner of the nearby Gothic Theatre. Sure enough, Schalk invested the same care and creativity into his bowling joint that he did into his theater, and now the alley, rechristened the Falcon (yes, the name refers to Han Solo’s spaceship), features eight gleaming lanes, a top-of-the-line sound system, a 250-person live-music venue, an open kitchen serving Angus sliders and a fully stocked bar. May the force be with you.

The Front Porch has totally flipped! For starters, the bar hosts Flip Cup tournaments on the first Tuesday of each month. For those who’ve never played — or for those who’ve played but were too drunk to remember the specifics — Flip Cup involves two teams of up to five players; the first team to slam their beers and flip their cups over by gently tapping the bottom of the cup wins. But really, everyone wins, because everyone gets inebriated! If Flip Cup’s not your thing, try Flip Night on Wednesdays: Flip a coin, and if you guess the toss correctly, your drink is free. Or maybe you’re not the flipping kind. In that case, you can take advantage of the Front Porch’s Hello My Name Is drink specials. It’s simple: If your name is on the calendar, you drink free all night long. Rejoice, all ye Toms, Sarahs, Daves, Amandas and Jasons — and woe to those whose hippie parents named them something weird.

In the course of one week, the Rockies re-signed former fan favorite Neifi Perez, the team’s shortstop from 1996 to 2001, and the Avalanche brought back Adam Foote and Peter Forsberg. All inspire good memories for sports fans, but the Forsberg deal was clearly the best. Not only is Foppa, who skated for the Avs from 1995 to 2004, the player who could have the biggest impact on his team, but he’s a reminder of the two Stanley Cups he helped the Avalanche win. Welcome home, Peter.

When the Skylark Lounge relocated three years ago from much smaller digs nearby, it had a lot of space to fill. So in August 2006, the club cued up its super-deluxe Pair-o-Dice Poolroom with four pool tables and pinball machines. The upstairs hall, which is open Thursdays through Saturdays from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m., fits in perfectly with the rest of the bar’s vintage-centric vibe, meaning you’ll be shooting stick in style. Tom Ross, a world-class player and columnist for Billiards Digest, gives free clinics on Thursdays and occasionally brings in other pool aces. And if the Pair-o-Dice is good enough for a guy like Ross, who’s taught more than 4,500 people the way of the game, you should feel fine on the felt, too.