Best Pro Shop 2008 | Positive Strokes for Women | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Positive Strokes for Women

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.

Best Rapid

Christian Gomez

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.

Best Resource for Foosball Players

www.coloradofoosball.com

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!

Best Rockie

Troy Tulowitzki

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.

Best Rockies Song

Kaz Matsui
"It's Tricky"

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.

Best Rockies Souvenir

Rockies Muerto

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.

Best Roller Derby Book

Roller Derby: The History and All-Girl Revival of the Greatest Sport on Wheels

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!

Best Rooftop Garden

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

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.

Best Roshambo Tournament

Wahoo's Uptown

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.

Best Skatepark

Pioneer Park

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.

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