Best Mammoth 2007 | Gary Gait | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best Mammoth

Gary Gait

The Colorado Mammoth certainly has some fine players, including defensemen Tom Ethington and Jamie Hanford, who were just named to compete on the U.S. national team at the World Indoor Lacrosse Championship in May. Still, these guys have a long way to go before they'll surpass the accomplishments of Gary Gait, the team's coach. By the time he came to Colorado in 2002, Gait was arguably the greatest athlete in the history of the National Lacrosse League, earning MVP honors while setting a single-season scoring record. When he retired in 2005, he was promptly inducted into the league's hall of fame -- but Gait was far from through with lacrosse. He's the growing sport's top ambassador, as well as the reason the Mammoth are big in Denver.

Best Sports Team -- Professional

Denver Nuggets

While the Nugs may not have registered as many wins as anticipated at the start of the season, they've more than made up for their uneven play in drama. The team limped out of the gate, and when it finally seemed to be hitting its stride, Carmelo Anthony was suspended for fifteen games after throwing a punch so timid that it didn't even qualify as a bitch slap. Then, just when all seemed lost, owner Stan Kroenke acquired the services of bad boy Allen Iverson in one of the biggest trades in Denver pro-sports history. The Melo-A.I. tandem still isn't clicking as regularly as it should, but when they're on, the Nuggets are the most thrilling game in town. Sometimes even on the court.

Best Sports Team -- College

Falcons Men's Basketball Team

Cinderella isn't known for wearing pilot's gear, but given the accomplishments of the Air Force Academy's men's basketball squad this year, she should probably try a flight suit on for size. Since players must commit to military service, the Falcons have a smaller recruiting pool to draw from than the vast majority of teams they compete against. Nevertheless, players such as Jacob Burtschi proved their grit on the hardwood, chalking up a gaudy record and spending much of the season ranked in the Associated Press Top 25. While a skid down the stretch doomed their chance to participate in the Big Dance, the Falcons made a run in the National Invitation Tournament that took them all the way to Madison Square Garden. This Cinderella deserves a mile-high salute.

Best Coach -- Professional

Mike Shanahan

Nearly all great NFL franchises suffer downturns. Think of the once-invincible San Francisco 49ers, who only now are showing signs of emerging from the mire of mediocrity that followed their glory days in the '80s and '90s. Yet despite plenty of opportunities to do so, the Broncos haven't hit bottom under Mike Shanahan. Even last year, when quarterback Jake "The Mistake" Plummer played so poorly that Shanny replaced him in the middle of the season with untested rookie Jay Cutler, the team nearly made the playoffs. How does Shanahan stay in the game? With smart offensive schemes, a willingness to bench or deal any athlete who's not producing, and a cold-eyed intensity that can be downright scary to behold. Simply put, Shanahan refuses to let down.

Best Coach -- College

Jeff Bzdelik

When Jeff Bzdelik was sacked by the Denver Nuggets, he could have grumbled loudly -- as he had every reason to do. Instead, he accepted the head-coaching position at the Air Force Academy and turned what could have seemed a dead-end gig into a dazzling showcase of his skills. He took a team whose players might not have made the cut at most major universities, let alone start, and molded them into a highly disciplined and efficient group capable of taking down the big boys. The University of Colorado will likely ask Bzdelik to turn around its woeful basketball program in Boulder, and CU couldn't find a better man for the job. Coach Buzz is worth catching.

Best Deal for Season- Ticket Holders

Colorado Rockies

Can't make it to a Rockies game, season-ticket holder? Can't find anyone to take your tickets because the Rocks are eight games below .500 and downtown scalpers are giving away tix for lengthy hugs? No sweat, season-ticket holder. Go to any Dugout Store or the Coors Field box office, and you can exchange those suckers. Granted, there are certain restrictions and blackout dates -- you can't swap a Diamondbacks game for an inter-league clash with the Yankees or a game followed by fireworks, for example -- but for the most part, the Rockies will gladly replace your unwanted tickets with tickets to another game; they'll even try to put you as close to your original seats as possible for a paltry $5 handling fee. And you can upgrade! Say you have six crappy seats -- the Rox will look at the dollar value of those seats and let you exchange for that same amount. So six $10 seats morph into two $30 ones! And while you can't upgrade past games, the Rockies will let you swap out unused tickets of games you missed, no questions asked -- unlike your wife, who demands to know where you were if not at Coors Field. Like it's any of her goddamn business.

Best Batting Cages

Denver Hitting Club

What the Denver Hitting Club lacks in glitzy, suburban, mega-batting-cage luster, it makes up for in elbow grease. Elbow grease provided by Sam Morales. "I used to coach youth teams, and we were always trying to find a place to take the kids to hit, and we'd wind up having to take them out to the suburbs," explains Morales. "I always wondered why there was nothing like that in Denver." So in 1992, after hanging up his cleats as an assistant varsity baseball coach at North High School (Morales is still a mailman by day), he converted an old paint shop downtown, installing three cages and numerous pitching machines. Today the Denver Hitting Club is home to everyone from the Liga Latina de Beisbol to downtown businessmen swinging at softballs on their lunch hour and neighborhood children with big-league dreams. Morales keeps the prices fair -- $8 for thirty minutes, $12 for an hour, team rates available -- and is always around to offer a few pointers. Batter up!

Best Pitch

HitStreak

Play ball? The centerpiece of HitStreak's training is the ProBatter Professional PX2, an extraordinary pitch simulator that's hyped as the closest thing you'll find to actually batting against Johan Santana in the bottom of the ninth. Through the use of computerized video imagery and multi-pitch simulation capabilities, the state-of-the-art machine -- preferred by such hard hitters as the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox -- combines both the visual and physical aspects of facing a pitcher in competition. The training facility also features multiple hitting tunnels and training stations where wannabe major-leaguers can hone their craft.

Best Terrain Park

Keystone

Sure, seventeen-foot-tall superpipes and outlandish circus rails might gain the attention of the pros and magazine photographers -- but for the average rider, bigger does not always equal better. The design team behind Keystone's A51 realized this a few years back and has since put together the most coherent -- and fun -- terrain park in the state, one that ranks among the best in the nation, according to TransWorld Snowboarding and Freeskier magazines. Eschewing the trend of high-concept features, A51's rails and jumps are relatively small and simple (or "slayable," in park-rat speak), and organized along four lanes for good flow, quick runs and good times. Shred alert!

Best Locals Mountain

Loveland

Even though there are much bigger mountains and badder terrain parks, Loveland remains beloved. There are no monstrous hotels here, no $8 cheeseburgers, no jerks running the lifts, no Texans. You don't even have to go through the Eisenhower Tunnel to get here, and less road time means more snow time. And you'll be able to make the most of that time on the uncrowded hill; aside from a few more cars in the parking lot, there's not much difference between the weekends and weekdays at Loveland. No wonder real Denverites slap "I ride Loveland" stickers on their cars.

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