Best of Denver 2006

Sports & Recreation

BEST PROOF THAT DENVER SPORTS FANS ARE PRETTY DAMN POLITE
"Suit up, you chump!"
Denver is one of America's great sports cities, in large part because the majority of the fans here are much less abusive than their peers in other towns. As evidence, consider the incident that took place at the February 8 game between the Denver...

BEST SPIRIT CORPS
Montbello High School
The Montbello Warriors may have fallen to the mighty East High Angels when the two basketball powerhouses clashed this winter, but when it came to school spirit, Montbello blew East right out of the arena. East's meager handful of cheerleaders...

BEST MASCOT
Rocky the Mountain Lion Denver Nuggets
The most nimble, most entertaining mascot in professional sports, Rocky the Mountain Lion has won this award so often that we might have to retire the trophy -- or at least provide the high-leaping, slam-dunking feline with the lightning-bolt tail...

BEST SPORTS ANNOUNCER
Drew Goodman Colorado Rockies
When versatile, multi-sport broadcaster Drew Goodman -- now in his sixth year with the Rockies -- calls a baseball game, you don't get flash or fulmination or partisan outbursts. You get good, solid reporting, well-grounded in fresh facts and...

BEST NUGGET
Carmelo Anthony
That Carmelo Anthony, the Nuggets' third-year shooting star, was left off the 2006 All-Star roster was a travesty commented upon even by NBA commish David Stern. The seventh-leading scorer and sixth-best foul shooter in the league, 21-year-old...

BEST BRONCO
Champ Bailey
For a while there, the controversial trade that sent Broncos running back Clinton Portis to the Washington Redskins for cornerback Champ Bailey looked like Shanahan's Folly. But the six-time All-Pro certainly lived up to his rep this season....

BEST ROCKIE
Todd Helton
A first-ever trip to the disabled list and a mysterious, self-acknowledged mental funk compromised Todd Helton's ninth season in purple pinstripes, but by the end of 2005, the steady first baseman wound up the fifth-best hitter in the National...

BEST AV
Alex Tanguay
In mid-March, Quebec-born Alex Tanguay was leading the post-Peter Forsberg Colorado Avalanche in goals, assists and points. A left-handed stick with quick moves and a powerful slapshot, the sixth-year winger is also blessed with good size (6'1",...

BEST MAMMOTH
Gavin Prout
Now that the Michael Jordan of lacrosse, Gary Gait, has moved to the sideline to coach his old team, Colorado Mammoths forward Gavin Prout has inherited the boss's mantle as the team's top scorer, assist man and points leader. From Whitby,...

BEST RAPID
Joe Cannon
For the second straight season, Colorado Rapids coaches and players named their 6'2" goalie, Joe Cannon, as most valuable player. Along with his penchant for acrobatic saves -- he sported a 1.25 goals-against average last year -- Cannon was lauded...

BEST CRUSH
Damian Harrell
In the high-scoring Arena Football League, gaudy offensive statistics come as no shock, but try these on for size: 122 catches, 1,486 receiving yards and 41 touchdowns. Those are the 2005 numbers for Colorado Crush offensive specialist Damian...

BEST SPORTS TEAM -- PROFESSIONAL
Colorado Crush
John Elway has long known the taste of pay dirt, but when the Arena Football League team he co-owns (with a couple of guys named Bowlen and Kroenke) won the Arena Bowl championship on June 27, 2005, in Las Vegas, the famous ex-quarterback took...

BEST SPORTS TEAM -- COLLEGE
University of Denver Pioneers Hockey
Going into last year's NCAA playoffs, the Denver Pioneers (of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association) were underdogs -- even in the eyes of their archrivals from Colorado College. Little matter that the Pis had won the 2004 NCAA championship in...

BEST COACH -- PROFESSIONAL
George Karl Denver Nuggets
If they were playing in the softer Eastern Conference, the Denver Nuggets -- led by Carmelo Anthony, Kenyon Martin and Marcus Camby -- might really be flying high. As it is, though, they aren't doing too bad (first in the NBA West's Northwest...

BEST COACH -- COLLEGE
George Gwozdecky University of Denver Pioneers Hockey
In the first nine years of his tenure as the University of Denver's hockey coach, George Gwozdecky's scrappy Pioneers had their brief moments of glory. For example, the 1998 team won 26 games after losing 25 the year before. But now the Pioneers...

BEST COLORADO OLYMPIAN
Gretchen Bleiler
Sleek and blond, she looked lovely in her February 2004 photo spread for FHM Magazine, and she clearly had a ball as an honorary starter for this year's Daytona 500. But 25-year-old Gretchen Bleiler, a native of Ohio who's lived in Aspen since she...

BEST SACK
Gary Barnett
Against all odds, the University of Colorado football coach survived the scandal-plagued departures of the university president, the chancellor and the athletic director, but in the end, Gary Barnett also had to take a hike -- not because he was a...

BEST SPORTS BARGAIN
University of Denver Pioneers Basketball
Sure, it's fun to go to Avalanche or Nuggets games -- as long as you've got a wallet the size of Stan Kroenke's. For those of more modest means, DU's men's and women's basketball teams offer plenty of bang for your buck. The teams are improving,...

BEST ADVENTURER GONE
GLOBAL
Josh Bernstein Boulder Outdoor Survival School www.boss-inc.com
Since 1968, the Boulder Outdoor Survival School has offered wilderness-based life-changing experiences to people around the world. But the life that BOSS may have changed most is that of Josh Bernstein, who today is the outfit's president and...

BEST CHAMPION WITH
LOCAL ROOTS
Ulmus Americana Cheesman Park
Denver Forestry keeps a list of champion trees, the largest examples of their species found in the state. Of the 73 champs rooted in Denver, 25 can be found at the Denver Botanic Gardens, another 17 in the city's parks system. The tallest of all...

BEST WALK IN THE CITY
Bear Creek Greenbelt 2900 S. Estes St., Lakewood www.lakewood.org
Round a lush bend on the Bear Creek Greenbelt trail and you'll find yourself smack-dab in the middle of a thriving prairie dog town. Little heads pop up and out of burrowed holes that dot the wide, open meadow; elsewhere, the cheeky varmints stand...

BEST FARM IN THE CITY
The Urban Farm 10200 Smith Rd. 303-307-9332
The Urban Farm, located on a reclaimed corner of the former Stapleton Airport, is one of the city's hidden treasures. It's a real farm with all kinds of animals -- cows, sheep, goats, chickens, a gorgeous hog the size of Kansas and lots of horses...

BEST WAY TO FEEL LIKE A KID -- WITH A HANGOVER
Denver Kickball Coalition www.dkbc.org
The Denver Kickball Coalition started as a drunk-Sunday league on the fields of Morey Middle School, but over the past four years it's grown into a sporting powerhouse. Today the league has a draft, numerous teams with crazy names and even crazier...

BEST INDOOR SOCCER
Golden Goal 2650 Alkire St., Golden 303-564-7251
Golden Goal works as an indoor soccer facility for the simple reason that it lets you play. While some indoor joints assault you with snack bars and gear shops, promotions and spam e-mails, Golden Goal merely ushers you past walls lined with...

BEST OUTDOOR SKATING RINK
The Rink at Belmar 439 S. Teller St., Lakewood 303-742-1520
Like just about everything else at oh-so-hip Belmar, the rink couldn't be just a rink. This slick facility, complete with a rental kiosk housed in a refurbished, 31-foot vintage Airstream trailer, proved to be enormously popular with visitors to...

BEST TERRAIN PARK
Copper Mountain 1-866-841-2481
Designing, building and maintaining a terrain park is as much an art as it is a science, and Copper Mountain displays the right blend of physics and beauty with its snow sculpting. Dubbed "Catalyst," the park runs beneath the American Flyer lift...

BEST OUT-OF-BOUNDS SKIING
Arapahoe Basin 1-888-272-7246
Arapahoe Basin already appeals to the independent skier, the person who'd rather power down the slopes than vamp through Vail. And while there are plenty of challenging runs -- including the classic Pallavicini -- on A-Basin's official map, the...

BEST OUT-OF-SIGHT DEAL
Schussbaumer Ski Club www.schussbaumer.com
In 1952, early fans of skiing banded together as the Schussbaumer Ski Club, even opening a crash pad in Georgetown. That had to move when I-70 came through, so in 1965 the members built a chalet in Breckenridge that was close to the only game in...

BEST BUMPS
Mary Jane at Winter Park 303-316-1564
Winter Park is rich in history from the early mining days of Colorado, but at thirty, Mary Jane is still young at heart. Over the past three decades, the area's runs -- Rail Bender, Trestle, Needle's Eye -- have become infamous for their great...

BEST CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARDS
Ben Anderson Icelantic AT Boards www.icelanticboards.com
A Best of Denver award may seem like small potatoes after your brainchild was just named Best New Product at the 65th International Trade Show for Sports Equipment and Fashion, but Ben Anderson knows where he comes from, and he beamed with...

BEST INNER-CITY SNOWBOARDING PROGRAM
Chill www.chill.org
Founded in 1995 by snowboard-company pioneer Jake Burton, Chill started as a simple idea: to introduce inner-city kids and at-risk youth to snowboarding. Today the program has spread from Vermont to cities and states across the country, including...

BEST FREE WAX AS YOU
HEAD FOR THE HILLS
Maison De Ski 2804 Colorado Blvd., Idaho Springs 303-567-2044
By spring, all that wax you lavished on your board or skis at the beginning of the season has long since disappeared. Halfway up I-70, you realize that you're going to be stuck on anything that's flat, with the sticky snow pulling at your skis or...

BEST BREAKAWAY LANE
Eastbound I-70, just past Golden
The only thing that sucks about going to the mountains for the weekend is coming home in Sunday-night traffic. Giant SUVs struggle along like lumbering mammoths, and at the slightest trace of snow or ice, traffic often snarls to a halt....

BEST MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Highway 105 Douglas County
Ready to ride? Hop on your Harley and head hell-bent for leather on Santa Fe Drive 25 miles south of Denver, then hang a right on Highway 67, zip past Bud's (home of the Best Burger) and turn left on Highway 105. This backcountry road takes you on...

BEST MOBILE ASS-KICKING
Rocky Mountain Rollergirls www.rockymountainrollergirls.com
Broken bones, rock and roll, foxy girls knocking the hell out of each other -- and on roller skates, no less. Is it any wonder that the Rocky Mountain Rollergirls are the hottest ticket in town? A motley crew of bad-ass babes in miniskirts, with...

BEST WAY TO FIND YOUR
INNER NASCAR
Bandimere Speedway 3051 S. Rooney Rd., Morrison 303-697-6001
The quarter-mile is a great equalizer, and Bandimere Speedway is happy to oblige drivers who need to prove just how fast and furious they can be with "Take It to the Track." On Wednesday nights through the summer, you just bring your own car, sign...

BEST SPOT FOR CRUISING
Regis Square Mall 5100 block of
Federal Blvd.
There's no place that better captures Denver's northwest side than the Regis Square strip mall, with its cut-rate hair salons, a carnicer’a, El Nuevo Time-Out Billiards, a Rent-a-Center and Tequila Le Club. A big part of northwest Denver culture...

BEST OFFICIAL SKATEPARK
Aurora Skatepark Iliff Ave. east of Chambers Rd., Aurora 303-739-7160
The Aurora Wheel Park complex is big and round, shaped like a pizza, with one slice featuring a BMX dirt track, another housing a BMX ramp course, and another piece reserved for three roller-hockey rinks. But by far the most popular topping is the...

BEST UNOFFICIAL SKATEPARK
Little Dry Creek drainage ditch Westminster
The large drainage ditch that runs through the Harris Park neighborhood near West 72nd Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard in Westminster resembles one of those huge, concrete arroyos in Los Angeles that are notorious for suddenly filling with...

BEST INDOOR POOL
Colorado Cue Club 10657 Melody Dr., Northglenn 303-450-7665
Get a cue: For pool fans in Denver, the place to play is the Colorado Cue Club, which boasts a friendly atmosphere, a full kitchen and 28 pool tables. But its major asset is Chris Honeman, a national champ (she won the BCA North American 8-Ball...

BEST DIVE
Aurora Reservoir 5800 S. Powhaton Rd., Aurora
For a landlocked state, Colorado has a lot of scuba fans; per capita, we rank third for certified divers. And their favorite place to take the plunge is the Aurora Reservoir, which has a designated dive beach and also an underwater airplane, sunk...

BEST FREE WORKOUT
Mother Cabrini Shrine Lookout Mountain
For Catholics, the fourteen stations of the cross represent the events between Jesus's condemnation and his burial -- a progressive series of images that encourage spiritual contemplation, modeled after paths followed by Christian pilgrims in...

BEST CHEAP WORKOUT
Denver Department of Parks and Recreation annual pass www.denvergov.org
Some people justify dropping big bucks on memberships to high-class joints with the flabby rationalization that they're more likely to hit the gym if they've been charged a lot for the privilege. And it's true -- you usually get what you pay for...

BEST PLACE TO FIND
FREE DOG TOYS
Cherry Creek Dr. N. and S. Adams St.
When money's in short supply, people need to get creative. So if you want a present for your pet and can't afford that gold-plated flying doggy disc that's all the rage, take your pooch for a stroll down Cherry Creek Drive, along the eastern edge...

BEST AVIAN BED AND BREAKFAST
Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory Barr Lake State Park www.rmbo.org
Every spring and fall, when the migration seasons bring thousands of birds to Barr Lake, the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory switches into high gear, gently capturing its avian guests in nets, banding them for further research and then setting...

BEST REC CENTER FOR DOGS
Canine Fitness and Fun Center 6336 Leetsdale Dr. 303-394-3647
Swimming pools have gone to the dogs, as well they should. Many breeds adore the water, and a bob in the pool is wonderful therapy for pups suffering from hip dysplasia, arthritis, sports injuries and other painful conditions. Canine Fitness...

BEST PETA-APPROVED CONCESSIONS
Coors Field
Wouldn't you just know it? San Francisco and Oakland took top honors, but our own snuggly, tree-huggin' Coors Field nabbed third place in PETA's recent Vegetarian Friendly Ballparks Project, based on its fine array of vegetarian concession items,...

BEST PLACE TO GET A BEER
AT THE PEPSI CENTER
Denver Post Newsroom
Sports arenas consistently offer three things: hot dogs smothered in ketchup, piss-yellow popcorn, and heady beers the size of your aunt Mildred's ass. But why? Who said that sports and unidentifiable pig organs go together? At the Denver Post...

BEST BREWERY TOUR
New Belgium Brewing Co. 500 Linden St., Fort Collins 1-888-622-4044
A visit to the New Belgium Brewing Co. is intoxicating, and not just because of the generous selection of free samples -- although those certainly don't hurt. The buzz starts with the guide who welcomes you onto the last tour of the day, even...

BEST PLACE TO PLAY
DRUNK MONOPOLY
Atomic Cowboy 3237 E. Colfax Ave. 303-377-7900
The Atomic Cowboy recognizes that booze brings out your competitive side. Then again, so does every sports bar in Denver with a pool table or a dartboard. But those games require coordination and physical prowess -- two things most of us lack...

BEST BOWLING ALLEY IN A BAR
Uptown Tavern 538 E. 17th Ave. 303-830-9210
The Back Alley, a tiny, two-lane bowling alley tucked at the back of the Uptown Tavern, looks like it was made for munchkin ravers. But "Thunder Bowl" is a genius alternative to darts or Golden Tee. Each glow-in-the-dark lane can accommodate six...

BEST BOWLING ALLEY ATMOSPHERE WITHOUT LANES
Harry's Bar 629 E. Colfax Ave. 303-832-2353
People who don't own their own bowling ball or shoes don't go bowling because they're hoping for a perfect game; they go to drink cheap beer, inhale stale cigarette smoke and talk shit about their gutterball friends. More often than not, the...

BEST SCOOT AND SHOOT
PS 1515 1515 Madison St. 303-394-1515
Already a popular hangout, PS 1515 gained a rep as a motorcycle- and scooter-friendly joint after the First Thursday Moto Rally debuted in its parking lot last May. Conceived by Aaron Scott as a place where moto-enthusiasts could grab a beer or a...

BEST SEAT IN THE HOUSE
Elway's 2500 E. 1st Ave. 303-399-5353
While planning for his swanky new steakhouse and saloon in Cherry Creek, Broncos icon John Elway called just one play out to the interior design team: Do whatever you like, but one of the bar stools has to be upholstered in gold leather. Why? Gold...