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• SPORTS: Norm Nose Sports
  Placing his first wager at 15 and his most recent one likely before you finish this sentence, Norm Hitzges knows there is no such thing as a sure winner. He can, however, spot a certain loser. That’s why, despite everything in his prodigious nose and Polish values telling him no, he finally said... More >>
• Best Star
  Mike Modano
  Quick, name another Dallas Stars player. Didn't think so. Ol' Mo retains his title because he's still a serviceable player and still the face of the increasingly anonymous franchise. Last year Modano was 33rd in scoring in the NHL, a fact we placed right behind Keith Richards falling out of a... More >>
• Best Coach
  Todd Dodge
  Hard to argue against Avery Johnson pushing the Mavericks to the brink of the NBA Championship or McKinney's Hank Haney re-sculpting a swing that allowed Tiger Woods to win four straight tournaments over the summer, but here goes. Over the last four years Southlake Carroll High School's football... More >>
• Best Gym
  Life Time Fitness
  If you're an aspiring boxer hell-bent on blood, sweat and tears, get your ass down to old-school Doug's Gym on Commerce Street. For the rest of us--ahhhh--to the paradise with the palm trees. The new Life Time Fitness on Highway 121 in Allen is like a five-star resort, complete with more than... More >>
• Best New Gym No One Uses
  Jewish Community Center of Dallas Sport and Fitness Facility
  Some of us around here are of the less-Christian persuasion, and we belong to the JCC; kinda have to, though not as much as you did only a few years back. We can tell that from the rather empty addition that recently opened at the JCC--the sprawling new sports facility that includes two indoor... More >>
• Best Sports Moment
  Mavericks Win Game 7 in San Antonio
  It's like picking our favorite child. Or choosing just one Basia ballad to squeeze onto the iPod. Dallas Desperados quarterback Clint Dolezel threw 11 touchdowns in one game. Area teams swept the Class 5A, 4A and 3A boys' high school basketball championships in Austin. And the Dallas Cup soccer... More >>
• Best Hire
  Matt Doherty
  Like 9-year-olds with acute ADD, we were all fixated on the firing of SMU basketball coach Jimmy Tubbs. Then--lookie, over here!--we got totally distracted by Matt Doherty. Cool! Sure it's silly and even unfair that Tubbs was sent packing for simply giving players free hamburgers and laundry... More >>
• Best Fans
  Dallas Mavericks
  Maybe it wasn't Moody Madness, but no denying it was a Love affair. When the Mavericks toppled the Spurs in Game 7 of the Western Conference Semifinals last May, Dallas went all High School Musical giddy over its hoops. A couple thousand fans--waiting for a basketball title in Dallas since... More >>
• Best Punch
  Jason Terry
  It wasn't the most direct or devastating blow, but it was the most notable. And given the pussy-foot punches thrown by Evander Holyfield against Jeremy Bates and by Rangers reliever Scott Feldman against Angels infielder Adam Kennedy, Mavericks guard Jason Terry's quick jab to the jewels of San... More >>
• Best Ranger
  Michael Young
  Funny--no, make that creepy--that the most memorable Rangers play of the season almost never happens in a Rangers game. Like Hank Blalock's All-Star Game-winning homer in 2003 or All-Star Game MVP Alfonso Soriano's three-run blast off Roger Clemens in '04, Michael Young's two-out, two-run,... More >>
• Best Sports Columnist
  Brad Sham
  Stay with us on this one, because it's tricky. A legendary broadcaster already in the Texas Radio Hall of Fame and someday headed for the Cowboys' Ring of Honor, Sham is these days putting pen to paper at DallasCowboys.com. This award, of course, is as much an indictment of the area's... More >>
• Best TV Sports Anchor
  Dale Hansen
  Who else among you dares to refer to Bill Parcells as "a dick"? He doesn't have Mike Doocy's hair, Babe Laufenberg's history or Newy Scruggs' hipness, but Dale Hansen still has the metroplex mesmerized because he is both plugged in and unplugged. Because of personal and professional conflicts... More >>
• Best Sports Chiropractor (2 Comments)
  Dr. Mary Collings
  The impetus behind the raucous run by Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks last spring? Um, turns out there was a girl in the boys' room. But not that kind. This kind: Throughout the playoffs Dr. Collings laid her healing hands upon Dirk's aching back in a crack-ya-bones sorta chiropractic... More >>
• Best Place to Watch Sports With an Athlete
  Ten Sports Grill
  They go to Bob's Steak & Chop House when they're hungry. They flitter over to Dragonfly at Hotel ZaZa when they want to get their drink on. But when rich and famous athletes want to hunker down and watch sports over a cold beer in a hot spot, they congregate at Ten. In its first year at the... More >>
• Best Underdogs
  FC Roma
  What FC Roma accomplished over the summer was akin to your beer-league softball team beating the Texas Rangers. Check that, considering the Rangers' annual summer meltdown, it's even more of an upset. Think Dane Cook actually being funny or Tom DeLay: Role Model. Roma, a collection of has-been... More >>
• Best Place
  to Run
  White Rock Lake Park
  First of all, let's correct last year's error that inexplicably awarded this distinction to the ugly and oft-interrupted Katy Trail and recognize that the best place to run in Dallas will always be White Rock Lake Park. Even on the busiest Sunday morning when every Lance Armstrong wannabe and... More >>
• Best Whitewater
  White Rock Creek
  To whitewater snobs, the phrase "Dallas whitewater" might seem like an oxymoron, sort of like "desert snorkeling" or "honest politician." But anybody who saw the White Rock spillway this spring saw some ferocious waves that few kayakers would tackle. What most people don't know is that after any... More >>
• Best Sports Deal
  FC Dallas
  In case you've been living under a rock for the last decade: There is indeed professional soccer in the United States. Twice as many Americans watched this World Cup as did the previous edition four years ago, and while on the one hand, the national men's early exit from this year's competition... More >>
• Best Reason to Watch Another Boring Rangers Segment
  Erin Hawksworth
  We haven't been baseball fans since we were kids, mostly because we grew very tired of being disappointed by the Rangers every year (not to mention corporate ballparks, outrageous salaries and steroid scandals). But when Channel 8 sports reporter Erin Hawksworth talks baseball, we start to care... More >>
• Best Skate Park
  Eisenbergs Skate Park
  Before Tony Hawk, before corporate sponsors and videogames, skateboarding was what you did to scare your parents. Now parents encourage it. Oh well. There is something intrinsically cool about skateboarding that not even ESPN can ruin. So if your kids skate, or you skate yourself, there is no... More >>
• Best Hike
  Lake Ray Roberts State Park
  Before white people came to Texas and screwed everything up, the Comanches, the Kiowas and Tonkawas smoked their pipes and made their babies on the land that is now Lake Ray Roberts State Park. When early pioneers saw this land, they of course wanted it, and much buckshot versus tomahawk... More >>
• Best High-End Bowling
  300 Dallas
  Bowling is, by definition, the sport of trailer trash, so it's sort of weird to see what 300 Dallas has done to it. The earth tones, the blue lights, the leather couches--it's like you're walking into a bowling alley designed for MTV Cribs. And that's sorta the idea. 300 Dallas isn't for women... More >>
• Best Indoor Rock Climbing (1 Comment)
  Exposure
  The Exposure indoor rock climbing gym has been in its current spot since 1994, and it shows. The concrete floor is cracking in places, the paint looks old, but it's still the best climbing gym in Dallas. Want proof? This is where climbers who work at other gyms come when they want a challenge.... More >>
• Best Place
  to Get Muddy
  L.B. Houston Park trail
  There aren't that many spots in the city where you can truly get muddy. That's why bikers, hikers and even birders cherish the miles of trail along the Trinity in L.B. Houston Park. Ignore the golf course and tennis courts and head straight into the woods. What you get is a shady (and after a... More >>
• Best Maverick
  Dirk Nowitzki
  Just how gifted is the giant German? Who else could make first-team All-NBA, hang half a hundred on best friend Steve Nash in the Western Conference Finals, lead his team within 4 1/2 quarters of an NBA Championship, reboot the popularity of David Hasselhoff, put Mark Cuban in his place and... More >>
• Best Sports Radio Talk Show (1 Comment)
  The Hardline
  Mike Rhyner suffered a death in his name. Greg Williams took a mysterious mid-season sabbatical. And Danny Balis walked around crowing about the flask in his pocket. Through it all, KTCK-1310 AM The Ticket's 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. show remained as popular as it is polarizing. To critics, the shallow... More >>
• Best Cowboy
  Troy Aikman
  Still? Keith Davis is out lying to police; Jerry Jones is swilling 512,000 gallons of precious water a month; Dwayne Goodrich is in jail; Nate Newton is just out of prison; Larry Allen is in San Francisco; and Michael Irvin is seemingly maintaining his ticket-a-month quota. So, yeah, still.... More >>
• Best Sports Sculpture
  "Golden Goal" and "Frisco Flyer" at Pizza Hut Park, Frisco
  You have to give it to Frisco: They think big. Their city hall is a giant faux-Parisian hulk framed by pastures. They have two professional sports franchises when most towns their size are lucky to have a bowling league. And the sculptures at Pizza Hut Park, home of FC Dallas soccer team? Yep,... More >>