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• Sports: For Love of the...Um...Game
  Web extra: Video of a Dallas Desire practice with running back Erin Marie Garrett's thoughts on the upcoming season. OK, you can stop with the sniggering, Mr. Football Fan. And you, Ms. Feminist, don't grimace. Yes, we're talking about the Dallas Desire here, our city's franchise in the U.S.... More >>
• Best Tex-Pat Blowin' Up
  Anthony Randolph
  If you consider his breakout, dominating performance in this year's NBA summer league, this season will be one to watch for Woodrow Wilson alumni Anthony Randolph. Playing against rookies, sophomores and journeymen, he was easily the best player on the court, averaging 26 points and 8.5 rebounds... More >>
• Best Pro Coach
  Rick Carlisle, Mavericks
  Yuck, what's that? Sorry, please excuse the tarnish on the hardware, but this award is sorta by default. How can it not be? Ron Washington almost got fired. Wade Phillips should've been fired. Dave Tippett did get fired. Not sure who FC Dallas' coach is these days, but considering their utter... More >>
• Best Decision-Maker
  Jon Daniels, Texas Rangers
  It was a long road for the Texas Rangers' general manager to make it from 20-something punch line to savvy veteran brainiac. But what do ya know? Here he is. The same guy who traded Chris Young and Adrian Gonzalez to the San Diego Padres for Adam Eaton and who dealt John Danks to the Chicago... More >>
• Best Play-by-Play Voice
  Brad Sham, Cowboys
  Seems a safe bet that this is one of the most competitive categories in this whole damn book. In this corner, you have Eric Nadel, iconic voice of the Texas Rangers for more than 30 years. In this corner, you have Ralph Strangis 'n' Darryl Reaugh, the only hockey announcers North Texas has ever... More >>
• Best Sports Moment
  Nastia Liukin Wins All-Around Gold
  In a year in which our four major teams produced only one victorious playoff round, we had to look halfway around the world for goose bumps. Following in the historic footsteps of Allen's Carly Patterson, the bee-boppin' Plano gymnast nailed clean routines in four events on August 15, 2008, to... More >>
• Best Debut
  Fabian Brunnstrom, Stars
  Along about the time America's hockey moms were learning about Joe the Plumber, Dallas' hockey fans were introduced to Fabian the Fantastic. At least, he was for a minute. In his first NHL game back in November, the forward produced a hat trick—that's right, three goals—to lead the... More >>
• Best Pissin' Match
  Mark Cuban vs. Ross Perot Jr.
  Watching billionaires scrap over millions is almost as fun as watching bikini-clad women mud wrestle. Almost. When Perot sold the Mavericks to Cuban in 2000, he held on to a small slice of the pizza. And when his Hillwood Development Co. lost its ass in the failed Victory Park ghost town, he... More >>
• Best Stiff-Arm to Male Chauvinism
  High School Girls 61, 40-Something Guys 44
  The concept, hatched during a boys' trip to the Super Bowl, was simple. Men are better athletes than women. In turn, old boys can kick the basketball ass of young girls. Unlike most ideas light-bulbed by The Ticket, this one flick-flick-flickered and finally died a brutal and humiliating death.... More >>
• Best Place to Watch an Athlete Watch Sports
  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. At the corner of Main and... More >>
• Best Transaction
  Cowboys Release Terrell Owens
  T.O. = gone. Released in March. Stop for a second. Breathe it in. Relax. Nice, huh? Never in sports has there been a more talented troublemaker than Terrell Owens. That he's a former Dallas Cowboy is good news. Great news. The Cowboys will have to replace his 60 receiving yards a game, sure, but... More >>
• Best Owner
  Jerry Jones, Cowboys
  Coming in second and third, respectively, are guys who insulted the mother of an opposing player during the playoffs (Mark Cuban) and needed a loan from Major League Baseball to make payroll early this summer (Tom Hicks). So Jones may be a bit sheepish about this award, but there's nothing... More >>
• Best Ranger
  Michael Young
  The enduring face of the franchise has given us 10 good years. We'll give him 10 bad days. Initially told about moving to third base to make way for hotshot shortstop Elvis Andrus, Young bitched and moaned and woe-is-me'd his way into hints about being traded. Then he calmed down. Then he showed... More >>
• Best Player We Hated to See Leave
  Brandon Bass, Mavericks
  On a generally unathletic Dallas Mavericks team, Bass stuck out like Jesse Owens amongst Amish seamstresses. Though undersized, he played like a 7-footer. He scrapped for loose balls. He pogo-sticked for rebounds. He elevated for jump shots. He will be missed. The worst part? In return the Mavs... More >>
• Best Sporting Goods Store
  PGA Tour Superstore
  Screw foreplay, these places are downright orgasmic. If, that is, you get aroused milling around a warehouse filled with sports memorabilia, a gazillion Izods, two bajillion clubs, a tennis court, a putting green, a chipping area complete with sand trap and countless driving range stalls... More >>
• Best Sports Venue
  Cowboys Stadium
  Duh. We'd say more, but The Dallas Morning News used up all the words with its coverage of the opening. More >>
• Best Public Golf Course
  Tenison Highlands
  Consistent upkeep is one of the most important factors to consider when planning a round of golf, as you don't want to find yourself three-putting on greens as slow as U.S. Open rough. Fortunately, you can always depend on Tenison Highlands to be in better condition than most other public... More >>
• Best Reason to Live in Frisco
  Fieldhouse USA
  You might think that Frisco is just a tree-barren concrete jungle of McMansions housing white-bread kids whose idea of diversity is having the option of eating ketchup on their cheeseburgers instead of mayo. And you might be right. But within the northern exurb of 100,000-plus citizens are some... More >>
• Best Ticket Pinch Hitter
  Mike Bacsik, KTCK-1310 AM
  Judging by his performance this summer as a fill-in host when The Ticket starters took vacation time, Mike Bacsik's broadcasting has much more promise than his baseball career. The Dallas native's 13 years as a pro—mostly spent in the minors—would've been completely forgettable if... More >>
• Best Cowboy
  DeMarcus Ware
  If his teammates would've played anywhere near his performance in 2008, the Cowboys might have lived up to their Super Bowl hype instead of pratfalling their way to 9-7. An 11th-round afterthought in the 2005 NFL Draft, Ware has blossomed and matured into one of the league's best defensive... More >>
• Best Maverick
  Dirk Nowitzki
  OK, can we retire the trophy? For a decade now, the giant German has been as consistent as he's been spectacular. And, to think, 2008 might have been his best season. He didn't push the Mavs to the NBA Finals or win an MVP, but he again heart-and-soul'd Dallas to a 50-win, playoff season. With... More >>
• Best FC Dallas Player (1 Comment)
  Kenny Cooper
  For the first time since moving from the Cotton Bowl and erasing its Dallas Burn tattoo, FC Dallas has a recognizable, identifiable face of the franchise. Cooper, whose dad was a goalie for the Dallas Tornado back in the day, is the future of Dallas soccer. He's one of ours, growing up playing... More >>
• Best Star
  Loui Eriksson
  Pondered giving this award to Sean Avery but, on second thought, he's a selfish asshole who alienated an entire locker room before forcing his way outta town and the NHL with his "sloppy seconds" comment. So we reconsidered, and gave it to the best of—let's be honest—some bad... More >>
• Best Local Sports TV Anchor
  Babe Laufenberg, KTVT-Channel 11
  Channel 8's Dale Hansen may have pushed our policy on term limits had his creepy love affair with weatherman Pete Delkus not deteriorated from witty to warped. But then again, Babe is quickly becoming the Cowboys voice in this town. Not only is he an insightful analyst on Dallas' radio... More >>
• Best Local Sports Radio Show (2 Comments)
  Dunham & Miller, KTCK-1310 AM/104.1 FM
  Given Greg Williams' departure from The Hardline, the most consistently entertaining/informative show on the radio belongs to George Dunham, Craig Miller and Gordon Keith, weekdays 5:30-10 a.m. on The Ticket. It's about sports. It's about life. It's about nothing. It's about everything in... More >>
• Other Winning Sports Suggestions From Our Readers
  Best Billiards The Billiard Bar 1920 Greenville Ave. 214-826-7665 Best Bowling Alley Jupiter Lanes 11336 Jupiter Road 214-328-3266 Best Place to Jog White Rock Lake More >>