Sports & Recreation

It's hard to remember now, but Adrian Beltre came to the Rangers as a consolation prize. After losing the 2010 World Series to the San Francisco Giants, the Rangers' No. 1 offseason priority was re-signing ace lefthander Cliff Lee. Lee chose the Phillies instead, and the Rangers spent their free-agent kitty on Beltre. During his time in Texas, all Beltre has done is solidify himself as a surefire Hall-of-Famer, the best third baseman of his generation. Last year (after the 2017 Best of Dallas issue's deadline), Beltre gave Rangers fans a moment they'll never forget, reaching one of baseball's iconic round numbers by picking up his 3,000th hit in Arlington against the Orioles. The thunderous ovation that greeted his achievement made it clear: While he may have played in Los Angeles, Seattle and Boston before arriving in Texas, Beltre is a Ranger forever.

Somehow, despite making his most iconic play with the 49ers and his only Super Bowl appearance with the Eagles, Terrell Owens is best known for being a Cowboy. Maybe it's his infamous, teary-eyed "that's my quarterback" speech about Tony Romo, or his iconic, popcorn-eating celebration after scoring against the Packers in 2007, but Owens is tied to Dallas. It's a good thing. Owens is one of the gutsiest football players of the last couple of decades. His decision to skip the Hall of Fame ceremony after years of being unfairly labeled as a bad teammate or a clubhouse cancer by NFL insiders is admirable too.

Through the first 21 games of the 2018 WNBA season, Dallas Wings center Liz Cambage was the league's second leading scorer. Despite five years away from the United States playing in Australia and China, she was playing at an All-Star level, combining with Skylar Diggins-Smith to make the Wings into a genuine contender. Then, against the New York Liberty in Game 22, Cambage etched herself into the record book, scoring a WNBA-record 53 points on 17-of-22 shooting and cementing herself as Dallas' most interesting athlete. Cambage is a fiery competitor, an outspoken advocate for gender equity in sports and one of DFW's very best follows on Twitter. Her bandwagon isn't full yet, but seats are going fast.

One Sunday in October, football's most mundane play became one of its most exciting, thanks to an injury to Cowboys kicker Dan Bailey. Without a backup kicker on the roster, Cowboys coach Jason Garrett pressed safety Jeff Heath into service. While he didn't look good doing it, the former high school kicker knocked in two of three extra points and kicked off adequately, helping the Cowboys to a 40-10 win in San Francisco against the 49ers. Heath loved it, the Cowboys players clearly loved it on the sidelines and, for fans at home, it was a welcome respite from an otherwise disappointing season.

Errol Spence Jr. has been a bright, shining light in what's been a dismal year for Dallas sports. The Dallas-raised welterweight champion of the world is affable, self-effacing and preternaturally talented, as charming outside of the ring as he is unforgiving inside of it. Spence sold out the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco for his first hometown title defense in June and didn't disappoint. Nearing the first-round bell, he knocked out undefeated challenger Carlos Ocampo with a vicious body shot, sending a jolt of joyous hometown pride through the 12,000-plus on hand. Spence is Dallas' best athlete right now. International superstardom is next.

The Athletic's Tim Cato lives, sleeps and breathes the NBA, and it shows in his coverage. While he's focused on the Mavs now, his experience as a national NBA reporter for "SB Nation" shows through in the context and depth that highlight his work. Cato can tell you what the Mavs are going to do not just because he knows what they're thinking, but because he's plugged into what the rest of the league is thinking as well. It doesn't hurt that, as a UNT graduate, he's a local kid made good too.

2018 was a bad, bad year for the Mavericks, but rookie Dennis Smith Jr.'s high-flying heroics won't be easily forgotten. On April 3 at home against the Portland Trail Blazers, Smith found himself in the open court following a turnover. With his last dribble, the point guard slammed the ball into the floor, bouncing it to rim level, where he caught it and slammed it home. Smith's dunk was of the type usually reserved for the slam dunk contest, but he executed it easily during an otherwise mundane regular-season game.

The Dallas Morning News is no longer the city's best sports page. The subscription-only, online-only The Athletic made its Dallas debut during Super Bowl week, publishing the smartest sports writing in Dallas on a daily basis. Bob Sturm and his venerable Cowboys analysis set up shop, as did Rangers blogging dean Jamey Newberg and NBA savant Tim Cato. While it's yet to be seen whether The Athletic's financial model will hold up long-term, the company has used its resources wisely so far. It's an essential subscription for local sports fans.

This summer, the United States' joint bid with Canada and Mexico won official FIFA approval, guaranteeing that the three countries will host the 2026 World Cup. The United States will host the lion's share of the big games in the tournament, including all games from the quarterfinals onward. Gleaming palace that it is, Arlington's AT&T Stadium will likely get to host at least a couple of the 60 tournament games expected to be played in the United States. With Jerryworld missing out again on a second Super Bowl or Final Four in recent bidding, it's nice to have something to look forward to, at least.

Whether Luka Doncic ends up being, as some scouts have optimistically suggested, a 6-foot-8 Steve Nash or just another lottery flameout, the Mavericks did the right thing when they acquired him on draft night. The front office viewed Doncic potentially as the best player in a deep draft, one who could combine with Dennis Smith Jr. to make the team a contender again. That's still a couple of years off, but the Slovenian's silky offensive game should at least make the Mavs more attractive on TV in the meantime.

After being drafted by the Cowboys in the first round, Boise State linebacker and Idaho native Leighton Vander Esch fielded an inevitable question about Tex-Mex at his introductory press conference. The small-town kid was unfamiliar, apparently. "Text messages?" he responded, before saying that he wasn't familiar with Texas' major contribution to U.S. cuisine. While the Dallas Observer is sure Vander Esch has been acclimated, we'd be happy to take him to Avila's if he wants to come by the office.

Spieth, Dallas' world champion golfer next door, entered the final round at The Masters in April nine shots behind leader Patrick Reed. It was a seemingly insurmountable deficit until, all of a sudden, it wasn't. Spieth, the 2015 Masters champ, scorched a path through Augusta National's hallowed grounds, playing his first 17 holes in 9 under par. As things turned out, Spieth needed a birdie at 18 to force Reed into a playoff. Instead, Spieth clipped a tree with his tee shot and made bogey, finishing two shots back after a 64. While Spieth didn't quite get there, it was a valiant effort, one that reminded you, with sports especially, that anything is possible.

Dallas' Winter Olympic history is next to non-existent, but it got a little bump this year. Mesquite native Onwumere starred on Nigeria's first-ever women's bobsled team. She and her teammates, who Onwumere met at the University of Houston, didn't come close to a medal, but they had a blast in South Korea, becoming social media darlings in the process.

Maybe the most unexpected part of the Cowboys' star turn on Amazon's All or Nothing documentary series was head coach Jason Garrett looking like an actual human being. Garrett, star of the most rote press conferences known to man, swears like a sailor and appears to actually care about the team he can't seem to lead past the first round of the playoffs. Garrett is still a point of frustration for many fans, but he became a little more likable this year.

For years, Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones has lamented his team's lack of a war daddy, his term for a dominating, pass-rushing defensive end. Last year, DeMarcus Lawrence developed into exactly the type of player Jones sought, putting up 14.5 sacks in a Pro Bowl campaign. If Lawrence can do it again in 2018, it will be good for him and the Cowboys. For the team, continued dominance by Lawrence should mean a return trip to the playoffs. For Lawrence, another outstanding season should get him the long-term contract he missed out on when the Cowboys placed the franchise tag on him after the 2017 campaign.

Following University of Maryland Baltimore County's historic upset of the University of Virginia in the first round of March's NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament — UMBC became the first-ever 16th seed to beat a No. 1 seed — Cowboys cornerback Jourdan Lewis fired off the perfect tweet. In one sentence, he highlighted UMBC's location, obscurity and the fourth season of The Wire. "Bro UVA lost to the kids from the wire," he tweeted, and it was perfect.

WFAA's Mike Leslie brings a sharp, young voice to Dallas' local sports coverage, combining lively highlight calls with deep knowledge of multiple sports, as well as an engaging social media presence. He's a breath of fresh air from the same-old same-old, which is all that's on offer on some Dallas sports broadcasts. If you need to know something Dallas sports-related first, Leslie's Twitter feed is a good place to turn.

You can run through mud. You can run from zombies. You can run through mud from zombies. Then there are the disease-fighting runs: breast cancer, multiple sclerosis, sickle cell disease, hemophilia. Trot for turkeys or run for the environment, for Jesus, for military veterans. And don't forget the color runs, which sound a lot more fun if you're the one biffing the runners with bags of colored chalk instead of doing the actual running. We swear, with all the running going on, it's amazing how many fat people live in this city. Until they come up with a Mud Run From Zombies to Combat Lard-Assedness (Plus Color!), we're going to go with the Katy 5K. It supports a good cause: helping maintain Dallas' favorite rail-to-trail conversion. It also comes with a picnic and two free beers at the end and no zombies. The race is held annually in June.

Note to Dallas people in charge of bike lanes: When painting bike lanes on city streets, please do not use manhole covers to line them up, especially those that stick 4 inches out of the pavement. We realize this is handy and probably good for lots of yuks back at the maintenance yard, but it's unpleasant for people on bikes. While we're at it, how about not putting so many bike lanes on streets with two-way stop signs with stops facing the bike lanes, not cross streets? We understand that cyclists should obey traffic laws, but running a stop sign on a bike isn't a capital crime in Texas (surprise!). All this is to say that we're going back to our old favorite, White Rock Creek Trail. Why? Because of its length of 15 or so miles and easy connections to the Cottonwood Creek Trail, Santa Fe Trail and Plano's (ahem) wonderful trail system, it's one trail that connects large swaths of the city, making a useful path for cyclists who want to use their bikes as a practical means of transportation. (It'd be even better if the bridge linking it to Northhaven Trail is built, and maybe a few more points of egress. Ahem again.)

Oooh, tough one here. Truth is, for all-purpose sports stores, the basic low-cost choices are big-box national behemoths like Academy Sports and Outdoors, Dick's, etc. Then things narrow down to more specialized shops — assorted gun shops, tennis shops, bike shops, REI for camping, Bass Pro and Cabela's for hunting and fishing, the list goes on. So why pick a store that's devoted to running for this general category? Besides the fact that Dallas is apparently a city of endless 5Ks, in most casual sports — i.e. walking — a key to get yourself out the door is comfy feet, and these guys know feet and how to find the right shoes to fit them. Even if you never run a step, Run On's reliable, well-trained, low-pressure staff will check your gait, measure carefully and send you out the door in footwear that's perfect for the court, fleeing zombies or a weekend walking the mall. Hey, that counts as exercise, even if you stop for a pretzel and gelato. You may leave with indigestion, but your tootsies will feel fine, and that's a start.

Not long ago, what made a gym popular in Dallas was probably more about the size of the facility, the amenities it provided and the cost of the membership. Today, gyms are more likely to be measured by the way they make you feel, the sense of community they provide and whether their offerings address the mind, body and soul. Now, a stellar workout is about total wellness, which is why GRIT Fitness tops our list. Founder Brittani Rettig believes in developing the whole person. A graduate of Cornell University and Harvard Business School, Rettig, who goes by Brit, found her passion in fitness and developed a holistic approach through classes that include traditional weights and cardio, athletic training — Did we mention Brit was the captain of the Cornell women's basketball team? — as well as dance, yoga and other tailored programs. Dallas corporate types, and many more, are finding balance with Brit.

Jiu-jitsu, wrestling, judo, Muay Thai, boxing, kickboxing and karate — when integrated, they call it mixed martial arts, MMA for short. It's not for the faint of heart, but as UFC popularity continues unabated, more people are adding self-defense to their fitness routines. At Octagon MMA, you don't have to aspire to be the next Conor McGregor to reap the benefits of their MMA training facilities and the wide variety of classes and training options. Octagon instructors are among the best in the city and incorporate multiple disciplines into personal and group training sessions. Want to compete? They'll help get you competition-ready too. Good luck, badass!

Is your financial outlook already indicating that the lil' ones are going to need an athletic scholarship if they ever want to go to college? We understand. But keep in mind, the moolah won't be easy to come by if you already have to beg the coach to put him in. Here's some advice: You have to spend money to make money, and many North Texas soccer parents already know that an investment in a personal coach can make all the difference. For goalkeepers, former Dallas Sidekick Sagu is who you need to gain the edge. Through weekly personalized and group training sessions and summer camps, the no-nonsense native of Brazil — and goalie for its 1999 national team — will drill in the physical and mental keys to successful goalkeeping. Sagu is tough but compassionate, which is why his goalkeeping academy is so popular. And isn't it a fact that someone who goes by one name is probably pretty darn good at his work?

This is not your mother's spin class. Darkness and pulsating beats are just two precursors to the drenched condition you'll find yourself in 45 minutes after you begin your Soul Cycle class. This high-intensity workout requires only nominal coordination, good news for the less coordinated fitness enthusiasts among us. Once class kicks into gear, you're rarely "in the saddle" (read: seated). Instead, you're doing "jumps" (which are exactly what they sound like) or hovering a pinkie's length above your seats. Get excited to attempt pseudo-push-ups off the handlebar and somehow juggle 2-pound hand weights all while spinning. It hurts. But it hurts so good.

For those who love golf but are more Caddyshack than PGA Tour, Top Golf is the place to go. You can work on your form in a low-pressure environment that encourages fun over frustration, with a climate-controlled bay serving as your base of operations while you aim for arcade-like targets on the range. You can bring the whole family to enjoy the games and extensive menu, or make it an adults-only night by sampling the offerings from the bar while you compete to see who woulda, coulda been the next Tiger Woods.

Yoga is where we go to zen out, but for some of us hip-hop can have the same effect. The folks behind hip-hop yoga classes at V12 Yoga Studio have figured out that when you combine the two, you get a new, fun way to connect mind, body and spirit. Led by Dallas fitness enthusiast Ade Hazley, hip-hop yoga flow infuses breath, alignment and meditation with culturally relevant music. The energy is sure to get you centered. If not, just dance.