Sports & Recreation >>

• Best College Athlete
  Brad Smith
  University of Missouri
  Tapping Mizzou's sophomore phenom Brad Smith for this category is a big no-brainer. The Youngstown, Ohio, native is the finest player to grace Faurot Field since Kellen Frickin' Winslow -- a bona fide Heisman Trophy candidate (just ask the folks at ESPN The Magazine and Sports Illustrated) who... More >>
• Best High School Athlete
  Kevin Lisch
  Althoff High (Belleville)
  Kevin Lisch may only be known for his prodigious basketball skills, but amid the laziness of summer, the six-foot-two guard is always looking for a game -- whether it be golf, wiffleball or 100-meter match sprints in his backyard with one of his sisters. Lisch is the most prominent male member... More >>
• Best Cardinals Player
  Albert Pujols
  Here's a full-season stat line for you: a .330 batting average, 14 home runs, 102 RBI, 49 doubles, 35 stolen bases and a slugging percentage of .484. Oh, yeah -- and the player is the top National League shortstop. With numbers like those (projected, as of mid-September, over the full season),... More >>
• Best Coach
  Brad Soderberg
  St. Louis University
  Less than a year ago, rookie St. Louis University men's basketball coach Brad Soderberg found himself on the hot seat before he'd coached so much as one game. Perceived out of the chute as a ho-hum hire to replace the departed Lorenzo Romar, the former University of Wisconsin interim head coach... More >>
• Best Sports Bar
  DB's Sports Bar
  The purest gauge of a sports bar's efficacy can be expressed thusly: "Can I get my game on?" If you can't, it probably means one of three things: 1) the sports bar doesn't have enough TV sets; 2) the waitstaff is inadequately trained or unwilling to navigate the satellite dish; or 3) the... More >>
• Best Sports Broadcast Personality
  Frank Cusamano
  KSDK-TV (Channel 5)
  Frank Cusamano is a local. He went to DeSmet High School, which you can tell by listening to his daily radio show on KFNS (590 AM). He played basketball at UMSL. He's a fan of the Cardinals, Rams, Blues and St. Louis University basketball, as you can tell by the energy in his voice when he does... More >>
• Best Batting Cage
  Par-Tee Recreation Center Inc.
  To select the best St. Louis-area batting cage, we enlisted the help of an eight-year-old baseball fanatic. After sampling several batting cages, we had a winner: Par-Tee Recreation Center in Florissant. Each of the nine batting cages has an actual home plate, not some painted-on fake. Our... More >>
• Best Public Pool
  North Pointe Family Aquatic Center
  When it comes to pools, the motto in St. Louis is: "If we build it, they will come." Over the past decade, municipalities have been trying to outdo each other in the water-park department, which means there are plenty of good public water parks to choose from. Using a scientific formula that... More >>
• Best Boxing Gym
  South Broadway Athletic Club Annex
  Listen, kid, if you're gonna box, you're gonna have to get strong, fast and mean. And you ain't gonna get that way without focus and determination. When you go to "train" at that excuse for a gym -- the air-conditioned one with the juice bar, the Spandex and the co-ed yoga -- your focus and... More >>
• Best Local Boxer
  Cory Spinks
  Best local pugilist? It's gotta be Cory Spinks, 31-2, who snatched the International Boxing Federation's welterweight belt from Italian Michele Piccirillo this past April, after losing to him the year before. Spinks dominated the fight and won a unanimous decision. Managed by St. Louisan Kevin... More >>
• Best Bluegill Fishing Tournament
  The one held every June at Karban's Knotty Pines Tavern
  One of the coolest things about Southern Illinois is that you don't have to look for rural tranquility -- you're more or less in it once you sail past East St. Louis. But even by these standards, Paderborn is a tiny town, boasting a church, a population under 100, and Karban Knotty Pines Tavern,... More >>
• Best Fishing Hole
  Elk Fork of the Salt River near Paris, Missouri
  Yeah, it's a bit of a trek, but we can explain. The best fishing hole must be sufficiently remote to allow the best form of fishing, of which the indisputable stylistic king is noodling. Noodling is an inexplicably illegal, positively Paleolithic form of fishing that essentially consists of a... More >>
• Best Blues Player
  Barret Jackman
  In a season that was by turns exhilarating and frustrating for Blues fans, rookie defenseman Barret Jackman gave us all a reason to be proud at season's end. Yes, the Calder Trophy (denoting "Best Rookie") was a nice acknowledgment of Jackman's talent and went a little way toward easing the pain... More >>
• Best Ex-Cardinal Whose Number Isn't Retired in Right Field
  Willie McGee
  Quick, name the center fielder to whom this one-season stat line belongs: .353 batting average, 216 hits, 114 runs, 82 RBI, 56 stolen bases, 18 triples and a .503 slugging percentage. Joe DiMaggio, right? Well, no -- Joltin' Joe was fleet, but not 56-stolen-bases-and-18-triples-quick. Willie... More >>
• Best Rams Player
  Isaac Bruce
  Ike Bruce doesn't knock up gold-digging barflys, get accused of beating women or hold out for crazy contractual bling. Furthermore, Bruce's wife doesn't call up local sports-radio shows to defend his honor and dispute that of his head coach. Nope, all Ike Bruce does is catch footballs. Lots of... More >>
• Best Public Park
  Tower Grove Park
  In the words of an original park report, Tower Grove Park's thoroughfares were designed for "the costly chariot flashing with silver and polish, and also for the humble wagon with its painted sign indicating its daily use." Diverse groups are still served by the south St. Louis pleasure ground... More >>
• Best Forest Park Improvement
  The boathouse
  Sure, we're all getting tired of the ribbons of orange plastic fencing that have been wrapping Forest Park like a Christo work gone sour. But as the barriers come slowly down, a park transformed by years of planning and fundraising is unveiled. Lawrence Halprin's stunning gates aside, the park's... More >>
• Best Place to Jog
  Forest Park
  If the category were Most Convenient Place to Jog, avid runners with busy schedules would respond as one: "my neighborhood" or "the park closest to my house." But if time is no object and you have no moral objection to driving somewhere for a jog, then head to Forest Park. Bike paths snake... More >>
• Best Urban Bike Ride
  The St. Louis Riverfront Trail
  Propping Tower Grove Park is always a noble endeavor, and there's no better way to experience its beauty -- especially now, in the fall, when the trees are exploding and the squirrels are starting to panic. But we're looking for a ride, and a cruise through the Grove is more of a jaunt. The best... More >>
• Best Place to Hike
  Castlewood State Park
  It's hardly as remote as the Mark Twain National Forest or the rugged Ozarks, but Castlewood State Park is as close to nature as you can get inside the metro area. Just a half-hour's drive from downtown and mere minutes away from the suburbs of Ballwin, Castlewood straddles the Meramec River and... More >>
• Best Picnic Spot
  Bellerive Park
  Watch the barges, nibble on some cheese, have a glass of wine, experience the river, all in a park that, if you time it right, can be yours. Bellerive Park, all five and a half acres of it, is in south St. Louis, right at the intersection of Bates and South Broadway, and it only has one picnic... More >>
• Best Stroll
  Lafayette Square
  Forget about Ted Drewes, toasted ravioli, the Arch and Forest Park -- if you really want to show out-of-town visitors that the River City ain't no urban slouch, just take them on a stroll through the spectacular confines of the city's historic Lafayette Square neighborhood, which boasts the... More >>
• Best Thoroughbred Trainers
  Ralph and Raul Martinez
  Imagine yourself at an Amsterdam hashish bar, staring across the table at a Pakistani tourist who knows about as much English as you know Pakistani. In order to communicate, you and your South Asian friend -- both of you baked -- are forced to rely on telepathy, gestures, rhythm of speech and... More >>
• Best Bowling Lanes
  Epiphany Lanes
  If it's not against your religion to give money to the Catholic Church, Epiphany Lanes is a dandy place to smoke, drink and bowl. Located in the recreation building behind Epiphany of Our Lord Church, Epiphany Lanes is one of two parish-owned bowling houses in the city. (Magdalen Lanes on... More >>
• Best Bowling Alley to Die in the Past Year
  Arcade Lanes
  A jukebox featuring Al Hirt playing "Cotton Candy" and selections by the Mills Brothers. A leaky roof. Keeping your own score. Cranky pinsetters. Scuffed-up rental shoes. House balls pocked and gouged. Never waiting for a lane. Dusty trophies and air thick with memories. All destroyed by fire.... More >>
• Best Miniature Golf
  Concord Lanes
  How often have you wished, after a round of miniature golf, that you could go right inside and bowl? Or looked for the batting cages just after a tough rock climb? Maybe not too many times, but just in case, Concord Lanes on Tesson Ferry Road has it all -- an eighteen-hole mini-golf course, an... More >>
• Best Hole at a Golf Course
  No. 16 at Annbriar Golf Course
  "A freakin' brute" is how one veteran golfer describes Annbriar Golf Course's sweet No. 16. It isn't the most scenic hole -- No. 11 gets that honor -- but if it's a challenge you want, then the par-four, 466-yard sixteenth is a great choice. A golfer has to struggle with a tee shot into the... More >>
• Best Basketball Court
  Chaney Elementary School
  There is a forge in which heroes are made, and it's just behind Chaney Elementary School (formerly A.B. Green Elementary) in Richmond Heights. You may not realize you've seen this pair of basketball courts, but you have. Every car traveling east on Highway 40 near the Hanley exit zooms past this... More >>
• Best Sports Bargain
  Late innings at Busch Stadium
  Pssst. Wanna go see the Cardinals play for free? Redbirds' management doesn't advertise it, but when they open the big metal gates at Busch Stadium to allow folks to leave, any schmo on the street can waltz into the stadium for free. That usually happens around the bottom of the seventh or top... More >>
• Best Weekend Getaway
  Hermann
  It is a problem, this lack of distinct getaway options when you live in the middle of the prairie. Drive four hours in any direction and still no mountains, man. No ocean, no surfing, no nothin'. Just drag racing on county roads, bowling and an occasional state fair -- that's all we got.... More >>
• Best Yoga Studio
  Big Bend Yoga Center
  As encouraging as this year's bumper crop of yoga spots has been for stretch-and-sweat enthusiasts (particularly the debuts of the Pilates Center of St. Louis in Dogtown and Lafayette Square's much-needed Marbles Yoga Studio, which shares its space with an art gallery), the Big Bend Yoga Center... More >>