Sports and Recreation >>

• Personal Best
  Rick Macci
  Road to the Grand Slam South Florida is still tennis mecca, drawing rising stars from near and far. Nowadays, it's not just the Florida weather (even states in the frigid north now have those inflatable, climate-controlled tennis pods where would-be tennis stars can drill year 'round) but... More >>
• Best Marlins Player
  Carlos Delgado
  The four-year, $52 million deal for aging first baseman Delgado, a bona fide star, was just what Jeffrey Loria needed to lift the stink off his franchise after giving away World Series hero Pudge Rodriguez. But what Delgado really brings to South Florida -- and the entire United States -- is a... More >>
• Best Sports League
  The World Adult Kickball Association
  Some people would argue that this is not actually a sports league but a drinking club disguised as a sports league. In what other athletic association do players need to pause to put their beers in their fanny packs before making a catch in deep center field? But athleticism, strategy,... More >>
• Best Place to Kayak
  John D. MacArthur Beach State Park
  You'd think that having your own private island would be too pricey for the working stiffs. But there's a private stretch of sand on Munyon Island at John D. MacArthur Beach State Park that's easily accessible for saps like you and me. Munyon is just a short kayak trip across the park's lagoon... More >>
• Best Place to Jog
  South Florida Striders Course
  If you like to run, well, you're crazy. We mean, it's almost summer in South Florida, and even if you jog at midnight, you'll sweat like a pig. You'll suffer. Of course, you may end up healthier, but then again, you may end up dead. So we recommend drinking heavily. Still want to exercise? Try... More >>
• Best Place to Walk Along the River
  Secret Woods Nature Center
  Tourists will probably want to take the Jungle Queen to gawk at the waterfront mansions or wallow among the plastic-surgery disasters downtown, but natives have already seen too much of that. For a taste of what the river looked like back in the day when Frank and Ivy Stranahan's clapboard house... More >>
• Best Snorkeling Spot
  North End of Palm Beach
  What makes this spot so damned unknown is the fact that it's so damned hard to get to. Here's how it works. Park your car at one of the very few public spots along North Ocean Boulevard in Palm Beach -- you know, near Rush Limbaugh and the other millionaires. Now, either take a bike north to the... More >>
• Best Place to Mountain-Bike
  Quiet Waters Park
  Never mind Viagra -- every lap around the mountain bike trails in Quiet Waters Park will help your cojones get bigger. When you first start going around the 5.5-mile loop, you can take the novice route, which is full of cheat chutes that let you circumvent the steep drops and hard parts. If you... More >>
• Best Urban Bike Ride
  Flagler Drive/Palm Beach Loop
  Nothing makes you want to show off the panty lines under your spandex like a beautiful bike route. Hop on your hot wheels and ingest some cool scenery along the water. Start at the Intracoastal Waterway, right around Southern Boulevard and Flagler Drive in West Palm Beach. Once you've pedaled... More >>
• Best Road Race for Runners
  Marathon of the Palm Beaches
  OK, so it's an obvious choice, but so was West Palm Beach's scenic, sinuous Flagler Drive as the setting for the first marathon ever held in Palm Beach County. Flagler's tree-lined ribbon of asphalt uncoils alongside the Intracoastal and weaves through several historic neighborhoods, displaying... More >>
• Best Day Trip
  Lake Okeechobee
  You've been to Naples, gotten lost in the Everglades, and burnt your epidermis on the beach. But have you ever circumnavigated the second-largest freshwater lake in the nation? It's a nice tour by car and takes you through five counties: Glades, Hendry, Palm Beach, Martin, and Okeechobee. Our... More >>
• Best Place to Take Out-of-Towners
  Marinelife Center of Juno Beach
  The Marinelife Center has come a long way since its humble beginnings in 1983, when it opened in borrowed space in a real-estate agent's office. Now, the center cares for about 1,500 turtles a year. Most are hatchlings that couldn't make it to the ocean, but many are injured or sick sea turtles... More >>
• Best Dolphins Player
  Chris Chambers
  In his four years as a Miami Dolphin, Chris Chambers hasn't been the kind of player to make a showy victory dance in the end zone, even though he's been there more often than any other receiver on the team. He hasn't been the kind of player to boast about his accomplishments either, despite... More >>
• Best Place to People-watch
  Bergeron Rodeo Grounds
  Get your wine-sniffing, Bravo-watching, Lexus-driving self out of the cloistered condo canyons and yacht lots of beachside Broward. If you drive 20 minutes west, you'll find yourself in the middle of Oklahoma, or something like it. Then open your color-contacted eyes and behold: Little girls in... More >>
• Best Place to Overhear Conversations
  The Fitness Co.
  This gym on the seventh floor of the AutoNation skyscraper sits directly across the street from the Broward County Courthouse and is surrounded by law offices. Thus, entering its locker room is like taking a trip to Lawyerville; it's populated by legal experts who work out on weekdays.... More >>
• Best Picnic Spot in Broward
  John Lloyd Park
  Near Port Everglades, John Lloyd has two miles of beach. On a ridge above the sand are picnic tables shaded by huge Australian pines. That's really all you need for a wonderful afternoon soirée, but Lloyd doesn't stop there. Like to fish? You can do it on the north end of the park from a... More >>
• Best Picnic Spot in Palm Beach
  Gulfstream Park
  Finding the right picnicking spot in South Florida seems simple enough; all you need is a place where your ham and cheese sandwich won't melt inside its plastic bag -- if that doesn't melt too. You need shade, but the pavilion at your neighborhood park is always full of rambunctious toddlers and... More >>
• Best Place to Birdwatch
  Fern Forest Nature Center
  Pileated woodpecker Black-and-white warbler Limpkin, mourning dove Great-crested flycatcher Glaucous gull, rock dove Solitary vireo Cattle egret, snowy egret House sparrow, oriole Yellow-bellied sapsucker Ovenbird, sandpiper Screech owl, fish crow... More >>
• Best Beach in Broward
  Deerfield Beach
  On the 37-mile stretch of sand between Lake Worth Beach and Fort Lauderdale Beach, you're pretty much dealing with blue herons and bluehairs. It's just nature interspersed with condos -- or the other way around. It's quiet. It's calm. It's pretty freakin' boring. Except for one shining spot of... More >>
• Best Beach in Palm Beach
  Carlin Park
  On one of those days, when you're looking at all the traffic on I-95 and you're remembering that your Florida neighbors voted both George and Jeb Bush into office and you're thinking, "Why the hell do some people consider this place paradise?" all you need to do is mosey over to Carlin Park for... More >>
• Best Park in Palm Beach
  South County Regional Park
  So your doctor's been telling you to take better care of yourself, as always. And, as always, he uses the dreaded e word: exercise. However, running around your block means passing by that neighbor whose vacuum cleaner you borrowed and conveniently misplaced. But that's just as well, because... More >>
• Best Park in Broward
  Quiet Waters Park
  Quiet Waters? Isn't that where all those weird medieval people hang out? Well, if you're thinking of the Florida Renaissance Festival, then, yes, that's one of the many events the park hosts. But if face-painting fairies, jousters, and jesters are all you know about Quiet Waters Park, then... More >>
• Best Weekend Getaway
  Cayo Costa State Park
  Tired of paying through the nose for an oceanfront view? Had it with crowded beaches and car exhaust? Try this rustic isle just a couple of hours' drive from South Florida. There are 30 tent sites and 12 cabins here. There's also eight miles of beach, much of it deserted, and a surfeit of... More >>
• Best Heat Player
  Damon Jones
  For all their superstardom, Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade can't hit a 24-footer to save their nicknames. Wade makes a three-point shot, on average, once a month. O'Neal has made precisely one NBA trey, nine years ago. Damon Jones, the Heat guard keeping defenses honest -- and freeing the... More >>
• Best Water Park
  Rapids Water Park
  With summer bearing down faster than a gaggle of elderly on an early-bird special, South Florida will soon be slightly hotter than the surface of the sun -- and that's after sunset. No need to even delve into how sweltering it gets in the daylight hours when heat indices routinely hit around 2... More >>
• Best Dog Park
  CityPaws
  There's really no other way to judge a good dog park than the poop factor. Nothing will ruin your day faster than stepping in a steaming pile of doggy doo, especially if it came from somebody else's mutt. The courteous patrons of West Palm Beach's CityPaws dog park are good enough to regularly... More >>
• Best Surf Spot
  Reef Road
  The bluehairs who live around here won't be glad we told you, but Reef Road is the premier surfing spot in all of South Florida. Of course, if you're good enough to surf it, you probably already know about it. But grommets and newbies who want to check it out should know a few things before they... More >>
• Best Tourist Trap
  Mack's Groves
  Northerners flock to Mack's Groves, a gargantuan glorified gift shop on A1A, to immerse themselves in a citrus paradise. Of course, Mack's carries a full line of regional knickknacks, trinkets, and doodads (coral, shells, candles, sea urchins, and starfish), plus silk shirts with palm trees and... More >>
• Best Pickup Basketball
  Regional Park at Weston
  We're not talking about the game. We're talking about practice. So why's it so hard to pick up a good pickup game? By the time you find a court that isn't covered with broken glass and discarded condoms and one that actually has nets on the baskets, there are downs so deep you need a calendar... More >>
• Best Leisure Activity Other Than Clubs or Movies
  Beach Volleyball at South Beach Park
  Everybody who's not a moron knows that the real fruits of leisure are to be found in the outdoors. But sometimes, Fort Lauderdale's greatest offering, a stretch of golden sand on the placid Atlantic, isn't enough. Sometimes, a beach is just a beach. You can sweat, swim, and soak up sun. Done... More >>
• Best Bowling Alley in Palm Beach
  Greenacres Bowl
  Sure, Don Carter Bowling Center has shinier lanes and more of 'em too. But that's precisely what attracted the group of obnoxious high school brats that ruined your perfect game the last time you went. Fortunately, their kind isn't as prevalent at Greenacres Bowl -- even if it's the only thing... More >>
• Best Bowling Alley in Broward
  AMF Davie Lanes
  It's pretty basic: Davie Lanes has four domestic beers on tap and some of the best burgers and Cajun-spiced fries around. And they fry those babies up fresh too. Oh yeah, and they've got those things that have three holes that you like to put your fingers into. No, we're not talking about a bevy... More >>
• Best Place to Play Shuffleboard
  Lake Worth Shuffleboard Building
  Indulge your inner (or outer) senior citizen with 28 covered shuffleboard courts just west of downtown Lake Worth. After the spring, the shuffle clubs tend to clear out, leaving more space for the casual player. The cost, including equipment? One thin dollar per person. The building is also the... More >>
• Best Roller Coaster
  Dania Beach Hurricane
  You probably drive past it several times a week, the mass of intricately stacked wood rising ten stories in the air off I-95. From a distance, it looks as though it could be made with matchsticks, but it's actually built of roughly 1 million feet of pine and fir lumber. And when you get on top... More >>
• Best Thing About the Panthers Lockout
  Triage
  The sheer duration of the National Hockey League lockout places it among the most baffling stoppages in the history of North American sports, and it may well signal hockey's withering into second-tier entertainment. Owners claimed players' salaries were devouring 75 percent of revenue; reckless... More >>
• Best Golf Hole
  18th hole, Championship Course, Colony West Country Club
  A lot of factors go into judging a great golf hole: natural beauty, approach technique, and overall feeling come into consideration. But as most serious duffers would agree, the single most important factor is challenge. A great hole separates the weekend warriors from the hardcore linksmen,... More >>
• Best Place to Ditch the Kids
  Parents Night Out
  You love your rugrats. They're funny, smart, cute, and they rarely vomit at the wrong time. Well, that doesn't mean you don't occasionally want to free yourself and your mate for a Saturday-night romp. Dancing, maybe. Or bowling. Or, hell, just sitting on a bus bench in peace for a few minutes... More >>
• Best Coach
  Stan Van Gundy
  When Pat Riley stepped down as Miami Heat coach two years ago, he took a lot of flack for bailing out on the team. But the man with the best slicked-back hair in America had already lost face. Remember when he traded Jamal Mashburn to the Hornets in 2000 only to have the Monster Mash dominate... More >>
• Best Trainer
  The Health Colonel
  Surely you've seen him. That guy, dressed in camouflage pants and combat boots who's doing squats on Fort Lauderdale Beach with a bunch of sweaty "recruits" in tow? That's the 53-year-old Health Colonel, a.k.a. retired Army Col. Bob Weinstein. Never have we met a man so in love with exercise.... More >>
• Best Sports Enigma
  Nick Saban
  One columnist wrote that Saban has gone entire seasons without cracking a smile. He's serious, cheerless, and dull as a two-yard gain up the middle. He's so secretive that some around the Dolphins camp have already started calling him "Double-O Saban." Maybe his family and close friends know the... More >>
• Best Sports Trade
  Shaq Ricky Quiles
  Shaquille O'Neal is the most powerful force in basketball. The Heat got him from the Lakers and turned in one of the best regular seasons in basketball. 'Nuff said. But the trade wasn't really between the Heat and the Lakers but where the real competition lies -- between California and Florida.... More >>
• Best FAU Player
  Iana Andonova
  To be a great collegiate volleyball player, you don't have to be the scion of an Olympic high jumper and a decathlete, nor for that matter must you spend a childhood playing eight hours of tennis daily at a specialized sports school in Eastern Europe -- but it apparently doesn't hurt. You can... More >>