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Best Croquet Evangelist

Bob Alman

You better get your fill of baseball now, while it's still the national pastime. 'Cause if Bob Alman has his way -- and he's so persistent, passionate, and charismatic, there's a good chance he will -- we'll all be taking each other out to a different kind of ball game pretty soon. Alman started playing croquet as a youngster but could never beat his dear old grandma. "This kind of thing scars you for life," he says. He played intermittently before moving to San Francisco in the 1970s, where he and his friends -- whom he describes as "intellectual outlaws" -- invented guerrilla croquet. "We would dress in white and go to places we didn't belong," Alman says. "We climbed the walls of the Spreckles Mansion in broad daylight. We played on a military base." Because of their outfits, they "looked authoritative" and rarely got booted from the property. "We went to Hewlett-Packard headquarters, and the security guard bought us lemonade. We played at the governor's mansion in Sacramento." Besides having convinced the City of San Francisco to build the country's first public croquet lawns, Alman was instrumental in lobbying for the establishment of the National Croquet Center in West Palm Beach, where he now works as a consultant. Recently, Alman has been promoting more variations on croquet, including Toequet (in which you ditch the mallets and kick oversize balls through giant wickets) and Extreme MalletBall (in which Toequet's oversized balls are used but mallets are reintroduced). He's taking these sports to recreation leaders around the region; and soon, the state; and not long afterward, to a baseball diamond near you.

Best Place to Ride a Bicycle

Everglades Holiday Park

Photo courtesy of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau
As all bicyclists know, the safest place to ride is anyplace you won't get flattened by a car. Given our scarcity of urban bike paths, hard-core riders have taken to the lonely levees that line the Everglades: those long, straight, shadeless fire-access roads motor vehicles aren't permitted on. One favorite mountain-biking spot is handily located just on the edge of civilization at Everglades Holiday Park. Bypass the tourists, the deafening airboats, and the gator wrasslin' by parking just outside the main entrance, just south of the huge pump station. From here, you can ride up and down the north-south L-30 Canal, which runs slightly west of U.S. 27. You can also ride to Levee 67-A west of L-30 and explore the area known as "The Pocket." Head south along 67-A (which goes all the way to the Tamiami Trail) until you reach the gauging station at the Miami Canal, which takes drinking water straight to the Magic City from Lake Okeechobee. Follow the canal one mile southeast to Levee 67-C. This area between the two levees, which stays wet year 'round, is the Pocket. Wading birds, turtles, and alligators are innumerable, and except for a few fishermen, it's all yours. Proceed north on 67-C, which takes you right back to Holiday Park, where you can pound down a cold Bud and eat a chili dog or two. The above-outlined loop is only about 12 miles. If you skip the Miami Canal crossover and choose to circumnavigate the entire Pocket, bear in mind it's more than a 50-mile roundtrip. Without lots of water, bug repellent, and sunscreen, take the extended version at your own risk.

Best Skateboard Shop

B.C. Surf & Sport

Toy Machine. Alien Workshop. Almost. Enjoi . Element. Baker. Black Label. Foundation. If you recognize these brand names and you're salivating right now, you might want to stop reading and start rolling down to B.C. Surf & Sport, a store run by skaters, for skaters. They always have at least 140 decks in stock, plus everything you need in terms of trucks, tools, and wheels. The cheapest deck (the B.C.) costs $35.99, and a complete setup will run you $120 to $220. And if you don't know what we're talking about -- but you want to -- call the shop's team riders, who will hook you up with some lessons.

Best Dive Shop

Divers Unlimited

The logo for Divers Unlimited is a dolphin holding a diploma in its fin. That explains exactly what you need to know about this dive shop, located on Pines Boulevard, just west of the Hollywood border. In addition to being one of the largest and most comprehensive dive shops in South Florida -- with row after row of wet suits, buoyancy-control devices, fins and masks, and even underwater cameras -- Divers Unlimited offers regular weekday and weekend PADI (Professional Association of Dive Instructors) certification courses, starting at $250. The course includes two days' worth of diving and ocean training as a scuba diver. If you're a South Florida resident with a sense of adventure, you're missing out if you're not already a certified diver. Thanks to the roaring Florida Straights acting as a constant cleaner, the reefs of Broward and Palm Beach counties are some of the most beautiful in the world.

Best Local Sports Buy

Best Kiteboarding

Those who have heard of kiteboarding, the seemingly insane sport of connecting a high-powered kite to a wakeboard, might think of the windy coast of the Dominican Republic or Maui. In February, a new kiteboarding manufacturer called Best Kiteboarding is hoping to make the sport synonymous with Delray Beach. Owned by pro kiteboarder Shannon Best and associates Alex Shogren and Jeff Biege, the company advertises that its online sales will make the sport more affordable to the novice. The company claims to have cut in half the entry price for equipment, down to about $1,000 for the standard kite-and-board setup. The business plan seems to have worked: In its first month after opening in February, the web-only company sold more than a thousand kites, Shogren says. At that pace, the company projects it will become the world's largest kiteboard supplier by year's end. Shogren says South Florida's windy and warm climate make it ideal for the fledgling sport. "We're hoping it's gigantic here," Shogren says with confidence. "Because we're based here, Delray will become known for this."

Best Skate Park

Boardz-N-Bladez

In the 1980s, skateboarding emerged from burly, backyard pool sessions and into the world of popular culture. But as the decade came to an end, so did the sport's popularity. For skateboarding stalwarts, it was back to the streets -- and back underground. And in the early '90s, a new generation of skateboarding was born -- one that fused the board-flipping technicality of freestyle with the gnarly, high-flying daredevilry of vert skating. A few years later, skateboarding saw a huge resurgence with such mainstream events as ESPN's X Games competition. Add to that the burgeoning popularity of inline skating and the demand for skateparks has never been greater. But today's skateparks have a new responsibility: to accommodate both experienced skaters and the scores of beginners, many of whom are under age 12. Welcome to Sunrise's Boardz-N-Bladez. The 12,000-square-foot park has the right combination of smooth and steep transitions, whether you're learning how to fakie or touching up on frontside airs. The indoor facility features half-pipes (a six-foot mini and a two-and-a-half-foot micro), quarter-pipes, stairs, a quarter-bowl, fun box, rails, ledges, banks, and -- for the more ballsy boarders and bladers -- a vert wall; plus, there's a four-foot miniramp outside. A two-hour session costs $10. On weekends, you can pay $25 for a whole day. And all you need for protection is a helmet!

Best Boating

Island City Kayak Co.

This 6.5-mile jaunt through the waters around Wilton Manors offers more for the voyeur than the nature lover. The waters are always calm, the folks who rent out the kayaks are friendly (they also organize Full Moon Kayak, a sporadic night kayak ride preceded by a winetasting at a local spirits store), and the trips let you spy on various waterfront residents of Wilton Manors and Fort Lauderdale while learning a little about the history of the area (the whole "loop," which includes Middle River, North Fork, and South Fork and surrounds Wilton Manors, takes about two and a half to three hours to paddle). If you're going it alone, the kayak rental costs $12 an hour; if you've got a partner in crime, the cost is $17 an hour. Kayak rentals are available Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., but if you have the urge to boat during the week, arrangements can be made.

Best Bowling Alley

Don Carter University Lanes

This hospital-sized bowling mecca wins on quantity. Sixty-four frickin' lanes (56 in Tamarac). A pro shop, a huge lounge, a massive snack bar, an arcade with air hockey and coin-op basketball. The main room is so large, it could develop its own weather patterns. The high school kids, well, they flock here. You should see the glee on a pimply face after rolling a strike in front of the girls. They may not show it, but they notice. They always notice.

Best Place to Rollerblade

North Beach

You want a straightaway. A long one. Maybe a few gentle curves to keep it interesting and challenging. You want something to look at -- tropical vegetation, a seascape, a glimpse of sand and waves. Mostly, you want a clear path so you can get a little momentum going. There's a Zen-like rhythm to distance skating. You don't want to be colliding with window-shopping tourists or nannies pushing baby strollers. So where do you go? North Beach Broadwalk -- north of Hayes Street. It's out of the tourist loop, which includes most of the rest of the Broadwalk. It's not a favorite with pedestrians (though watch out for bikers). It has a smooth surface and sea breezes. For the skater, it's freakin' paradise.

Best Swimming Pool

Jefferson at Young Circle

At its best, a swimming pool is a rectangular waterhole, an aquamarine gathering place where the social rituals are played out with all of the underlying rigor of village life in Kenya or Bolivia. There's something about a gently rolling body of water that promotes communal ties. Nowhere is this more evident than the 75-foot pool at the heart of Jefferson at Young Circle, a 235-unit apartment complex in downtown Hollywood. The morning begins with preschoolers taking tentative steps into the shallow end as nannies or stay-at-home moms compare kiddie notes. By midmorning, the first of the sunbathers are out. They stretch out on chaise longues and dig into magazines and bestsellers, with the Walkman plugs coming off as friends stop by. On weekend afternoons, the picnics and birthday parties get started under the shade trees near the back, and a few rowdy kids play loud games in the water. Lots of Spanish, lots of Portuguese, plenty of beer. In the late afternoon, a service supervisor from a local car dealership strolls out, cell phone glued to his ear, and eases into the Jacuzzi. On hot nights, the parties extend well past sunset. At 2 a.m., two young men from Long Island, stockbrokers in training, do cannonballs into the water, which is luminous with submarine light, to punctuate an evening of barhopping on Hollywood Boulevard. A couple of lovers ease their way, hand in hand, into the spa. Then all is quiet, and the pool lies still, its blue surface quilted with soft ripples. Of course, not everyone can enjoy this sublime calm. Want to get in? Rent an apartment in the complex, or get invited by someone who's a tenant.

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