Sports & Recreation >>

• Readers' Poll
  Best Place to Blade Golden Gate Park Best Urban Hike Twin Peaks Best Suburban Hike Mount Tam Best Place to Skateboard The Embarcadero Best Gym 24 Hour Fitness Best Bike Shop Pedal Revolution Best Outdoors Shop REI Best Place to Walk the Dog Golden Gate Park Best Place to... More >>
• Best 49er
  Julian Peterson
  On a team that's lost its most recognizable offensive players -- quarterback Jeff Garcia, wide receiver Terrell Owens, and running back Garrison Hearst -- the best of the new-look 49ers is linebacker Julian Peterson. A two-time Pro Bowler who has yet to become a household name, Peterson is... More >>
• Best Reason to Be Glad Terrell Owens Is Gone
  Brandon Lloyd
  Of the many, many reasons to be relieved that the 49ers have parted ways with volatile wide receiver Terrell Owens -- who brought us Sharpie distractions, too many dropped passes, and ever-more-infrequent brilliance -- the best just might be Brandon Lloyd, a 6-foot, 184-pound second-year... More >>
• Best Warrior
  Brian Cardinal
  He was the last player invited to training camp in the fall, but for stretches of the season, Cardinal was what this year's iteration of the Warriors aspired to be: cagey, unselfish, overachieving. The fourth-year forward from Purdue threw himself at loose balls, boxed out on rebounds, drew... More >>
• Best Rookie
  Bobby Crosby
  In the past three years, the A's have lost more MVPs to free agency than most teams will produce in two decades -- first baseman Jason Giambi jumped to the Yankees in 2002, and shortstop Miguel Tejada is now an Oriole. But this never seems to bother General Manager Billy Beane, ever sure he can... More >>
• Best Biplane Rides
  Vintage Aircraft Co.
  Ever wonder what Redford and Streep felt like as they soared above picturesque herds of wildebeests stampeding o'er the veld in Out of Africa? We have no idea. But we do know what it's like to soar above housing tracts, wineries, and rusting tractors in Sonoma County. It's grand! Just strap on... More >>
• Best Sailing School
  Tradewinds Sailing Club
  Summer's a month away and the beautiful blue bay beckons. You've always wanted to hop aboard one of those sleek boats packed with all those happy-looking people and scud off to Angel Island for a picnic. Two problems: You have no friggin' idea how to sail, and you don't have a lot of jack to... More >>
• Best Bike Repairs on the Cheap (5 Comments)
  Bike Kitchen
  Maybe it's about gas prices. Maybe it's about love handles. Maybe it's the idea of flying down Market with the wind in your hair. Whatever the excuse, it's time to dust off the Huffy and ride. To get that old horse running, hit the Bike Kitchen, a cooperative repair shop with a full tool set and... More >>
• Best Place to Play Air Hockey
  Kennedy's Irish Pub and Curry House
  Yes, it's as weird a combination as it sounds. But what this place lacks in ambience (the bar area is tiny, and the restaurant seating is reminiscent of a mall food court, with bright lights and nondescript tables) it makes up for in arcade fun. Pool tables and video games are available, but the... More >>
• Best Surf Report
  Wise Surfboards
  San Francisco is not a surf town. To confirm this, simply pick up the phone and call Wise Surfboards' surf report, updated every day at 9 a.m., noon, and 3 p.m. There you'll hear the bored, dejected voice of one of the shop's employees as he describes the surf at Ocean Beach, which is almost... More >>
• Best Weird Sport Invented in San Francisco
  Ride & Tie
  Ride & Tie is an obscure endurance sport that's part relay race and part horse race, dreamed up as a publicity stunt by a Levi's marketing executive in 1971 (competitors wore cutoff Levi's). A team of two covers a distance of 20 to 100 miles -- one person running, the other on horseback. After a... More >>
• Best Scenic Races
  EnviroSports
  www.envirosports.org Every course in an EnviroSports race is chosen for its scenic qualities. The contests are held on trails in Muir Woods, Tennessee Valley, Big Basin, and various other parks in the Bay Area; most are offered in three distance options -- seven miles, 13 miles (a... More >>
• Best Sneering Sports Guy
  Gary Radnich
  When you turn on your local sports radio show, you expect to hear guys like KNBR's Rick Barry spouting wisdom such as "Defense wins championships" and "So-and-so needs to use his off-hand more in the low post." What you don't expect is an aging white guy reciting 50 Cent lyrics or lamenting the... More >>
• Best Outdoors Store
  REI
  Were we the only ones who jumped up and down when REI opened a store in San Francisco? Surely not. Ground zero for all things outdoors -- gear for camping, hiking, biking, paddling, skiing, snowboarding, running (OK, we'll stop now before we hyperventilate) -- REI has finally come to our town... More >>
• Best Playground
  Julius Kahn Playground
  The pull of the rich over our public realm has downsides. Disproportionate city resources go to yachting and golf. Cops concentrate in tony neighborhoods like the Marina. And, with the election of our Getty-backed mayor, the rich now apparently don't merely pay to elect public officials -- they... More >>
• Best Discount Store for Triathletes
  Sports Basement
  Sports Basement isn't quite what it used to be when it opened six years ago. Back then you could find $90 triathlon suits for $15, $30 running shirts for $5, and other high-tech sportswear for around half what the market would bear. But though the shop has hiked its prices over the years, one... More >>
• Best Alternative to Kinky Sex
  Mission Cliffs
  Looking for new thrills that don't require Astroglide? Try climbing huge plastic rock outcroppings! It's a lot like kinky sex -- you wear a cute little harness, stretch unknown muscles, and lose the ability to control bestial facial expressions. You can even talk dirty with all kinds of... More >>
• Best Cheapo Ice Skating
  Yerba Buena Ice Skating & Bowling Center
  Skating rinks are magical places. Maybe it's the motion -- that graceful, circular glide. Maybe it's the nostalgia -- that memory of skating hand-in-sweaty-hand with your middle-school sweetheart. Maybe it's the cheesy, upbeat pop hits that blare from the speakers -- the perfect soundtrack for... More >>
• Best Secluded Soccer Field
  St. Mary's Recreation Center
  Shh, don't tell everyone, but hidden in a remote corner of the Mission is one of the best public fields for a private get-together. Call 15 or 20 of your best friends for an impromptu game of football (either the American or Euro kind), or play some fast-pitch on the well-groomed baseball... More >>
• Best Bowling Alley
  Sea Bowl Entertainment Center
  Let's face it: We're officially in the age of Astro Bowling, when teeny-boppers flood bowling alleys on Friday and Saturday nights and toss gutter balls amid techno music and black-lit lanes. But even on weekends, the Sea Bowl Entertainment Center in Pacifica is the best tenpin venue around, and... More >>
• Best Bar for Expats to Watch Their Home Sports Teams
  Kezar Pub & Restaurant
  A friend of ours was in Rio de Janeiro for his birthday last year when he wandered into a bar, glanced at the TV, and saw not the inevitable soccer game, but the San Francisco Giants, live via satellite from what was then Pac Bell Park. Myriad charms of Rio notwithstanding, it was the greatest... More >>
• Best Place to Pick Up a Sailor
  Cal Sailing Club's "Open House"
  Sailing, traditionally a diversion of the posh, carries a commensurate price tag at the numerous local academies where the ambitious can transform themselves from nauseous newbies into sea-legged old salts. Just an hour of lessons can run into the hundreds of dollars, and learning to guide a... More >>
• Best Crappy-Bike Repair Shop
  Pedal Revolution
  The vast majority of folks who get around town on two-wheeled vehicles don't pedal about on no-name cycles -- instead, they attack the city's hills on precious $1,000 Bianchi racing bikes and titanium Cannondales that cost more than the first car you ever drove. As a consequence, San Francisco's... More >>
• Best Collapse
  Six-Way Tie
  Let's see. We have the Giants waddling toward home plate against the Florida Marlins. We have the A's staring at strike three against Boston and blowing a 2-0 series lead in the most painful way possible. We have the Warriors going from young and promising to old and embittered in the span of a... More >>
• Most Candid Athlete
  Tim Brown
  As the Raiders spiraled (comically) out of control last season, scores of Bay Area sports fans and pundits were left scratching their heads, wondering what in the name of Al Davis was going on over there. Lawsuits, injuries, suspensions, BALCO innuendo, open player revolt -- last year's Raiders... More >>
• Best 1968 Bike Shop
  Bike Hut
  There was a time in San Francisco, long distant now, when life was communal and good. Shopkeepers were as likely to be out back toking a doobie as tending to their stores. If you needed some help -- bike repair work, say -- a shopkeeper might perform it expertly, then ask nothing more than a... More >>
• Best Announcer
  Bill King
  The legendary broadcaster is doing only radio these days, but he's still the best in the Bay Area. In fact, radio is the medium that best allows for appreciation of King's dulcet Midwestern tones, dry sense of humor, and trademark shouts of "Holy Toledo!" He might have slowed down a bit since... More >>
• Best Walking Tours
  City Guides
  It seems too good to be true, but in the case of City Guides it isn't. The group offers free walking tours of San Francisco -- interesting ones, every single day of the year, with a wide range of themes, neighborhoods, and levels of steepness -- and as a result draws a surprising audience:... More >>
• Best Rodeo
  Heavy Pedal Cyclecide Bike Rodeo
  "Ask for forgiveness, never ask for permission." "We're such idiots, we don't know how stupid we are." And, drum roll please, "Too dumb to die." If you've ever wondered what it takes to survive as part of a traveling punk rock Frankencycle performance group, one of the answers is: "A lot of... More >>
• Best Hike for History Buffs
  Barbary Coast Trail
  This 3.8-mile hike is perfect for those who want to learn something about the city while burning calories. The circuitous route, marked by 150 bronze medallions and arrows set in the sidewalk by the San Francisco Museum & Historical Society, wends its way from downtown through Chinatown and... More >>
• Best Baseball Series
  Grab the cabernet, Giants fans. Don't forget your calculators and 20-sided dice, A's fans. Here are a few can't-miss matchups on both sides of the bay. A's vs. Toronto, June 3-6 Toronto General Manager J.P. Ricciardi was the first of the Billy Beane disciples to take over another... More >>