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Best Cheap Seats

Grass Land General Admission, Constellation Field

Since Minor League Baseball franchise the Sugar Land Skeeters threw out their first pitch a few years ago, their custom-built ballpark has received nothing but rave reviews. It's got a kids-only swimming pool and a carousel behind the wall in left-center field, but the Grass Land general admission hill in right field is the real draw. Right behind the bullpens, there's plenty of action to see and for just over $8.

Best Driving Range

Top Golf

We all love a nice, relaxing trip to the driving range to hit a bucket of balls and let off some steam, right? But haven't we always thought about how great it would be if someone were to combine the therapeutic pummeling of hundreds of golf balls with the casual gluttony of food, drink, sports and live music? Well, Top Golf has done it! Opened last fall, this attraction on the west side of Houston has three separate levels and more than 100 bays where patrons can hit balls into a range that has ten different targets. The real kicker is that the balls have microchips embedded in them, allowing golfers to track distance and accuracy on their own or competitively among friends. If this is the wave of the future in driving ranges, the future is most certainly bright.

Best Franchise Owner

Bob McNair, Houston Texans

When you're looking to figure out whether or not a city has an owner who qualifies as "good" (let alone "best"), there are a few checkpoints, and McNair seems to hit positively on all of them. Willingness to spend on payroll? Check. The Texans are among the highest-spending teams in the NFL. Active in the community? Check. You can't attend a charity event without seeing the Texans' fingerprints somewhere on it. Success on the field? Check. The Texans appear to have finally turned the corner with back-to-back playoff seasons. But what wins the honor for McNair in 2013 is that he's expanded his game by adding a brutal honesty to the assessment of his team as they try to take that next step. Our personal favorite is when he was asked about Matt Schaub and he assessed his quarterback's play as "more than adequate," a positively lukewarm endorsement that perfectly encapsulates exactly how the rest of the city feels about Schaub. Add to that McNair's pre-draft analysis that the team needs a gamebreaker on offense (voilà, DeAndre Hopkins!), and it's the awareness of the Texans' on-field needs that puts McNair over the top.

Best Place to Canoe

Buffalo Bayou

More and more locals are catching on to the splendor of Buffalo Bayou, one of the few central Houston waterways that remain unpaved and in a near-natural state. Put your boat in near Voss and Woodway and paddle past the regal backyards of Memorial Bend and River Oaks, where the bayou is wilder and you'll have a better chance of seeing a gar or a great blue heron. Or put in at the Sabine Street Lofts near downtown and paddle upriver to Shepherd at sunset to watch the bats fly out. Even if you don't have your own canoe or kayak, a number of local businesses have sprung up in town to provide rentals, lessons and even guided tours. Trust us, you haven't seen a Houston sunset until you've seen it reflected off the buildings of downtown from the water of Buffalo Bayou.

Best Astro

Jose Altuve

How do we know Jose Altuve is the Best Astro? Because money talks, and on a team with a total payroll that amounts to about three months' worth of salary for Alex Rodriguez, the Astros' decision to extend Altuve for the next four years (with a guarantee of $12.5 million) is proof positive that the diminutive second baseman is viewed by upper management as a future building block for success, whenever the team's great leap forward may occur. At 23 years old, Altuve has already made one trip to the All Star Game, and standing five-foot-five, he's exactly the type of "everyman" grinder that Astros fans can get behind while they wait for the rest of the team's future nucleus to arrive from the minor leagues.

Best Weekend Getaway

Galveston

Just an hour away from Houston, Galveston is the sentimental favorite for a weekend getaway by H-Town residents. There are some 32 miles of beaches (enough to guarantee you'll find a spot to yourself) and more than 5,000 affordable hotel rooms (almost all of which face the Gulf of Mexico); Moody Gardens and The Pleasure Pier provide more than enough interactive entertainment to fill a long weekend; and there's The Strand historic district for visitors who want to enjoy slightly more sedate activities (only slightly, mind you). Halloween is the perfect time of year to visit — the beach is still warm and inviting, and the island's ghost tours are in full swing (all those sea wrecks and hurricanes, not to mention good old-fashioned only-in-Texas murders, have reportedly made for plenty of ghosts on the island).

Best Bike Path

Terry Hershey Park

This large park begins at Beltway 8 on the east and rolls along the bayou all the way to Barker Dam on the west. Terese "Terry" Hershey, a former member of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission, is the namesake of this expansive park on the west side of the city. She's credited with leading the campaign to prevent the banks of Buffalo Bayou from being paved with concrete, a fate that could not be avoided for White Oak and Brays bayous. The result of Hershey's efforts is a natural, pleasing view that greets you as you ride your bike or jog the more than 12 miles of paved paths that run under Wilcrest, Kirkwood, Dairy Ashford and Eldridge Parkway. In the shade of the trees, riders will find a pleasant and fairly easy ride with only a few hills to scale along the way.

Best Fans

Dynamo Fans

Head out to any Houston Dynamo game at the still fairly new BBVA Compass Stadium and you'll have various specific pockets of Dynamo fans all tailgating in a festive atmosphere like it's an October Texans game. The difference with the Dynamo faithful is that factions of the squad's fans carry specific memberships with them, distinct identities expressed through chants, flags and their group's history, all of whom are recognized by the team on their Web site. The Texian Army is the oldest and best known of these groups, but you can also find El Batallón, La Bateria and the Brickwall Firm readying themselves for battle at every Dynamo home game and at many a road game as well. Earlier this season, the Dynamo broke the MLS record for consecutive unbeaten games at home, and players will tell you that Dynamo fans are one of the biggest driving forces behind that unprecedented ­accomplishment.

Best Place to Fly a Kite

Discovery Green Park

Photo by Katya Horner

It may not be as vast as Hermann Park or Eleanor Tinsley Park, but Discovery Green in the heart of downtown offers a perfect green space and backdrop for those days when flying a kite just might make all your troubles fade away. The Jones Lawn offers 1.7 acres in the center of the park, which is more than enough space to launch your flying contraptions into the wind. While you're there, catch a show at the Anheuser-Busch Stage, cool off in the Gateway Fountain or Mist Tree, or bring your puppy to play around in the dog runs.

Best Golf Course

Wildcat Golf Club

When it comes to daily-fee public golf courses, the gold standard in the city of Houston is Wildcat Golf Club. Originally opened in 2001, the course boasts rolling hills and swells that provide incredible views of the downtown skyline, the Galleria and Reliant Stadium from virtually anywhere on the 36-hole course. It's the official golf course for all the Houston professional sports franchises, so chances are that if you've played in a corporate or charity event, you've played at Wildcat. It's what they do best. In a fiercely competitive golf economy, owners Elmer Stephens and Tim Lolodice have managed to keep greens fees very affordable (including an enticing monthly membership fee of $300 that includes golf, cart and range fees) and customer service at a premium at Wildcat.

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