For the Georgia Straight’s 16th annual Best of Vancouver issue, our editorial team has spent months on the lookout for good deeds, weird urban details, and various howlers to highlight. Here’s our contributors’ picks for Best of Vancouver 2011.

Best MLB rookie numbers

Brett Lawrie

Can there be any doubt? Through his first 33 games as a Toronto Blue Jay, Langley’s Brett Lawrie clubbed eight home runs, batted in 21 runs, and posted a .330 batting average. Lawrie, 21, also stole six bases without being caught once. With eight doubles and four triples, he managed a stratospheric slugging percentage of .678. He tapered off in his next nine games, and as the Georgia Straight went to press, his batting average was .295.

Best candidate for yoga classes

In terms of flexibility, Roberto Luongo is Bambi on skates when lined up next to yogi Tim “Tank” Thomas, the 2010-11 Vezina Trophy winner and Stanley Cup ring wearer with the Boston Bruins—and fabled Canuck slayer. Thomas gives away a fair number of years to Luongo, yet he is cooler, calmer, and more collected when the heat is on. He’s squeegeed his third eye, and even after Canuck Alex Burrows won it in overtime in Game 2 and gave the local team a 2-0 lead in the finals, Thomas told reporters afterward that he still thought Boston was going to come out on top. Even a loss was made to seem like a win, and so he managed to outlast “Pump my Tires” Luongo, who couldn’t tell his downward dog from his ass of dog by that seventh and fateful game.