There is a plot: Mike Sanford, in his second season as head football coach at UNLV, is working long hours in an attempt to stop a streak  four straight losing seasons and transform the program into a Mountain West Conference power.

And there is a subplot: He will do it his way. He will do it the only way that will mesh with his beliefs. He will do it by offering his players a pipeline to God.

Cal Ripken, Jr. has always said, “Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.” When you look at his career, it’s hard to argue against that wisdom. If practice made perfect then Shaquille O’Neal wouldn’t have a career free throw percentage of just over 50 percent.

If you practice the wrong technique over and over again — even if you think you are doing it right — all you will become is very good at doing something the wrong way.

Mike Minter and Mike Rucker, two longstanding pillars in the Carolina Panthers’ defense, are the best of friends. But there’s one thing Minter, a safety, just can’t understand about his chum, a hulking defensive end.

On August 30, 2006, I traveled to Washington, D.C., to experience a day with FCA’s rapidly expanding inner-city ministry there. The ministry, spearheaded by FCA Area Representative David Kiehn, seeks to bring restoration and prosperity to the city by touching the lives of athletes and coaches in some of D.C.’s roughest areas. During my visit I met with football coaches at Dunbar High School and Anacostia High School. What I found was that change within D.C.’s inner-city doesn’t occur overnight by passing a bill or amending a law, but by reaching the hearts of its youth with the gospel.