McCartney, a former football coach at Colorado University, is the Promise Keepers' coach, too, and all the men sitting in chairs in the sports stadiums are the football team. At the group's rallies, speaker after speaker tries to pep the players up for the big game, which will occur when they return to their families. Then Coach McCartney approaches the podium. This is the moment of truth. The team has entered the locker room in a funk because the score is 14-0, with the crosstown rivals ahead.
Coach comes into the locker room.
All the players sit with sweat running down their faces, hunks of turf hanging from their helmets and blood on their thigh pads. The team sits with heads between their knees, ashamed, beaten and looking for a spiritual jolt. Coach paces for a couple of minutes, clipboard in hand, and then he turns and looks directly at you. OK, men, we've dropped the ball, we've missed tackles, we're blocking like dorks and we haven' t scored a touchdown. That's the truth.