A consumer’s guide to the best and worst of sports media and merchandise. Ground rules: If it can be read, played, heard, observed, worn, viewed, dialed or downloaded, it’s in play here.

What: “NFL Stories Straight From the Heart”

When: 7 tonight, Lifetime

NFL Films produced this one-hour special for Lifetime with the intention of offering a football show that appeals to women, and succeeded magnificently. The show appeals to men as well.

One of the six stories is about Dan Marino and his wife, Claire, adopting a 2-year-old Chinese girl, Niki Lin, who was abandoned on a hotel doorstep and sent to live in an orphanage. Dan and Claire already had four children. Claire tells the story of traveling to China during the football season in 1998 with a girlfriend and wondering, “Will I love her as much as my own kids? . . . Well, I do.” This story can bring tears to even the most macho male.

Other stories: Jake Plummer, as seen through his mother’s eyes; Charger cornerback Charles Dimry, who lost his wife to leukemia last Easter; San Francisco 49er trainer George Chung, a seventh-degree karate black belt; the Barber twins, Tiki and Ronde, and New York Giant cornerback Jason Sehorn’s return from injuries and a divorce.