"Again I should say that for different situations different methods will be appropriate.
If shooting a football game — I would probably start with C-AF, Release Priority on, Diamond focusing pattern, focus points Standard. I would shoot ESP metering — most likely tied to the AF point. I also would probably be shooting in Shutter Mode (vs. Aperture, or Priority) with the minimum setting of 1/1000 or faster shutter speeds and have ISO set to Auto with my limit around 2000 ISO. Here I am just trying to focus on the guy with the ball.
If I was shooting an available light portrait for a wedding or similar scenario I would be in S-AF +MF, Small for small focus points, Release Priority off, Single focus point toward the to edge of the frame, My metering in this case would also most likely be set to ESP + AF. My ISO would most likely be either set to ISO 100, 200, or auto ISO to max of 400. I would either shoot Aperture Mode, or if light is low shoot Shutter Mode to keep enough speed up to reduce blur — like around 1/125 second of f2.0-2.8. I would be trying to focus on the eye.
If I am shooting a landscape, I want a large depth of field to get milky water. I want to save all the highlights. So I would use either MF or SAF+MF, with metering probably ESP. I would be shooting Aperture Priority, ISO set to 100, Mirror lockup and I would either have a remote cable or self timer on the camera. The camera would also be on a tripod. Shutter RLS priority would be set to off. My DOF would be at least f8 or smaller. However, I would imagine that the diffraction limit (where the image begins to degrade from the size of the sensor) will begin to start showing up after f11. "