'Tommy and Me': Story of a boy and his idol

I can't remember the last time I saw so many men in a theater - some sporting Eagles jerseys, others drinking beers, and all groaning at the lone mention of the Dallas Cowboys during sportswriter Ray Didinger's Tommy and Me, now in its world premiere at Theatre Exile.

Tommy and Me follows a handful of football-themed productions recently premiered in Philadelphia. They started with the success of The Philly Fan by Bruce Graham, continued with The Disappearing Quarterback by Mike Boryla, then Assassin by David Robson. This trend autobiographical account of Didinger's lifelong relationship with the Eagles' Hall of Fame wide receiver Tommy McDonald, a tough, resourceful receiver who scored the go-ahead touchdown in the Eagles' 1960 NFL Championship victory.

Didinger's 75-minute play spans football history from 1954-1998. When he was a boy, his parents spent their summer vacation in Hershey, watching Eagles training camps. Young Ray (Simon Canuso Kiley) carried the helmet of young Tommy (Ned Pryce), starting a lifelong blend of idolatry and friendship. This friendship culminated into the 1990s, when the adult Didinger (Matt Pfeiffer) lobbied for Tommy (Tom Teti) to get into the pro football Hall of Fame, leading to Tommy's enshrinement in 1998.

Tommy and Me tells this story through autobiographical direct address, the use of clips and images in Michael Long's sharp design, and dramatized conversations between the two men as adults. As a piece of drama, not much is at stake here, unless you love football, unless you love the Eagles, and unless you know, like any boy, the desire never to let your heroes die.

In this regard, both Didinger and director Joe Canuso (who first staged The Philly Fan) know their audience. The play teems with fan-friendly jokes (including a scathing one about Terrell Owens), and Canuso centers the dramatic balance of the play on the scenes between Ray looking back on his younger self and the younger Tommy, who reminds him, like a flickering ember, of the joy of watching the game.

Here, Pfeiffer's earnestness effuses, like any fan's, in the presence of a childhood idol (don't ask me about the time I ran into Charles Barkley). Teti endears as the older, nearly forgotten athlete, and Simon Canuso Kiley delivers his lines and jokes with a winning, Macaulay Culkin-like flair.

Although short, Didinger's play transcends its origins to depict a bond between two men in a once-unequal relationship, and show how the younger man pays back his debts. It reminded me of Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom - if a man had written it for other men to enjoy. No surprise to see so many eager, jersey-wearing theatergoers in the house.