Vincent Lombardi was one of the best football coaches to ever love the game.

To some of you, this may be no revelation, this may simply only be fact. For me, who had only known he was a football coach, a good one, but nothing more, it was an eye opener. I had only know he was a famous coach, not the fact that he turned losing teams to winning ones in mere seasons, not that he had won so many super bowls, and nothing of what the man was truly like.

While my life still definitely doesn’t revolve around football, my infinite respect and admiration for the man named Lombardi has increased a thousand fold.

A 90 minute play recently opened on Broadways Circle in the Square theater aptly named Lombardi. This play isn’t just about a football coach, it’s about a man’s life long passion and dedication to a sport that made him a god among men although sometimes a vengeful god to his own players.

Lombardi stars small screen and theater legends Judith Light, best known for her portrayal of Angela in Whose the Boss during the 80s and Dan Lauria, best known for his portrayal of Tom Arnold in The Wonder Years.

The last lead actor is Keith Nobbs who plays Michael McCormick, a young man from New York who has come to stay without Lombardi’s while he writes a story about the man for his paper. The character of McCormick is the only fictional one out of the entire cast, and he almost plays the part of the audience. Sometimes standing in the scene and yet still outside the situation, able to comment on it and help us find deeper meaning or untold truths behind circumstance.

While far younger than his other lead actors in Lauria and Light, Nobbs holds his own and while playing a middleman for the audience makes his own voice heard as he represents something of a new generation. A generation that Lombardi realizes his own children belong to, a generation that don’t do things just to appear polite to elders or go into or not go into the family business at the advice of their parents. A generation, that like it or not, a man like Lombardi can’t scare or cajole to see do things his way all the time, no matter how much respect that younger generation may actually truly possess for the older man.

The play is can be amazingly deep with its undertones, whispering about a hard married life and children who may not communicate as often as parents would like. But just the same it can be a riot when introduced to other actors who portray Coach Lombardi’s players. The standout actor in the role of player Paul Hornung, Bill Dawes, takes his role and runs with it. Playing the silly, womanizing, but still entirely kind character of that you enjoy watching. Robert Christopher Riley as Dave Robinson and Chris Sullivan as Jim Taylor are also enjoyable. The other two men get a little less stage time and their presence is slightly more subdued although Sullivan’s Taylor gets an interesting subplot, but the three as a whole reflect a sense of camaraderie and fun as they all can relate to the coach who tortures them everyday on the field, yet they all definitely don’t want to disappoint him out of respect and love for the man. By the end you get the feeling from all the characters that Lombardi was a very hard man to live with and he held everyone to the high standards he held himself, but those who truly got to know him, wanted nothing more then to be able to meet those standards.

If you’re a Lombardi fan, go see the show. It may give you an insight into the man you may not have had.

If you like a good character driven drama and aren’t a fan of football, still consider seeing it. The characters in the play feel as real as I could imagine the actual people being and by the end I truly felt like the man Lombardi, was a person I definitely had an interest in knowing more about.

But make sure to see Lombardi with Lauria, Light, and Nobbs. I can’t say for sure that no one else will be able to do as good a job as them, but these three will definitely give you your moneys worth.