Crossing Broad
Is there any actual crossover between diehard Philadelphia sports fandom and the performing arts?
That’s the question we asked ourselves in 2015 when respected veteran scribe Ray Didinger introduced his Eagles screenplay, titled Tommy and Me. It’s the story of a young Birds fan and his hero, Tommy McDonald, the Hall of Famer who helped deliver the 1960 NFL Championship while going to six Pro Bowls along the way.
Ten years later, the question is answered with a resounding “yes.” Yes there is real crossover between the 700 Level and the stage because Tommy and Me has been performed in theaters from Philly to Hershey and demand hasn’t waned at all. After a sold out winter run, a 2025 fall run will place during the Eagles’ bye week, performed from October 7th to October 19th at the People’s Light theater in Malvern.
Coincidentally, this run for Tommy and Me will take place two days after a Delco run of Spinner, which is a hockey play Didinger wrote only recently. So Ray now has two plays to his name as he enjoys a much more relaxed schedule after stepping away from 94 WIP weekends and NBC Sports Philadelphia in May of 2022.
We caught up with Ray to talk about the play, and the Birds:
Crossing Broad: How’s pseudo-retirement treating you? I say pseudo because you’re still active here and there.
Ray Didinger: It’s good. Honestly, when I did “retire,” it was with the full intention of retiring. I really did (intend to not work). What’s happened, in terms of keeping me active, is it’s really just a function of what’s happening with the Phillies and Eagles. As long as the Phillies and Eagles keep winning, my phone keeps ringing. And that’s fine, that’s okay. I can be as busy as I choose to be. That’s probably the best way of putting it. I’m not locked into every Saturday and Sunday morning having to be at WIP. I don’t have to be at NBC Sports Philly every Sunday for Eagles pre and postgame. I don’t have that stuff I’m locked into. If I have stuff I feel like doing, I do it, and if I don’t, I don’t.
I’ve had to now update The Eagles Encyclopedia twice. I didn’t intend to write four editions (laughs). We did the original one and then the second one ten years later. I told the editors at Temple Press after we did the second one, ‘I think we’re good unless the Eagles win a Super Bowl, ha ha ha.‘ Then lo and behold comes Super Bowl 52, which sort of cries out for a version three. Then came last year and here we go with encyclopedia four, which is probably going to be out next week or the week after.
CB: As we typically say, these are good problems to have.
Didinger: Oh yeah! Absolutely. Updating the last Eagles Encylopedia was really a challenge because we were on a really tight deadline to get...
