While the new Broadway show “Lombardi” is far from bad, I really wish it was better because I’m itching to see good theater about sports. As I pointed out in my review, football seems like a natural choice for the stage — but then, most sports are. After all, they bring up so many juicy topics: competition, race, greed, integrity, morals, sexuality, jingoism, obsessiveness, body issues, etc.

And yet sports-related shows are few and far between. I really think this comes from the geek-jock divide in high school. Unlike what happens in the fairy tale known as “Glee,” the quarterback usually isn’t also in the choir, and the openly gay singer doesn’t moonlight as a kicker. The divorce between the two sensibilities never gets repaired as years go by, even as some theater fans enjoy watching sports and vice versa.

So far American sports shows seem to favor baseball, what with “Damn Yankees,” “Take Me Out” and the recent, Diana Paulus-directed “Johnny Baseball,” which played in Boston earlier this year. There also was Terrence McNally’s dire “Deuce,” about retired tennis doubles partners. And, er … I’m sure there’s more but I can’t think of them right now.

Evoking a game on stage is tricky, though it’d be a great challenge for an imaginative director. Focusing on a coach, as “Lombardi” does, isn’t a bad alternative option. Too bad the play is so wishy-washy about both the man and the game. I wonder if author Eric Simonson has seen “The Damn United,” which is a textbook example of how to wring drama out of sports. Written by Peter Morgan (“Frost/Nixon,” “The Queen”), it’s a wonderful, lively, funny film fueled by the rivalry between UK soccer coaches Don Clough (Michael Sheen) and Don Revie (Colm Meaney). Ken Loach’s recent comedy “Looking for Eric,” about a beleaguered postman getting inspiration from idiosyncratic soccer star Eric Cantona, is another movie worth watching. 

Come to think of it, there’s already one thing that combines sport and theater: pro wrestling. Playwright Kristoffer Diaz figured that out and came up with “The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity,” which had as good a production as you could dream of at Second Stage this summer. The show had heroes and villains, a constant stream of zingers, and genuine (that is, fake) action on a ring plopped down in the middle of the stage. More, please!