It’s possible Bill Belichick has a sense of humor after name-dropping Mona Lisa Vito during his press conference Saturday.
Mona Lisa Vito, of course, is the character Marisa Tomei played in My Cousin Vinny — which earned her an Academy Award for best supporting actress.
Then again, Belichick didn’t even crack a smile when he made the reference. I could actually visualize him sitting through that entire movie, thinking it was funny, and not laughing.
“I’m not a scientist. I’m not an expert in footballs. I’m not an expert in football measurements. I’m just telling you what I know,” Belichick said Saturday. “I would not say I’m Mona Lisa Vito of the football world, as she was in the car-expertise area.”
In order to make sure every angle of Deflate-Gate has been covered, Rich Eisen interviewed Tomei on his show Monday.
Here’s the conversation that ensued:
Eisen asked Tomei what it’s been like to get suddenly, inexplicably, dropped into the biggest sports story of the year. It’s pretty funny, she replied. I was on a plane from Miami and my phone was just lighting up when I got off. I kind of had to catch up on what was going on and the whole ball-gate or deflate-gate. Tomei called Belichick’s deflated football explanation pretty darn believable, adding that she believed the coach underrated himself as an expert on the topic. She texted with My Cousin Vinny co-star Joe Pesci about the moment. Tomei was asked if she believed Mona Lisa could bail Brady and Belichick out of their predicament the way she did for like Vinny’s cousin. That’s a lot of pressure on Mona Lisa. I think she’d want to because, you know, who doesn’t love him? But, I don’t know, ultimately maybe, you know, she’s a New Yorker. So she’s a Jets fan. I don’t know. It depends how many other cases are queue, perhaps. But he was definitely, you know, ‘dead on balls accurate,’ as she would say. One more moment, I know they have more important challenges at hand, as he well said.
I’m not sure George Costanza would have been as high on Tomei if he learned she was a Belichick fan.
[h/t okmoviequotes for the gif, coffeefortwo for the screenshot]
