Whether you believe Bill Belichick or not, you have to give him props for dropping an incredible movie reference in the middle of Saturday’s DeflateGate press conference because Mona Lisa Vito herself is.
After sounding like he had just conducted more science experiments than a high school physics class, the New England Patriots head coach casually dropped the name “Mona Lisa Vito” from the 1992 comedy “My Cousin Vinny.”
“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 during his presser. “I would not say I’m Mona Lisa Vito of the football world, as she was in the car-expertise area.”
But maybe he is, according to Marisa Tomei, who won an Academy Award for playing that character. Tomei called in “The Rich Eisen Show” on Monday to talk about what it was like to suddenly be thrust in the middle of the biggest sports story leading up to the Super Bowl.
“It’s pretty funny,” she replied, per Dan Hanzus of NFL.com. “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 DeflateGate.”
Tomei even texted with co-star Joe Pesci about the casual name-drop, so you know it was a big deal.
She went on to say that unlike Bill Nye the Science Guy, she found Belichick’s explanation to be “pretty darn believable.” But could she get Tom Brady and Co. out of this mess? Well, that’s a tall order.
“That’s a lot of pressure on Mona Lisa,” Tomei said. “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.”
Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@yotambienteamo
