A New Year (2024) brings with it zero progress on the issue of anti-Italian media bias. Case in point: The NFL.

Note the difference in coverage between two quarterbacks: Tommy DeVito of the New York Giants and Joe Flacco of the long-suffering Cleveland Browns. 

Prior to being benched after a late December loss to Philadelphia, New Jersey native DeVito was the sports worlds’ media darling. True, part of it was the underdog story: DeVito was an undrafted rookie quarterback who lit a spark under a struggling team. 

But the bigger part was how the media suddenly vomited forth their usual clichés about his Italian American heritage.  Here is a December 12th on-line CNN story by Leah Asmelash:

DeVito lives with his parents and eats chicken cutlets for dinner. He does press in a black tank top and a diamond-encrusted “TD” chain. His agent wears an all-black suit and a matching fedora (“He looks like Johnny Fontane from ‘The Godfather,’” legendary quarterback Peyton Manning said.) And when the mood strikes — like after throwing a particularly lethal pass — he raises his fingers in a classic, vaguely Italian hand pinch.

Reporters also loved it when DeVito’s agent, Sean Stellato, kissed DeVito’s father in the stands after a touchdown. They also delighted in giving DeVito a cutesy nickname (as they do with Italian low-lives) via his favorite meal: ‘Tommy Cutlets.’ 

But what really fueled DeVito’s on-line fan base—largely Italian American—were, as Ms. Asmelash, also writes, “endless ‘Sopranos’ and ‘Goodfellas’ comparisons.” The pinnacle of absurdity was reached in a New York Times piece in which the owner of local New Jersey sports bar, Al Lombardi, compared DeVito’s prowess to that of a mafia don. 

I use the word “absurd” as it points to the issue at hand: the supreme ignorance of Italian Americans when it comes to knowing their history—a history written in short-hand by a media which also cares very little about dignifying that history.

Instead of cutlets, how about using Italic excellence as a cultural touchstone? 

It didn’t occur to Mr. Lombardi to reference an historical sports figure with whom he shares a surname: Vince Lombardi, legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers. The NFL’s top trophy is named after him. 

In no media stories were the names Joe Montana or Dan Marino mentioned. Who? They are two of the best quarterbacks in NFL history, and both are still very much alive. They could easily have been interviewed by someone.

No media stories also never mentioned Heisman Trophy winners like Angelo Bertelli of Notre Dame (1943) or Gino Toretta of Miami (1992). Or no talk of how kicker Adam Vinatieri’s last-minute heroics at the 2001 Super Bowl set the New England Patriots’ dynasty in motion. 

Yet the very same week that DeVito was benched, up rose his opposite: Joe Flacco of the Cleveland Browns, making a comeback story. The 38-year-old (also a New Jersey native, by the way) was considered on his way out. Suddenly, like DeVito taking the helm in NY, Flacco did likewise in Cleveland, leading the team to their first play-offs in decades.

But Flacco is given no cute, mocking nick-name. His agent doesn’t apparently dress like a character from a mob movie. Flacco doesn’t wear gold-chains or still live with his parents. In short, the media treats him with quiet dignity—as they should.

Both quarterbacks are Italian American. Yet the media (and fans, who get their cues from the media) celebrate that fact only when it ties in with accepted Hollywood clichés. 

Is it so terrible to applaud DeVito, a 25-year-old who is, by all accounts, a humble young man? Or to be outraged that he wears gold-chains, lives at home, and purses his fingers after every touchdown? Of course not. Even Stellato, as of late, has publicly reacted with outrage to the likes of former quarterback Peyton Manning, who gave Stellato the nickname “Slimy” based on his choice of clothing (though Stellato did give Manning some ammo). 

The worst sin of all, however, is the “sins of omission” by our media; that is, how our actual historical achievers have literally been erased by Hollywood imagery, both comical and criminal. “Phony Tony” Soprano over the very real Joe Montana? 

The quiet, steady hum of Italic excellence in NFL history—embodied by Joe Flacco—is treated like a freak of nature. 

One final ironic note: As this blog went to press, yet another gifted Italian American QB from New Jersey, Steve Angeli, led Notre Dame’s team to victory in the Sun Bowl a week earlier. See the reference above to Angelo Bertelli, the Heisman Trophy winner from that same college in 1943.

Those of us who are truly proud of our Italic heritage see historical continuity. Those who care less only see comparisons to mob movie characters. 

Sadly, Hollywood’s blitzing of our media image continues to dominate the field of public perception. -BDC