One of the most wonderful things about sports is that there is no shortage of personal narratives that can arise in each season. Sometimes things happen that are not as much athletic achievements as much as they are a function of local zeitgeist. To wit, I give you the “Legend of Tommy Cutlets”.
For the New York Football Giants, this season, up to the last few weeks, has been a disaster, leaving them down to their third string option, Tommy Devito.
His first few appearances were nothing to remember; he was not allowed to pass the ball by his coaching staff in the Jets game, sparking mockery from many of us saying “if this was the plan, they should have put Danny Devito in instead!”
However, in the subsequent weeks the fresh-faced Italian kid from New Jersey got plenty of attention.
In his first press conference upon being announced as the starter, he gave the following information that was equally hilarious and all too familiar for many Italian American young men: “I don’t have to worry about laundry or what I’m eating for dinner; chicken cutlets and all that is waiting for me when I get there…my mom still makes my bed. Everything is handled for me. Honestly, I don’t even know if I could find a place closer to here than where I live. It takes me 12 minutes to get here.”
The quote spurred so much enthusiasm because, well, he’s an Italian American man from North Jersey.
During pre-game introductions at his first start at Home, he was welcomed to the field while the P.A. system at MetLife stadium blasted the theme from The Sopranos, and teammate and fellow New Jersey native Saquon Barkley was seen enthusiastically yelling “Jersey!” and “Tommy Cutlets!” as the team ran on the field. Given that the Metropolitan area has the highest concentration of Italian Americans in the country, it’s not surprising that Devito has been as embraced as warmly.
He has turned directly into the groundswell of support and has leaned into some of the tongue-in-cheek facets of our Italian American culture. He has embraced the nickname of the Passing Paesano and upon throwing his first Touchdown pass at home, he began greeting his family in the crowd and his teammates on the field with one of the more recognizable Italian gestures; the pinched fingers sometimes known as the Finger Purse.
What makes it odd is that it typically means ma che vuoi? and usually used to express disbelief or displeasure in what someone is saying. Devito has claimed that he did it as a tribute to the older Italians he has been around and, in that sense, I can see where he’s coming from. When you’re a young Italian American, you find yourself surrounded not just by an old language that you may not understand, but a language that is accompanied by many varied hand gestures. Some may find this bordering on the offensive, but I’m choosing to see it as a young kid having fun in his moment in the sun.
Time will tell if he becomes a permanent fixture in the NFL or if he’s just a flash in the pan. In the meantime, he has led the Giants to three straight wins (including a last minute victory this week) and, Italian American culture or not, has given Giant fans a glimmer of hope in what had become more than a decade of dreadful football for a proud and storied franchise.
Besides, who doesn’t like a “local-kid-makes-good” story?
