Vinny Cerrato: Renaissance Man

Earlier this week, the Bog posted a video of Vinny Cerrato playing a hard boiled cop in a jean jacket.

Steinberg followed up with some screenshots and a link to the article that originally uncovered Cerrato's B-movie start, from the Washington City Paper. That writer uncovered the clip when looking into criticism from the Washington Post's ombudsman that Jason La Canfora's contest to come up with a nickname for the Washington Redskins that was "Cerrato-tinged." Apparently Cerrato and John Salamone of the National Italian American Foundation were outraged by some team names they perceived as offensive to Italians.

"Nickname suggestions such as Vinny the Chin, Vinny the Bull, Underboss, and others reinforce a negative and harmful stereotype of Italian Americans." Salamone said events kept him from writing promptly but he later sent his note to an e-mail list of foundation supporters.

Cerrato said, "I was disappointed. To me, anytime you're dealing with a person's name and nationality and heritage, it's not playful. To mock a nationality is uncalled for."

Does this guy realize he works for the Washington Redskins? The least politically correct team name this side of the movie BASEketball. For the most part I've been a Cerrato... maybe not a supporter but a defender, arguing George W. Bush: Dick Cheney:: Vincent Cerrato: Dan Snyder. But the unmitigated gall of these guys is ridiculous, and the media can't criticize them because if a news source loses access to the Redskins then it practically ceases to be a news source inside the beltway. And of course Snyder has a monopoly on sports talk radio in Washington.