Former New England Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson was teammates with Vince Wilfork in 2004, the year before he retired from football. The two defensive stand-outs won a Super Bowl together that season, but I’m going to go out on a limb and guess they were never really close friends. And if they were, they aren’t anymore.
Johnson now works as a radio host for Sports Radio 610 in Houston. On Friday morning he was on with “In the Loop” when a caller asked him to name the player he played with that had the ugliest spouse during his time with the Patriots. Johnson seemed hesitant, but he went ahead and answered the question anyway. He probably should have left it alone.
“You know what, I’ve got it,” Johnson said. “And this is a big, big man. This guy had his way with the Texans this year. He won’t hear this — Vince Wilfork.”
Teddy may have already learned his first valuable lesson of working in radio — everyone hears everything. They may not be listening live, but sports bloggers like us make sure that anything worth hearing is heard. Such was the case with Johnson’s regrettable comment about Bianca Wilfork, which led to the following message on Twitter from Wilfork to Johnson.
“Every1 is entitled to their own opinion, but it is f—ed up when a x-teammate that I actually looked up to and enjoyed playing with takes shots at my wife for whatever reasons,” Wilfork wrote in a separate message. “I love my wife and my family. She is my everything. I don’t care when this was said no one should cross that line. The line has been crossed so it is what it is. All I wanna say is f— you! You don’t want to f— with me or my family. Take shots at me all day but not them. I have a great family life and blessed to have them.”
Bianca Wilfork also responded to the insult, albeit with some far less angry comments on her Instagram account.
Wilfork and his wife are very involved with the Patriots’ charitable organizations and do a lot of work for the community, so most New England fans are quite familiar with her. We’ve seen the mayor of Boston screw-up Wilfork’s name before while wearing his jersey, but that didn’t seem to bother the 325-pounder. Understandably, Johnson’s comment struck a nerve. Naturally, Johnson has already attempted to apologize:
I just made a huge error in judgement and want to apologize to Vince and his wife for comments I made earlier today on a Houston radio show
— Ted Johnson (@TedJ52) March 22, 2013
I have personally apologized to the family and feel awful.It was a huge error in judgment and I’m sorry for upsetting Vince’s family.
— Ted Johnson (@TedJ52) March 22, 2013
Just speculating here, but it’s probably too late for apologies. Everyone makes mistakes, but Johnson can’t take back what he said. You live and learn.
