Sunday brings the Vince Wilfork Bowl, so to speak, as the legendary lineman’s two former teams will clash in Foxboro. The Houston Texans, who rank 32 out of 32 in both total offense and passing offense, visit the defending champion New England Patriots; who are reside at the top in both categories.
Obviously, the Pats are huge favorites.
Vince Wilfork will be there, hosting a tailgate party in the Gillette Stadium parking lot.
The event, courtesy of Kingsford, celebrates his recent retirement.
Wilfork made five Pro Bowls and won two Super Bowls as a member of the Patriots from 2004-2014. He then played two years with the Texans before hanging ’em up. The party was originally slated for the Pats season opener versus Kansas City, but had to be rescheduled when Wilfork went down to Houston to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey.
Wilfork, speaking to us by phone from Houston, discussed the devastation he witnessed in the nation’s fourth largest city.
“It brings everything back to reality, and helps you understand that we are people first, it wasn’t about religion, skin color, or any of that stuff.”
“I can say from the city of Houston we thank everybody, for donations, for everything they have done, cuz there are a lot of people who lost everything, you talk about people who were in their homes for over 20 years, over 30 years, over 40 years and they’re gone.”
“Don’t forget about the Hurricane Katrina victims who came here when they lost everything, and now they come to Houston and they lost everything again.”
“This city has been through a lot, but at the same time, it’s getting back right, it’s getting back strong, it’s getting back some stuff, but it’s going to take time, but it was good to go into these cities and see what exactly was destroyed and it was crazy.”
Wilfork personally delivered over 3,000 meals to those in need.
While helping aid victims of Harvey in Texas, he also had to keep an eye on Hurricane Irma, which passed over his home state. The Boynton Beach native, who played his college football with Miami, had to monitor family members and make sure they evacuated safely.
Some didn’t want to leave, but they ended up getting out in the end, the hurricane stayed west and everybody was alright.
Harvey dumped record amounts of rain and caused once-in-a-500-year flooding. Irma was the strongest hurricane with the fastest wind speeds in Atlantic Ocean history. Maria was unprecedented in the rapid time from which it strengthened from a category 1 to a category 5 hurricane.
This month has seen incessant climate catastrophes, as the seemingly worst hurricane season that anybody can remember has been accompanied by a Mexico City earthquake that claimed the lives of close to 300 people.
We asked him if he’s ever seen anything like this.
“No, I’ve never seen anything, not like this,” he responded. “One after another, after another, it is crazy, it is crazy. ”
Audio of the full Vince Wilfork exclusive is below:
https://soundcloud.com/p-m-banks/exclusive-with-new-england-patriots-legend-vince-wlifork
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now and Minute Media. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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