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This is an online exclusive story from ESPN The Magazines Body Issue 2016. Subscribe today!?And for more from the 2016 Body Issue, check out espn.com/bodyissue,?and pick up a copy on newsstands starting July 8.If you watched HBOs Hard Knocks last year -- or, really, if youve watched any football at all the past 12 seasons -- youre probably familiar with veteran tackle Vince Wilfork, as well as his wife, Bianca, whos never far from his side. The two-time Super Bowl champ sat down with the Body Issues Morty Ain -- and Bianca -- to talk about body image, runner calves and schooling Randy Moss on routes.Morty Ain: Why did you decide to pose for the Body Issue?Vince Wilfork: I just think its a good idea for people that are bigger-boned. If people can look at me, a guy thats 325-plus, doing an issue like this, Im pretty sure that they might have a little confidence. There will be critics, just like with everything else. I think a lot of people will get a laugh out of it, Ill tell you that. Im looking forward to what the locker rooms going to say. But at the end of the day, Im perfectly fine with who I am as a person and what I have accomplished. It shows a lot of my personality.MA: So what do you hope that these photos show about your body?VW: A lot of people look at me as a big person. Some people consider me to be obese. Some people consider me fat and sloppy. But I think this shoot will give people a different look at what I am. Everybody knows that I have a big stomach, but I think sometimes that overshadows everything else on my body -- from my calves to my back to my shoulders to my biceps, you name it. What people go to the gym and work for, I have. The only thing I dont have that they got is six-packs. But I really dont care about six-packs.Bianca Wilfork: And lets not forget that in the football world, youre considered old as well. Old and maybe washed-up by some standards.VW: Yep. The one thing about me is, I dont care what people think. It all starts with yourself. I believe in myself. I love myself. So its kind of like, they can shove it up their you-know-whats.MA: How is the Vince on the football field different from the Vince off it?VW: A lot of people tell me that off the field Im more of a loving person.BW: A gentle giant.VW: I love to have fun. I do my own shopping. I do my own yardwork. I like to garden. I like to fish. I like to golf. Im an outdoorsman. I like to cook. But when I hit the stadium, I click the switch, because I know Im there for a job. I get in a whole different mindset when I enter the stadium. But once I leave Im back to being a father, husband, a friend.MA: Whats it like to be someone your size in everyday life?VW: People who dont know me, when they see me they kind of step back and just stare at me and say, Dang, hes a big dude.BW: Good thing you are an athlete, because if not, then they would just be looking at you for your size [laughs].VW: True fans and guys who follow the sport, they know who I am. But sometimes I do get those people that look at me and kind of stop and just stare at me, which I hate.BW: And then theyll say, Do you play ball? and hell tell them no, hes a gynecologist.VW: Yes, thats what I do.BW: I think one of the worst is when people come up to you and they say, Man, youre bigger in person. Like, is that supposed to be a compliment? Were like, what, am I supposed to say thank you? What the hell?MA: Bianca, you mentioned that you never see guys Vinces size in the commercials for Under Armour or anything like that. How do you feel about that?BW: It pisses me off because I know that theres not a lot of marketing advantages for him when it comes to certain outlets. You dont see Vince Wilfork-sized guys on the Nike commercials or Under Armour. But yet you have somebody thats going on 13 years in the league, four times to the Super Bowl, a great guy on and off the field. You couldnt ask for a better fit ... hes just got a big tummy. I feel like its almost discriminatory.VW: I dont give a s--- about that. In general, when youre marketing stuff, you want to have a certain look. But I always thought it would be awesome if you had more offensive and defensive linemen with Nike brands or whatever brand it may be. You cant play football without offensive and defensive linemen. But everything you see is always geared toward skilled positions. Its unfair for big guys, because its harder for us to get noticed because we do the dirty work. We dont catch the touchdowns. We dont throw the passes. But at the end of the day, any football coach or any football player will tell you everything starts up front. If you dont have guys up there doing what they have to do, nothing will work.MA: Is your size a product of the job? How much of it is natural?VW: Some of it is born a certain way, and some of it is because of what I play. At the end of football, do I want to be this big? No. I dont need to be that big anymore. But for what I do, Ive been this way for 13 years and it never stopped me from playing the game at a certain level. It never stopped me from being a Pro Bowler. It never stopped me from being in Super Bowls. I missed one season, and basically I had major one injury in my career in 12 seasons. As a nose tackle or as a D-lineman, thats kind of unheard of. So people can sit and say Im too big or obese or whatever; well, look at the facts. Look at my career and look at my history. You see the durability and the level I played at.MA: So youre naturally this size?VW: Im naturally a big dude, yes. I was 308 in high school. And Ive been between 308 all the way to 350. I can only imagine when I finish football and I get the weight off, Ill probably feel things different. But for 20 years Ive been this size; basically its the only thing I know.MA: Is there a particular part of your body that youre most proud of?VW: I love my calves. In high school someone told me, You got runner legs. And I say, what the hell does that mean? Hes like, well, your calves; you dont have fat-people calves [laughs]. So to this day, Ill be talking about myself in the meeting room and Ill say, Man, look at that dudes calves. And everybody laughs at me, but I have some good-looking calves.MA: Youre actually incredibly fast. Whats the fastest youve ever run?VW: I clocked a 4.8 in the 40. At over 300 pounds. But, hell, I havent run a 40 for a long time [laughs]. Ever since the combine. I dont do that anymore. But all my life Ive played different sports. Basketball was another sport that I played a lot. I did the shot put. And in football, I was never a lineman when we played pickup games. I was always a quarterback or a receiver or a running back.MA: Is it true that you used to play one-on-one against Randy Moss in practice?VW: Oh, absolutely. Randy taught me how to be a great receiver. Hes a good friend of mine.MA: So you would guard him on routes?VW: No, I would always be the receiver and he would be a DB. I liked to run a jerk route. Oh, man, I would love it. To this day, any receiver that runs that route, I love it because its kind of unguardable. That was my go-to. We had a lot of fun.MA: So if we asked him, he would freely admit that you were taking him to school?VW: I know him like hes my own blood, and he would never admit that. I mean, he never admitted it when I did it, so you think he would admit it now? Heck no.MA: What is your favorite thing that you do to train?VW: Swimming is probably my main conditioning. It gives you a full-body workout. It builds endurance, builds your lungs strong, I mean you name it. And I like that the older you get, you try to find different ways to train besides just pounding and running every day.BW: We have property in Florida, and he made his own sandpit out there. And we have orange groves, so he would run between the orange groves. And then go on a tractor with full cowboy gear on and move hay around the property and stuff in the sun just to get a good sweat in.VW: Yes, Ive done that. In my career Ive done a lot of things. Ive tried to push a car. That did not last long, trust me. I was like, you know, with me its got to make sense in my head. And Im sitting there saying, Why the hell am I pushing a car? Like, Can I do something else?MA: What is something about your body that might surprise us?VW: I used to be able to dunk, but its been a long time. I havent even tried to attempt it ever since I tore my Achilles [in 2013]. The first time, I got a fast break and I said, Well, its me and the rim. Either I dunk it or Im a strike, one or the other. And I ended up dunking it. And that was seventh grade. The neighborhood kids went insane.MA: [Laughs]VW: I used to do flips at 300 pounds. And I actually thought about starting back doing it and getting to the point where I can do it again [laughs]. But I havent started that quest yet. I might start this year just to show the world what type of athlete I am.MA: Im curious to see what one of these flips looks like. Is it like a double handspring?VW: [Laughs] Im going to backflip it if I ever get to do it. Muggsy Bogues Jersey Large . The Vancouver coach and an announced sellout crowd of 18,910 watched in dismay as the Canucks lost 7-4 to the New York Islanders on Monday night by squandering a 3-0 lead in the third period. Wholesale Custom Hornets Shirts .com) - Manchester City midfielder David Silva is expected to miss the next four weeks because of a calf problem. http://www.customhornetsjersey.com/ . The team also announced Tuesday that the Braves will wear a commemorative patch on the right sleeve during the season. The patch, shaped like home plate, carries the number 715, Aarons autograph and a "40th Anniversary" banner. Authentic Custom Hornets Jersey . The Vancouver coach and an announced sellout crowd of 18,910 watched in dismay as the Canucks lost 7-4 to the New York Islanders on Monday night by squandering a 3-0 lead in the third period. Custom Hornets Jerseys . The All-Pro lineman got the leg bent under him while trying to make a tackle during the first half of a 22-20 overtime loss at Miami on Thursday night. The medical staff initially thought hed torn the ligament, and the test a day later in Cincinnati confirmed it. Haleigh Washington cites one obsession in her life, and its not volleyball.The Penn State middle blocker loves them all -- big books, little books, thick books, thin books -- from Dantes Inferno, on her bucket list for years, to childhood favorite Go, Dog, Go! Her most recent title: Barbara Kingsolvers allegorical novel The Poisonwood Bible.I love to cuddle up with a good book, feel the pages and crack the spine, the junior philosophy major said. I love having books all around me and having the possibility of sitting down and leaving wherever I am to escape into a book. As much as I love books, I love reading even more. When I get obsessed with a book, its pretty much all I talk about.So Washington was given a challenge: Talk about the Nittany Lions upcoming season using some of her most beloved titles as reference points.Penn State, winner of a record seven NCAA titles, ranks No. 9 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association preseason poll. Its an atypical spot for one of the most storied teams in the sport, but its not surprising. Last year came to an unsatisfying end for the two-time defending champion, swept by Hawaii in the regional semifinals; Penn State had started the season ranked No. 1 and had never lost to the Rainbow Wahine. It marked the first time since 2011 that Penn State failed to advance to the elite eight or better.The sour taste of that defeat -- and the speech that coach Russ Rose made afterward noting that 28-6 is a record most teams celebrate -- fuels these early weeks of volleyball in State College, Washington said.The physical and emotional toll that goes into three-a-days remind me of The Things They Carried, she said, referring to the Tim OBrien novel on the pride and sacrifice of Vietnam soldiers and the loads they bear, both physical and emotional.When you go to Penn State, the expectation is final four, national championship every year, she said. When youre 28-6 at Penn State, that is the sky falling.Washington watched the Hawaii players celebrate as she walked off the court in Des Moines, Iowa. She knew it was the culmination of a season in which Penn State underperformed.The worst part about it was we almost thought it was supposed to happen, she said. We got what was coming to us and realized we lost because we didnt work hard enough, and thats a horrible thing to come out of a Penn Staters mouth. Thats not what we stand for.No book comes to mind for that reference, she said, but I can compare it easily to a TV show. Its like How I Met Your Mother. That show started great, was OK in the middle and the ending sucked. That was our season: great start, good middle, horrible ending.Rose agreed that his team, which opens Friday at home against West Virginia, faded down the stretch, noting many of his younger players were worn down by the grind of the long season. As for work ethic, he added, Sometimes people dont want to hear the truth when theyre in the moment. They think theyre working really hard and doing everything they can, and in hinndsight, when you have time to step back and assess your body of work, you make a declaration of Maybe I could have done more.ddddddddddddReassessing was enough to make Washington, who won it all in 2014 as the Big Ten freshman of the year, hungry to restore glory to Happy Valley. She is excited by the early chemistry of the 2016 team, comparing it to yet another of her favorite reads, The Hunger Games series.That trilogy of books, she said, is without a standout chapter -- its a consistently strong read from beginning to end.Lamenting Penn States lack of steadiness a year ago, she said this years team blends well as a group and understands how crucial it is to compete at the same high level regardless of the circumstances. Thats what will be needed, she said, when the conference schedule gears up, particularly during a late-October stretch when the Nittany Lions play three road games -- Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota -- in a week.Without Micha Hancock or Megan Courtney this season, these Nittany Lions, she said, dont boast a Katniss Everdeen-type superstar.Were all just one great collective unit, she said.That includes junior outside hitters Ali Frantti, an American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) honorable mention All-American last year, and Simone Lee, who closed out 2015 starting 18 of 21 matches. Both, Rose said, will play larger roles this year along with middle blocker Heidi Thelen. Lefty junior Abby Detering will bring an attacking mentality to the setter position, and prize recruit Kendall White could start right away at libero or be a significant back-row sub.Then, of course, theres Washington, a reigning first team All-American, whose .442 hitting efficiency ranked third nationally. Shes a player who Rose said is among the most engaging kids Ive ever coached.The 6-foot-3 star from Doherty, Colorado, was part of a 2014 signing class -- along with Frantti, Thelen and Lee -- that was considered the best in the nation.Washington returns with a stronger serve and improved blocking in addition to more consistent back-row play. My hitting ability is getting better, too, she said. Offensively Im stronger, but the good news is I still have room to grow.So, too, do her teammates, and Washington alludes to a final book regarding her expectations for a season in which nine Big Ten teams are ranked in the initial poll, including three -- Nebraska, Minnesota and Wisconsin -- among the top five.When I think how I want it to end, I think of The Help, Washington said, referring to Kathryn Stocketts debut novel set in the 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi. Its a book with the perfect closure -- not what youd expect to happen, but the ending sums up the book entirely. Whatever happens will be the perfect ending for this team -- whether that be a Big Ten championship, a final four run or maybe ... an NCAA championship.Now that would be storybook. ' ' '