New England Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker (83) runs out of the tackle of Baltimore Ravens free safety Ed Reed (20) during the first half of the NFL football AFC Championship football game in Foxborough, Mass., Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013.Matt Slocum/The Associated Press
So your better half screws up at work – say, he doesn't get the promotion or she's caught cheating the system: Is it your business? Do you blab to friends and co-workers – or slam the person who did get the promotion?
What if your partner is a professional athlete – do you take to Facebook to publicly attack the game's winner?
No, Anna Burns Welker, you do not. You just swallow the disappointment – not even yours, but your husband's – like a grown-up.
The wife of Wes Welker, a star receiver for the New England Patriots, which were eliminated from the NFL playoffs Sunday night, took to social media to unbecomingly slam the Baltimore Ravens' Ray Lewis, whose team beat the Patriots.
"Proud of my husband and the Pats," Welker wrote on her Facebook page after the game. "By the way, if anyone is bored, please go to Ray Lewis' Wikipedia page. 6 kids 4 wives. Acquitted for murder. Paid a family off. Yay. What a hall of fame player! A true role model!"
Stay classy.
She's since sent a standard apology ("the momentary frustration I felt should not overshadow the accomplishments of both of these amazing teams," she told Larry Brown Sports), but did she forget about the fallout after Gisele Bundchen's wifely frustrations embarrassed both her and her husband, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady? (The supermodel famously blasted her husband's team after it lost the Super Bowl last year, crying "My husband cannot … throw the ball and catch the ball at the same time!")
Welker's comment has been deleted from Facebook, but not before being posted on Twitter – and retweeted more than 500 times. Unsurprisingly, the twittersphere reaction was fast, furious and unkind.
Perhaps both women need to take a few pages from Sheryl Crow, ex-girlfriend of disgraced cyclist (and lying liar) Lance Armstrong: Even though they're broken up, and he clearly did a lot more than lose a football game, the rock star – a class act – is keeping mum on whole ugly ordeal.
Have you ever got defensive about your partner's professional shortcomings? Or hit send on a Facebook status you later regretted?
But perhaps the real question – should angry celebrity spouses be banned from social media?