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Wunsch, Wolf parry

Spat between Bucs OT, Packers GM rooted in Wunsch quote.

By RICK STROUD

© St. Petersburg Times, published November 14, 2000


TAMPA -- Green Bay Packers general manager Ron Wolf made a surprise visit inside the Bucs locker room at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday after Tampa Bay's 20-15 victory.

Wolf, who said he was there to congratulate Bucs coach Tony Dungy and meet linebacker Derrick Brooks, had an exchange with offensive tackle Jerry Wunsch.

Wolf might have taken some offense to comments attributed to Wunsch, a University of Wisconsin star, in an undisclosed newspaper in the state of Wisconsin.

"He's only the second general manager (from another team) I've ever met," Brooks said. "He just wanted to introduce himself and walked away. He just said, "I wanted to meet you.'

"I heard he had much more to say to Jerry. I just heard he made a comment about ... I guess Jerry was saying, being from Wisconsin, it was a big game playing Green Bay and I guess he took offense to that, I suppose."

After practice Monday, Wunsch met with Dungy and vice president of football operations John Idzik to discuss Wolf's impromptu visit to the locker room.

Wunsch declined to comment on the matter.

Meanwhile, Wolf said Monday his exchange with Wunsch was an innocent one.

"I said, "I read what you said,' and that's all I remember saying to him," Wolf told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. "I was not threatening anybody and I don't know how he would construe it that way."

When asked if he had words with Wunsch, Wolf said, "Words are when people are yelling at each other, and that's not what happened."

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