NFL -- Green Bay Packers Fire Equipment Manager, 68

GREEN BAY, Wis. - The Green Bay Packers fired equipment manager Bob Noel yesterday, who had the longest service of anyone in the organization.

"They said the locker room wasn't clean," said Noel, who had been with the team since 1951. "(General Manager Ron Wolf) didn't like what was going on. "I'm shocked. I've cried more than one time. I put my heart and soul into this thing. I don't know what in the hell I could've done more."

Noel said Wolf told him once before in training camp that the locker rooms were disorderly.

"It's very sad," Noel said. "They're going to pick up my key Friday. I think (Wolf) wants to bring in his own people."

Noel, 68, began as a part-time equipment assistant in 1951.

Giving up on Gibbs

ATLANTA - The Atlanta Falcons gave up their attempt to talk to former Washington Coach Joe Gibbs about their head coaching position because Washington wanted to negotiate compensation from the Falcons in the event he accepted their job, an Atlanta official said. They decided it wasn't worth the trouble.

Gibbs has said he doesn't plan to coach in 1994 because he wants to watch his son, Coy, play football during his senior year at Stanford.

Notes

-- The U.S. Justice Department has offered to mediate a dispute between Georgia Dome officials and civil rights activists who want the state flags outside the stadium removed for the Super Bowl. The Georgia flag includes a Confederate battle emblem, added in the 1950s. Those asking to have it removed contend the flag was changed to protest federally ordered school desegregation.