Morning briefing

The day Tank got posterized

Dick Nolan was a throwback to another era, when the NFL football was simpler, smaller, fraternal and probably a lot more fun to play.

Nolan, who died Sunday at 75 after battling Alzheimer’s disease and prostate cancer for years, earned his football degree and reputation in the school of hard knocks in the 1950s as a smack-down safety with the New York Giants and later with the Chicago Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys.

Murray Olderman, a legendary figure himself in his long and distinguished writing career, had a revealing story about Nolan in his book “The Defenders.”

In a game against the Los Angeles Rams, Nolan was playing in the defensive backfield for the Giants, who were backed up to their own six-yard line. In those days, the goal posts were positioned on the goal line.

Tank Younger, the Rams’ fullback, ran straight into the middle of the line, eluding Nolan. As Younger reached the goal line, helmet down and traveling at full speed, he ran straight into the goal post, bounced back like a spring, fell backward to the original line of scrimmage and fumbled the ball to the Giants.

Younger was dazed. He lay on the turf trying to figure out what had happened, and Nolan walked over to have a few words with him.

Said Nolan: “Yeah, Tank, you come through there like that again and I’ll really hit you!”

Trivia time

Who played in the most PGA Tour events in 2007, and how many tournaments did he play?

Table for one

Here’s your situational college football play of the day: You’re trailing by a mere 43-0 and the other team tries an onside kick. What do you do?

1) Laugh.

2) Let the other team recover the ball, thus sparing your offense further embarrassment.

3) Give a middle-finger salute to the other team’s coach.

If you answered No. 3, well, that’s how Wyoming Coach Joe Glenn handled it Saturday in a 50-0 loss to Utah and Coach Kyle Whittingham.

Glenn apologized Monday, he was reprimanded by the Mountain West Conference, and Whittingham said the kick was a bad decision.

Good move

The Chicago Blackhawks drew a season-high 19,045 to a game against the Detroit Red Wings, the first game under chairman Rocky Wirtz’s new deal to televise home games, a reversal of a policy of his late father.

Having your product on television is the shrewd move and always has been.

Don’t tell Toto

Selena Roberts of the New York Times isn’t a fan of Kansas and Oregon in a possible national championship game, but she is especially not fond of the Bowl Championship Series.

“That’s when the whole BCS comes down, and it’s a shame because you’ve got a game no one is going to care about.”

Note: Don’t try selling that notion in Lawrence, Kan., or Eugene, Ore. And, by the way, fans are going to watch no matter who’s playing, if only to argue about it.

Money news

Lou Gehrig’s New York Yankees jersey from 1938 sold for $402,500 at an auction at the Louisville slugger factory in Kentucky. It is estimated that Gehrig earned $361,500 in salary from the Yankees in his 13 full seasons, with a high of $39,000 in 1938.

Color blind

Those red jerseys the New York Giants wore Sunday while they were being beaten, 31-20, at home by the Dallas Cowboys were certainly a hit . . . with the New York tabloids.

Post: EXPOSED!

Daily News: RED FACED

Newsday: Red, Blight & Blue

Trivia answer

Eric Axley with 36.

And finally

They’re just now finishing compiling the last statistics from the 2007 pro golf season and here’s a good one:

Confirming once again that you don’t have to win to become a multimillionaire on the PGA Tour, Sergio Garcia set a record for money won in one year without a victory -- $3.7 million. Congratulations on not winning, it sure was worth it.

--

thomas.bonk@latimes.com