Easy to See Y He Is Coming on Board

Y -- the inventor of the boogie board, formerly known as Tom Morey -- will be inducted into the Huntington Beach Surfing Walk of Fame on Thursday.

The boogie board is among the world’s most popular wave-riding vehicles, but Y isn’t a millionaire and doesn’t want to be. He left his job as a consultant at Wham-O Corp. -- which owns the Morey name -- and works out of his garage in Capistrano Beach, inventing surfboard shapes and composites and even wave machines.

He says he changed his name to disassociate himself from the past.

(Why Y? “Why not?” is his answer).

“I’m a surfer, a designer and an engineer, but I abhor business,” said Y, who grew up in Laguna Beach, graduated from USC with degrees in mathematics and music, worked as an aeronautics engineer and was a drummer in a jazz band.

“We’re in spiritual trouble on this planet. It’s all backwards. It’s not about the money.”

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Trivia time: Who was the first Miami Dolphin elected to the Hall of Fame?

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Waiting: From Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News: “At some point soon, some member of Kobe Bryant’s family, or some member of his Lakers team, or somebody close to him not on his payroll or presented by his public-relations team, will step forward and defend him completely. Right?”

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Delightful duo: David Beckham believes he and wife Victoria (formerly Posh Spice) are important role models as a happy couple:

“You know, statistics say that the number of people staying married has gone up in the last couple of years,” he told Men’s Journal magazine. “And people have said that it’s because of the way they see me and Victoria with our sons, or always holding hands ... things like that.”

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Disciplinarian: After recent lackluster performances, South African national team rugby Coach Rudolph Straeuli has banned partners in the team hotels and alcohol, cellphones, pingpong and pool at the team’s training facility.

Straeuli also has removed players’ names from team jerseys in a plan to “break down individualism.”

Former Australian captain John Eales -- accustomed to the Wallabies’ live-in training camp where entire families are welcome and activities such as golf are readily available -- calls the measures “draconian.”

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Go figure: The Chicago Blackhawks’ Web site has a chat forum titled “No Hockey Talk Allowed.”

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Duck! The house in which Kenny Perry stayed at Sandwich, England, for the British Open was built in the 1600s.

“All the doorways are 6 feet tall and I keep banging my forehead every time I walk through one,” said Perry, who is 6-1. “I guess they must not have been very tall people back then.”

Perry seldom removes his cap on the course, so you couldn’t see the bruises. And he apparently plays pretty well with a headache. He finished tied for eighth.

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Trivia answer: Paul Warfield.

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And finally: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Warren Sapp, asked about being in the last year of his contract: “There are 32 teams in the league. You don’t think I’d find a job? Next question.”