See the update at the end of page 2 on last weekend's Surfing Heritage Vintage Surf Auction raising $680,000 and other event details.

ORIGINAL POST, MAY 9, 2 P.M.: The Surfing Heritage & Cultural Center in San Clemente is putting "some of the world's most rare and iconic surf memorabilia" up for auction on Saturday, with bidding allowed online or in person at the Orange County Fairgrounds. Officials expect some surfboards to fetch $10,000-plus, but the "crown jewel of the auction" is believed to be a copy of The Surf Riders of Hawaii, which author A.R. Gurrey Jr. made by hand between 1911-15 and is considered the first book to showcase surfing.

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Kobe Bryant

A federal judge in New Jersey has ordered "an in-person settlement conference" for May 17 in the dispute between Kobe Bryant and an auction house planning to sell the Los Angeles Lakers' teenage memorabilia late next month for the superstar's mother, Pamela.

If the mediation doesn't work, U.S. District Court Judge Rene Marie Bumb set an "expedited" June 17 trial with hopes of resolving the conflict before the scheduled June 27 public auction of nearly 1,000 items such as Kobe Bryant's high school basketball jerseys and trophies.

Lawyers for the NBA player filed a lawsuit against Goldin Auctions LLC in Orange County last week with the hopes of having the dispute handled on Bryant's home turf in California.

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Wikimedia Commons

After two years of winding its way through San Bernardino Superior Court, a settlement has been reached between the sister of TapouT co-founder Charles "Mask" Lewis and MMA Holdings, LLC, the corporate name for TapouT, involving the desecration of Mask's ashes.

As Coker wrote back in 2011, Carla "Kaya" Lewis claimed that people involved with TapouT took some of Mask's ashes, put them in vials, and gave them out to fans during a 2009 memorial service at the Crystal Cathedral, held shortly after Mask died in a Newport Beach car accident.

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LA Laker superstar and OC resident Kobe Bryant

An inquisitive federal judge in Orange County today left a temporary restraining order intact for at least two more days in the dispute over whether an auction house working for the mother of Kobe Bryant is legally entitled to sell nearly 1,000 pieces of personal memorabilia of the NBA superstar's youth.

Because part of the legal battle is being fought in New Jersey and a ruling about jurisdiction is expected there later this week, U.S. District Court Judge Andrew J. Guilford said he will wait to determine his next move in the Los Angeles Lakers' case.

But Guilford also wondered aloud if the now infamous mother-son courthouse battles were merely a ploy to increase media and public attention to the auction as a sneaky way to boost potential profits.

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Kobe Bryant

Los Angeles Lakers' superstar Kobe Bryant is receiving an assistant this morning in his legal battle to permanently block his mother and an auction house from selling more than $1.5 million worth of his personal memorabilia to the public in June.

Sharia Washington, Bryant's sister, filed a May 11 declaration that states their mother, Pamela Bryant, has been determined to cash in on the NBA player's success by selling his belongings, according to records inside Orange County's Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse.

Though Washington says she has "never been privy" to discussions between her mother and Bryant about ownership of the memorabilia, she wants U.S. District Court Judge Andrew J. Guilford to know that her mom "frequently" talked "about how the family can make money on items associated with Kobe."

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A private tennis instructor was arrested Thursday afternoon for alleged lewd conduct with one of his 13-year-old students. Jarrid Thomas Baldogo, 29, is believed to have had inappropriate physical contact with the student between February and April of this year, but police fear there may be other victims because he's a longtime local tennis instructor.

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See the update on page 2 about a judge issuing a temporary restraining order preventing a New Jersey auction house from auctioning off Kobe Bryant memorabilia.

ORIGINAL POST, MAY 7, 4:21 P.M.: Injured and shut out of the playoffs, this likely isn't the way Kobe Bryant hoped to spend his time on the mend: going to court to stop the auction of memorabilia he'd left with his mother. But with Goldin Auctions having sued the Lakers superstar in federal court in New Jersey over claims he's interfering with its sale of his memorabilia for which it paid his mother a $450,000 advance, Mamba has counter-sued in Orange County Superior Court--claiming some items were illegally lifted from his Newport Coast home.

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See the update at the end of this post about an extensive interview Chris Kluwe gave a colleague at a Voice Media Group news site in which the punter cut by the Vikings says, "I wouldn't have changed anything."

ORIGINAL POST, MAY 6, 2:23 P.M.: Chris Kluwe, who these days may be better known as a straight advocate for gay rights than as an NFL punter, was cut this morning by the Minnesota Vikings.

"So long, Minnesota, and thanks for all the fish!" was the first of three rapid-fire tweets posted by the pride of Los Alamitos High School and Costa Mesa hobby shop owner.

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For the first time in 20 years, Orange County is hosting a professional drag boat racing event--at Irvine Lake starting today and through the weekend, proving yet again that the only thing better than dragging Irvine Lake for bodies is a drag boat race on it.

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A Lake Forest man is scheduled to face trial this morning for fatally stabbing a Santa Margarita Catholic High School hockey coach and his friend who'd been standing in line at a local Mexican joint when a fight broke out.

Justin Alvin Masao Tombleson, 30, faces up to 67 years to life in state prison if he is convicted of two felony murder counts, with sentencing enhancements for the personal use of a deadly weapon.

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