Larry Brown Sports

Tommy Wilson, the son of the actor who played “Biff” in the “Back to the Future” movies, is emerging as a pitcher for a high school in Los Angeles.

Wilson is a junior pitcher for Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks, Calif.) High School, and he threw five scoreless innings during a wild-card playoff game against Riverside North on Tuesday. The youngster struck out eight in the Knights’ 6-1 victory.

According to Los Angeles Times high school sports reporter Eric Sondheimer, Wilson started off the season as a long reliever and has gone 3-1 since getting a chance to start a few weeks ago.

“I just kept working as hard as I could in the bullpen,” Wilson told The Times. “After I got out of the first inning, I felt real good.”

Wilson has been pretty dominant, too. According to his profile on Max Preps, Wilson entered Tuesday’s game with a 1.68 ERA in 33.1 innings pitched. He allowed just 20 hits, eight runs and eight walks while striking out 44.

Wilson’s father, Thomas F. Wilson, apparently kept a low profile at the game.

“He must increase and I must decrease,” Thomas Wilson joked to Sondheimer. “Fortunately, he got his mother’s athletic prowess and his father’s good looks.”

Hopefully he avoided all the manure trucks on the way home from the game.

Wilson’s YouTube channel lists him at 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds. His profile says his fastball is consistently in the mid-80s and that he also throws a cutter, change-up, and curveball.

Wilson’s Notre Dame squad will face Agoura High School in the first round of the playoffs on Thursday.

Notre Dame has also produced Major Leaguers Giancarlo Stanton, Brendan Ryan, Brett Hayes, Chris Dickerson, and former Cy Young winner Jack McDowell. Maybe one day Wilson will join the group.

Below you can take a look at his pitching skills video:

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Does this type of thing happen all the time? I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know a damn thing about water polo — let alone high school water polo — but this video infatuates me.

According to the Miami Herald, there was a lot of “physical play” during a recent state championship match between St. Thomas Aquinas and Belen Jesuit. That apparently spilled over into the handshake line after the match, where a Belen player was seen shoving an Aquinas player into the pool.

Am I stunned that a player shoved another player into the pool like that? Not really. What does strike me as hilarious is that no one even flinched when it happened. The two dudes behind the one who got tossed just kept doing what they were doing and pretended like the kid jumped into the pool on his own because his leg was on fire or something. Actually, if his leg was on fire there probably would have been some enthusiasm from his teammates.

This isn’t the first time we have seen funny business in the handshake line (see: coach tripping 13-year-old player) and it won’t be the last. That being said, the delayed reaction makes me believe this is standard procedure for water polo. Someone pisses you off, you push them in the pool after the match — it’s that simple.

H/T Deadspin

After the Class 5A Division II high school state championship game between Spring Dekaney and Steele on Dec. 17, 2011, Dekaney coach Willie Amendola was one of several people who were struck with a golf cart. Many of you have probably seen the video clip at some point, which showed a scary moment featuring an unmanned cart that somehow got loose and appeared to have a mind of its own.

According to MySanAntonio.com, Amendola and his wife Valarie have now filed a lawsuit against Cowboys Stadium, which is where the game was held. The couple is seeking more than $1 million in damages. The lawsuit can be read here.

All indications were that there were no serious injuries when the incident took place. Amendola, who is the father of New England Patriots wide receiver Danny Amendola, seemed to be in good spirits and even made a sarcastic comment about it.

“Did you guys get that? Wonder what the UIL is going to do about that?” he asked the Express-News at the time.

Apparently things got worse as time went on, because the lawsuit Amendola filed claims the incident caused physical pain, mental anguish, loss of earning capacity and loss of enjoyment. The video went viral and has been popular over the past year or so, which Amendola and his wife say “caused great personal embarrassment.” It will be interesting to see how this one plays out.

Hazing in high school sports is something that should never be tolerated. For the most part, we hear a lot of the same stories when it comes to older students mistreating younger players. However, every now and then the bullying involves something incredibly bizarre like biting.

That’s right, biting. According to The Times in Trenton, four Florence High School baseball players have been suspended for their alleged involvement in a hazing ritual that involved biting a younger player. The team’s head coach, Joseph Frappolli Jr., is also under investigation by the school’s administration.

Two sources familiar with the incident say it took place two weeks ago, when at least one sub-varsity player was restrained by other members of the team and bitten several times. Some of the bites were reportedly severe enough to break the younger player’s skin. One of the sources said the biting is a ritual that has been going on with the school’s baseball team for “years.”

Very few details about the situation have been disclosed at this time due to school policy, but it was allegedly reported by a friend of the abused player — not a parent.

“It was team misconduct,” Florence Township Superintendent of Schools Donna Ambrosius said. “We will not tolerate this kind of activity. The players have not been with the team since they were pulled when the incident was reported. We would like to try and get the team back together and move forward, but only if we know the students are safe.”

The district is still in the process of interviewing players, coaches and students who may know anything about the hazing ritual. We have heard of high school hazing rituals that involve sexual violence and disgusting games, but biting has to be up there with one of the most bizarre.

H/T Deadspin

When Hudsonville High School (Mich.) found itself trailing by two points with only 1.5 seconds left on Monday night, it looked as if their hopes for advancing to the Regional Title game had all but disappeared. They had just about enough time left on the clock for a catch-and-shoot, but considering they were inbounding the ball from their own baseline the task seemed impossible.

Unless, of course, the Eagles could replicate one of the most famous sports plays in history. As you can see from the video above, Hudsonville was able to do exactly that and force overtime (score in the video is wrong) against the Forest Hills Northern Huskies. They pulled off Duke’s legendary Christian Laettner play to perfection. Brent Hibbits launched the ball 75 feet to Cody Stuive, who turned around and nailed the jumper.

“I just freaked out,” Stuive told FOX 17 in Michigan. “I just ran to the bench and was giving people hugs. Then I realized that now we have to win in overtime.”

It wasn’t all luck, either. Hudsonville head coach Eric Elliot called a timeout just before the play to make sure his players were on the same page as him.

“At that point you’re thinking with one-and-a-half seconds it doesn’t sound like a lot of time,” said Elliott. “In basketball-talk, you catch and you got one dribble. So it was just how do we get it into our guy’s hands within the three-point line so we can get a clean shot up.”

If we’ve learned anything from shots like this, this and the one that Hudsonville pulled off, it’s that some of the best buzzer-beaters come at the high school level. Perhaps the most amazing part about the feat was that the Eagles were able to refocus and win the game in overtime. Hudsonville will take on Muskedon for the Regional Title on Wednesday night.

H/T The Big Lead

Can a loss get more crushing than this?

Hugo (Okla.) High School’s basketball team was 3.7 seconds away from beating Millwood in the state’s Class 3A quarterfinals Thursday until a blunder of epic proportions changed the outcome.

According to Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman, Hugo junior guard Trey Johnson received an inbounds pass as he was going to his basket. Instead of dribbling out the remaining 3.7 seconds, he took advantage of the open court and tossed in a layup. Unfortunately, he completely forgot which way his team was going, and he scored on his own basket. The layup on the wrong basket erased his team’s one-point lead and gave Millwood a stunning 38-37 victory.

“When I saw the kid going that way, I was like, ‘No, he’s not. No, he’s not … Oh, yes he is,’” Millwood coach Varryl Franklin told The Oklahoman. “I couldn’t believe it.”

Franklin told Slater he felt terribly for Johnson, comparing it to Chris Webber’s blunder with Michigan in the 1993 NCAA Tournament championship game against North Carolina.

“I feel sorry for him,” Franklin told The Oklahoman. “Just like Chris Webber, when he called the timeout. I really do feel sorry for him. But hey, I’ll take it.”

Can you imagine how badly the youngster feels? He only had four points in the game, including the two in the wrong hoop. Let’s just hope he’s able to overcome it, because a loss that crushing could stick with someone for a long time. Hey, on the bright side, Johnson should take comfort in knowing that NBA players have made similar mistakes.

UPDATE: The Oklahoma City Thunder reached out to Johnson and offered him tickets to a game.

H/T Mark Ennis

Three track team members from the Bronx High School of Science have been charged with violent sexual abuse after they allegedly hazed a younger student in disturbing fashion. According to CBS 2′s Hazel Sanchez, the three students have been charged as adults with forcible touching, assault, hazing in the second degree and harassment.

The suspects were all teammates of the alleged victim’s and have been identified as as Thomas Brady, 16; Boubacar Diallo, 16; and Pier Berkmans, 17. The victim said his teammates began assaulting him in December when one of them allegedly told him, “You need a good fingering, you freshman,” and proceeded to penetrate him through his clothing.

In January, the victim says the suspects threatened to rape him if he did not allow them to touch him sexually. The boy also said he was held down and sexually assaulted and that the older boys struck him in the genitals with water bottles. According to the complaint, the most recent attack took place last week when the victim was held on the ground and sexually assaulted. He said he told the assaulters they were hurting him, to which one responded, “Don’t resist, we won’t hurt you.”

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