Just when you thought state athletic associations couldn't get any more bureaucratic, along comes one of the oddest disqualifications yet from the state of California.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Granada Hills (Calif.) High wrestler Dillon Freeman, a top contender to win his division at the 2011 City championships, was barred from competing at the tournament because he forgot to bring his school's picture ID card. The California Interscholastic Federation City Section said that only wrestlers who presented a valid school ID card would be admitted to the event, so Freeman was turned away despite presenting his valid driver's license.

Granada Hills' athletic director did make a valiant final effort to get Freeman in the event, emailing the student's ID to a smartphone, a procedure which City Section administrator John Aguirre approved. Yet, just when some level of sanity had seemed to prevail, opposing coaches protested Freeman's inclusion at the championships because the ID

The names Griffey and Larkin tend to conjure images of deep homers and slick catches. Now, at one Orlando school, they're becoming synonymous with success on the hardwood court.

Dr. Phillips (Fla.) High's girls basketball team won the Florida High School Athletic Association state title behind the skillful orchestration of a 5-foot-5 freshman point guard. Her name? Taryn Griffey. Yes, she is the daughter of Ken Griffey Jr.

Meanwhile, the Dr. Phillips boys basketball team will play for a shot at a Class 6A state title of its own on Friday, thanks to the heroics of a DePaul-bound senior point guard. His name? Shane Larkin. Yes, he is the son of longtime Reds shortstop Barry Larkin.

Together, the two sires of legendary baseball players have raised the profile of their school's basketball programs above all other sports at Dr. Phillips, save the football program ... which happens to be the reigning Florida Class 6A state runner-up. In fact, the two stars have helped push Dr. Phillips'

At the end of the day, referees are just like the rest of us: They make mistakes, and sometimes those errors alter games or even seasons. While there is no doubt those errors are unintentional, they can still have a profound effect on the course of events as large as a state's basketball playoffs.

That became evident last week, when a bizarre finish between two top-ranked girls basketball teams in Arizona was thrown into doubt after one team finished the game with six defending players instead of five, an indiscretion that somehow went unseen by the game officials.

According to the East Valley Tribune, Mountain View (Ariz.) High held off Hamilton (Ariz.) High, 50-49, in a Class 5A Division I quarterfinal on Friday, advancing to the state semifinals as a result. Yet Hamilton is contesting that final result after referees failed to call a technical foul against Mountain View, pictured above, when the Toros sent six defenders onto the floor for the final inbounds play, a sequence that

Marriage proposals at sporting events are nothing new. The stadium scoreboard proposal? Been done. Having an announcer ask over the loudspeaker? Cliche. Dropping a knee at center court? That's both been successful and failed miserably (ask one Houston man).

Yet the longtime boyfriend of an assistant high school girls basketball coach came up with a particularly unique way of popping the question last week, donning the Willmar (Minn.) High Cardinal mascot at the team's final game of the season, only to take off the mascot's head at center court and propose to the coach.

The West Central Tribune, which was covering the Willmar season finale, chronicled Bruce Just's proposal, which received wild applause from the crowd and a tearful acceptance from assistant coach Sally Wilson, who also works as a teacher at the high school.

The unique gesture was captured by Wilson's players, who had been alerted to the proposal, and a number of fans in the crowd who have watched the team throughout the

Last year, one of the best women's college basketball players in the country threw a punch at an opponent, and landed a suspension as a result. That's the way it should be. Yet, in the same state where that punch was thrown by Baylor center Brittney Griner, a high school player who pulled the same move may not be suspended from the state tournament her team advanced to, thanks in large part thanks to her efforts.

According to the Austin American-Statesman and FOX 7 News, Georgetown (Texas) High star Krystal Forthan threw a punch during her team's 68-56 victory over Pflugerville in the Class 5A Region II Finals on Saturday. The McDonald's All-American was ejected late in the Eagles' victory for throwing a punch at a Pflugerville defender during a scrap between the players.

Yet, unlike the NCAA, where conference disciplinary committees can bring additional suspensions for disciplinary problems, no such committee exists in the University Interscholastic League, which oversees Texas high

Wrestlers will try almost anything to gain an edge over an opponent. After all, when an athlete is committing to not eating and running in heavy sweats on the morning of a major event to make a weigh in, that athlete is about as committed to achieving a goal as possible.

Of all the possible avenues wrestlers can take to gain a subtle edge, the unique training some are using in New Jersey is pretty revolutionary. According to the Newark Star-Ledger, New Jersey wrestlers have taken to hypnosis as a way to train their mind to expect success and, in turn, react without consciously planning their next move. Despite the reluctance one might imagine would come with the territory, the wrestlers have been boasting of the hypnosis' incredibly effect on their fortunes on the mat.

"I know what I'm going to do before it happens," Nick Lospinoso, a 140-pound junior wrestler at David Brearley (N.J.) High told the Star-Ledger. "I've already visualized the whole six minutes."

Lospinoso is just one of a

A girls basketball game in Nashville on Friday night was overshadowed by a coach's terrifying collapse, and the subsequent heroics that saved his life.

According to Nashville TV station WSMV 4 and the Tennessean newspaper, among other outlets, Goodpasture (Tenn.) Christian School girls basketball coach Joey Spann, pictured at right, collapsed shortly after he and his Cougar teammates emerged from the locker room to begin the second half against rival David Lipscomb (Tenn.) High.

"I looked to the scorers table, and I saw Coach Spann standing there," Goodpasture senior player Paige Neely told WSMV. "He went tight and then fell.

"I was scared. I just looked at my mom and started crying."

The coach's collapse was caused by the onset of a sudden heart attack, which was quickly recognized by a handful of nurses and doctors who happened to be attending the game. One of those was nurse Andrea Honeycutt, who also happens to be the Department Chairperson of Goodpasture's Biology department.

When is a state champion interviewed as the best in her sport, only to learn afterward that she's not the champ after all? Only when a bizarre swimming disqualification is registered after post-event television interviews are already recorded in the state of Nebraska.

According to the Omaha World-Herald and other sources, Omaha (Neb.) Gross High swimmer Katie Ditter, on the left in the photo at right, captured the 100-yard breaststroke title at the state championship meet with a time of 1 minute, 6.84 seconds. She marked the victory exactly as you'd expect, with wild celebratory hugs with teammates and a brief live television interview filmed as she exited the pool.

Yet, when Ditter moved toward the medal stand, she learned belatedly that she wouldn't be receiving anything at all, with her coach informed via a rude, cross-pool shout that she had been disqualified for a stroke violation. The story could have ended there, but it actually got much worse for Ditter, who was forced to