"I was still playing — and I understand what my dad felt like coming to watch me play — but now, with social media, it was a little different. Everybody is like, ‘Oh, Ken’s here,’" Griffey Jr. told Mornings @ the Masters.
"My daughter literally stopped dribbling a basketball and just looked at me when she was 5, and I was like, ‘OK, I’ve got to pay more attention to what’s going on.’ And I figured nobody’s messing with the photographer. Well, let me pick it up."
Griffey's athletic abilities extend beyond the baseball diamond, and he frequently plays golf. The 13-time MLB All-Star said he's played at Masters events in the past.
Griffey finished his prolific big league baseball career with 630 regular-season home runs. While he is best known for his two stints with the Mariners, Griffey Jr. also played for the Cincinnati Reds from 2000-08.
Details of the allegations are not known, but Bond called them "patently false."
"Regarding the accusation made against me, I would appreciate the time and opportunity to defend myself and prove the claims made, patently false," Bond wrote on X. "I am in full cooperation with the authorities and will remain a willing and active participant in the investigation."
"Unfortunately, claims like these prove to be harmful to all involved, absent full review. I kindly request that all reserve judgment until the authorities provide a complete report based on truth and evidence."
Bond spent his final college season with the Longhorns after both Xavier Worthy and Adonai Mitchell went to the NFL. He caught 34 passes for 540 yards and five touchdowns. He declared for the NFL Draft shortly after the Longhorns were eliminated from the College Football Playoff by eventual national champion Ohio State, who they open the season against.
Before going to Texas, Bond spent his first two college seasons at Alabama. His final touchdown in a Crimson Tide uniform came from Jalen Milroe on a 4th-and-31 with 32 seconds left on the road against Auburn in the Iron Bowl.
The win saved Bama's season as they went to the SEC title game the next week and upset then-No. 1 Georgia, but they lost in the Rose Bowl to Michigan, which later won the national championship.
Bond is expected to be a second-day draft pick this month.
The 1992 Masters champion, at age 65 and playing in his 40th Masters, is positively ageless, becoming the second-oldest player to break par in a Masters round.
The words recently spoken by Eagles GM Howie Roseman, self-made 49-year-old father of four and gatherer of Super Bowl champion personnel, made both noise and news.
On Thursday morning, the wideout and current NFL prospect turned himself in to Frisco Police, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, regarding an outstanding warrant involving sexual assault.
Justin Rose needed just 22 putts for a 7-under 65 and a three-shot lead at the Masters, while Rory McIlroy had two double bogeys in the final four holes to finish at even par.
André Onana's performance against Lyon for Manchester United could have cost Ruben Amorim's team a chance to qualify for the semifinals of the Europa League.
At this point, taking extreme caution with Sorokin, who already has played in 59 games, is the logical thing to do, even if the Islanders’ elimination from the playoff race isn’t yet official.
A school board meeting in Maine's capital city of Augusta on Wednesday night featured a contentious interaction between a parent in a "MAGA" hat and the school board president over the state's ongoing controversy over trans athlete inclusion in girls' sports.
Augusta School Board Chair Martha Witham cut off local parent Nick Blanchard while he discussed the controversial issue and a petition he launched to have Cony Middle and High School Principal Kim Liscomb removed from her position, as seen in footage of the meeting.
Liscomb is currently the president of the Maine Principals' Association (MPA), which supports transgender athletes' participation in school sports based on gender identity and has been a subject of scrutiny by President Donald Trump's administration over the issue.
Blanchard, who showed up to the meeting in a "MAGA" hat and a T-shirt of Gov. Janet Mills that read, "You're fired," started his speech by praising the six of the seven members of the board who voted to adopt the 2020 interpretation of Title IX that did not allow trans athletes to compete as girls.
Blanchard also condemned the board member who voted against it, which prompted the first interruption by Witham.
"Good job and thank you to the six members that voted to go back to the 2020 interpretation of Title IX, and shame on the one board member that voted no," Blanchard began.
Witham then cut him off, saying, "I'm sorry, but negative comments will not be allowed."
Blanchard then proceeded to discuss his petition to have Liscomb removed.
"This petition is asking … if you the school board members will put up a vote," Blanchard began before being cut off again by Witham.
Witham told Blanchard that his statements would "not be tolerated" and warned him that he would be asked to step down from the podium if he continued making "defamatory remarks."
When Blanchard asked how his remarks were "defamatory," Witham responded by saying "I don't have to explain it to you."
"These comments will not be tolerated at the meeting directed toward us or to anybody else in this room," Witham said.
Blanchard then agreed to proceed with his speech without referring to Liscomb by name.
"So, as most of you know, someone who is the president of the Maine Principal's Association," Blanchard began before being interrupted by Witham for the final time.
"Nope, close enough. I'm sorry, you're done, Mr. Blanchard," Witham said, ordering him off the podium.
As Blanchard walked away, he yelled "Communist China right here!"
Fox News Digital has reached out to Augusta Schools for comment.
Maine is currently considered ground zero in the national debate over trans inclusion in girls' and women's sports as multiple federal agencies have levied pressure on the state since February to amend its current policies that enable trans inclusion.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture froze funding to the state last week, and the Department of Health and Human Services has already referred the Maine Department of Education, the MPA and Greely High School to the Justice Department.
Friday is the deadline for the state to amend its current policies or face another referral to the justice department by the U.S. Department of Education.
Name, image and likeness continues to ravage college sports, and the commissioners of the NCAA's Power Four conferences are desperate.
Greg Sankey, Jim Phillips, Tony Petitti and Brett Yormark have all been on Capitol Hill to discuss with Congress how it can help regulate NIL and the transfer portal, the latter of which continues to be a hit among college athletes looking to score more money.
More than 1,000 Division I college basketball players have entered the portal since it opened March 24.
One player even said he was entering the portal just 13 minutes after his team lost in March Madness.
It's becoming clear the situation is getting out of control, and Yormark, the Big 12 commissioner, bluntly admitted to Bret Baier on "Special Report" Thursday, "We need help from Congress."
"From where I sit today, federal preemption, having a standardized platform that oversees and governs NIL is critically important," Yormark said. "Today, 34 states see it very differently, and it’s relatively unruly."
"The volume of laws that are being passed on a state level are making it really difficult for us to regulate and compete nationally," added Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti. Every single time someone doesn’t like a ruling, or something comes from the NCAA, we end up in litigation. Those rules then get aggregated, and we’re back to the start.
"We’re hopeful that the combination of what we’ve done in the settlement will give us an opportunity, with some help from Congress, to really put a system in a place that has some stability.
"We’ve crossed the bridge of being willing to provide revenue … but we need to have some structure. We can’t have a system that has complete unregulated movement."
The settlement Petitti referred to is the $2.8 billion deal that allowed schools to pay 22% of their revenue from media rights, ticket sales and sponsorships directly to college athletes. Payments from outside sources would still be allowed.
NOLA.com noted that the settlement would offer more than $2.5 billion to athletes who could not earn NIL money before the NCAA changed its rules in 2021. The report also noted that most of the damage would be paid out to former football and men’s basketball players of power conference schools because their sports bring in the most revenue.
The settlement also called for a clearinghouse to ensure any NIL deal worth more than $600 is pegged at fair market value in an attempt to thwart supposed pay-for-play deals.
"We absolutely understand the responsibility we have. Five hundred thousand student athletes have benefited $4 billion annually for scholarships," Philips, the ACC commissioner, said. "This is the heartbeat of Americana, the Olympic movement and the Olympic team. We feel like there’s a better destination and a stabilization coming forward, but we need help with Congress and national legislation."
Added Sankey, who runs the SEC, "To have a College World Series, to have a College Football Playoff, to have national championships, you have to have national standards."
Sankey and Phillips also cited lower grade point averages by those who transfer, and Phillips said it will be "sobering" when they acquire enough data to show that's the case.
"When you look at transfer GPAs prior to transfer versus after, historically, there's been a diminishment. The quality of that education can suffer, as credits are lost, because transferring multiple times starts to inhibit the ability to select the academic program that may have the most value and meaning to someone."
Scottie Scheffler was expected to be near the top of the Masters leaderboard after the first round at Augusta National Golf Club.
But it was Justin Rose, the Englishman playing in his 20th Masters, who walked into the clubhouse with a three-stroke lead over the 2024 winner at 7-under after posting a miraculous first round Thursday.
Rose, whose only major win came in 2013 at the U.S. Open, matched his best round ever at Augusta National, and this marks his fifth time leading after the tournament's first round.
The 44-year-old sprinted out to a 3-under start after he birdied the first three holes. After doing the same on holes 8 and 9, he finished the first nine at 5-under. He birdied 10 before coming back down to earth with four straight pars before finding more red marks on holes 15 and 16 to sit at 8-under.
Rose was flirting with the best opening round in Masters history, Greg Norman's 9-under in 1996. But Rose couldn’t find the fairway on the narrow 18th fairway, and he finished his round with a bogey.
However, he was all smiles after his great start. His best finishes at the Masters came in 2015 and 2017, when he finished second and tied for second, respectively.
There were some questions about how Scheffler would fare this week in Augusta due to him missing a few tournaments to start the year with a freak hand injury he sustained while preparing Christmas dinner. And he admitted weeks before the tournament it’s still affecting his play.
Yet, he shot 4-under to set himself up for a good week to defend his 2024 Masters title.
And some theatrics came with it when he drained a 60-foot birdie on the par-3 fourth hole. He also knocked down a long putt on the par-3 16th that would be his final birdie of the day in a bogey-free round to begin his tournament.
However, he isn’t the only one in the clubhouse at 4-under, three strokes back of Rose. Canadian Corey Conners, picked by some as a dark horse candidate to win this week, birdied three of his final four holes to also sit 4-under heading into Friday.
Finally, Sweden's Ludvig Åberg, who finished second in last year's Masters behind Scheffler, had a strong second nine with four birdies to finish tied for second at 4-under.
It was looking like Rose could have some very close company, if not a tie for the lead, because Rory McIlroy was cruising in his opening round as he searches for that elusive career Grand Slam. He needs a Masters victory to complete that.
He was looking great at 4-under after 14 holes, but a costly error on the par-5 15th derailed what would’ve been a sparkling start to the tournament.
A beautiful drive started the hole, but after his second shot went through the green, McIlroy had to chip down to the hole, which sat at the front of the green on a downslope. It was a similar situation Patrick Cantlay faced earlier Thursday, and both of his attempts rolled off the green and into the water below for a disastrous turn of events.
McIlroy’s chip got a hard second bounce, and he watched as his ball rolled into the water. Instead of going back to the same spot like Cantlay, he opted for the drop zone and would need to chip again after it bounced just off the green into the fringe. McIlroy finished with a double bogey to fall to 2-under on the day, and it got worse from there.
He was able to par No. 16 but found trouble again with a double bogey on 17 to drop to even-par on the round. That’s where McIlroy finished, which isn’t terrible by any means.
However, after such a great start to the day, especially with all the expectations for him entering the week after two victories, McIlroy now needs to build momentum again Friday instead of riding high from it Thursday.
There is a 65-year-old tied within the top 10 at Augusta National, and it’s none other than 1992 Masters champion Fred Couples, who posted a 1-under 71 first round Thursday.
It was a round for the Masters record books. It had been 42 years since he first broke par at Augusta National in 1983. The longest gap prior to that was Jack Nicklaus, who first broke par in 1960 before his last in 2000, a 40-year gap.
Tom Watson also had 40 years between his first and last, and both he and Nicklaus were honorary starters Thursday.
Couples, with his ever-so-sweet swing from the right side, is draining eagles from the fairway as he did Hole 14 with a hybrid from just under 200 yards out. His neon yellow ball hit the green perfectly in line, and it quickly turned the tide for Couples, who bogeyed two of his last three holes prior to that to go 1-over on the day.
Couples is usually aiming to make the cut each year so he can play into the weekend. This was a start to give him that opportunity.
Here's the top 10 on the Masters leaderboard after Round 1:
