The Boston Athletic Association, which oversees the Boston Marathon, responded to two minority running clubs and acknowledged shortcomings in creating an inclusive and welcome environment Monday for the racially diverse runners.

‘This year, we know that we did not deliver on our promise to make it a great day for everyone,’ Boston Athletic Association president and CEO Jack Fleming said Thursday in a statement. ‘We met with two groups last night, who the B.A.A. proudly supports in their running activities, their members and their mission — PIONEERS Run Crew and TrailblazHers Run Co. — two of Boston’s premier clubs for BIPOC runners.

‘They expressed to us their deep concerns that they were not given the chance to enjoy the day and celebrate their friends, families and all participants as they approached Heartbreak Hill — that is on us. It is our job, and we need to do better to create an environment that is welcoming and supportive of the BIPOC communities at the marathon.’

Several reports from runners and social media posts from Monday showed an instance in which police working the event appeared to disproportionately single out people of color who were there to cheer on runners.

What happened during the incident at the Boston Marathon?

In one such video, a Black man is narrating how he and dozens of friends, most of them appearing to be people of color, were gathered at mile 21 to cheer on their friends who were running in the marathon. At the gathering, there appeared to be grilling and tents set up, with music playing. In the video, the people gathered are all standing around, trying to watch the race, but a row of police officers with bikes is seen lined up right in front of the cordoned-off section of the road, acting as a barrier. At one point, the camera pans to the section behind the gathering to show another set of officers, this group with motorcycles, behind the gathering.

When the camera pans to the other sections of street visible from where the recording was taking place, there is no apparent police presence at all to block the view of onlookers.

‘We were at Heartbreak Hill, but it was a different type of heartbreak,’ Aliese Lash, a leader of the of the Pioneers Run Crew, told the Washington Post. ‘We want to experience the joy of running, the joy of the course, but yesterday was just so blatant that we weren’t welcome there.’

The Pioneers Run Crew was created in 2017 and was the product of a lack of diversity in the Boston running community. Lash told the Post that the club had around 40 members run the marathon Monday.

Lash told the Post that the club has had the same gathering at every marathon they have had a participant run in and that the organization has never faced this kind of police response. She added that, as a group made up of runners, the members know rules about not crossing the boundary into the course.

‘There’s people along the entire course who do the same thing,’ Lash told the Post. ‘It’s so common for people to support their runners. But for some reason we do it and it’s not OK for us to do it.’

What was the official response from police?

According to the Post, Newton (Massachusetts) Police released a statement that said officers were dispatched to the location after ‘being notified by the BAA three times about spectators traversing the rope barrier and impeding runners.’

The Washington Post also reported that a Newton Police spokeswoman said the people gathered at the cheer party were asked to stay behind the rope and that ‘NPD with additional officers calmly used bicycles for a short period to demarcate the course and keep both the runners and spectators safe.’

Tom Brady has retired, and the Miami Dolphins have committed contractually to quarterback Tua Tagovailoa for the next two seasons.

Still, it hasn’t stopped Brady from fielding questions about whether he’ll join the Dolphins after both sides flirted with the possibility several years ago.

Brady, the keynote speaker at global technology conference eMerge Americas in Miami on Thursday, did not give a definite answer to the question, posed by a host for the event.

“Is there any chance you’re coming out of retirement and playing for the Fins?” one host asked.

“I will say now that I’m not affiliated with any team anymore, even though I have strong ties with a couple teams, I do have some friends on the Dolphins that I really like,” Brady, the seven-time Super Bowl champion, said.

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“So, I wouldn’t say I necessarily root for them all the time, but I root for my friends to do well, and several of them play for Miami.”

It wasn’t a yes. And it wasn’t a no.

Instead, Brady filibustered the best he could.

Even though Brady retired for the second time this February, the Brady-to-the-Dolphins speculation lingers again because of a friendly question during a keynote interview.

One day earlier, Tagovailoa said he mulled retirement in conversations with his family before deciding to continue his NFL career.

The Dolphins committed to Tagovailoa for the next two seasons by agreeing to honor his fifth-year contract option for the 2024 season, despite Tagovailoa suffering at least two concussions last season.

“I think I considered it for a time, having sat down with my family, my wife and having those conversations,’ Tagovailoa said during a news conference. “Really, it would be hard for me to walk away from this game with how old I am, with my son. I always dreamed of playing as long as I could so my son could know what he was watching his dad do.

“It’s my health. It’s my body. I feel like this is what’s best for me and my family. I love the game of football. If I didn’t, I would’ve quit a long time ago.”

The Dolphins don’t have a first-round pick in the 2023 NFL draft next week, nor do they have a third-round pick in 2024, due to an NFL investigation last August that found Miami tampered with both Brady and new Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton.

The NFL found Miami and Brady discussed him “becoming a limited partner in the Dolphins and possibly serving as a football executive, although at times they also included the possibility of his playing for the Dolphins.”

None of that transpired though, in part thanks to the lawsuit raised by former Dolphins coach Brian Flores, who sued the NFL and several teams alleging racial discrimination in hiring practices.

Flores alleged in his lawsuit that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered to pay him $100,000 to lose games, in order to tank during the 2019 season and improve draft position. The NFL’s investigation did not find evidence to support this claim.

If Tagovailoa’s concussion issues persists or another situation arises, perhaps both Brady and the Dolphins explore their options together.

NFL Network’s 75 hours of draft coverage starting April 27 will include a notable omission: the sight of Michael Irvin.

Irvin, the longtime TV analyst, remains suspended, according to Alex Riethmiller, the NFL’s vice president of communications.

NFL Network issued a release detailing plans for its coverage of the 2023 draft and Irvin’s game was notably absent.

Irvin, who joined the NFL Network in 2009, did not return a voicemail or text message left on a number listed in his name. His attorney, Levi McCathern, was out of the office and unavailable, according to an automated email.

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Irvin and his attorney have gone public in their fight to clear his name after an employee at a Phoenix hotel said Irvin sexually harassed her in the hotel lobby a week before the Super Bowl was played in Phoenix.

Irvin subsequently was removed from assignments covering the Super Bowl by the NFL Network and ESPN. 

On Feb. 4, the day before the encounter, the National Football League asked the hotel to make them aware of any incidents involving guests that were staying in their block of rooms. 

On the night in question, Marriott says that Irvin flagged down the accuser and ‘appeared to be visibly intoxicated’ and began his aggressive behavior toward the employee, shaking her hand, stating she was attractive, and asking her if she watched football. 

Irvin responded by filing a $100 million lawsuit, claiming defamation and tortious interference in a business relationship, and as the case has wound through district court and now federal court, the hotel chain is fighting back with its own version of the encounter on Feb. 5 at the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown.

Irvin, a Hall of Fame receiver for the Dallas Cowboys, has been a fixture of the NFL Network and involved in ESPN’s coverage of the NFL for more than a decade.

Former pro wrestler Theodore ‘Ted’ DiBiase Jr. was charged ‘with misappropriating millions of dollars in federal safety-net funds intended for needy families and low-income individuals in Mississippi,’ the Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs announced on Thursday.

DiBiase Jr., who is the son of Ted Dibiase Sr. aka ‘The Million Dollar Man,’ reportedly funneled millions of dollars from two charity organizations who received money from The Emergency Food Assistance Program and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families effort. DiBiase Jr. received the money via two businesses he had set up and he bought a boat, a car and put a down payment on a house.

In 2020, the federal government attempted to seize DiBiase Jr.’s Madison, Mississippi, home after he was suspected to be part of the welfare scandal.

This is the same scandal that involves Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre. The state of Mississippi is investigating individuals who funneled away $77 million from programs intended to help families in need. Favre has not been charged with a crime, but is named in the state’s lawsuit for directing money to the volleyball program at his alma mater, among other activities. He has paid back $1.1 million he received for a speaking engagement and wants his name removed from the lawsuit.

Among the charges filed against DiBiase Jr. are six counts of wire fraud, four counts of money laundering and two counts of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds.

The former WWE wrestler could face up to 120 years in prison if he is found guilty of all counts of wire fraud. The other charges carry up to 65 years.

DiBiase’s brother, Brett, pleaded guilty last month to one count of conspiracy to defraud the government, but is not expected to testify in the ongoing case.

It’s a story almost as old the NBA playoffs.

Star players sustain injuries in the playoffs.

And this season is no different.

Leonard was fantastic in the first two games of the series with 38 points, five rebounds, five assists, one block and one steal in Game 1 and 31 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals in Game 2. He’s a combined 24-for-44 shooting (54.5%).

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The fifth-seeded Clippers are already without Paul George (sprained right knee) and an uphill climb against the fourth-seeded Suns became steeper with Leonard’s absence. It’s already difficult defending the Suns’ Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton, and now, the Clippers are without an elite scorer and defender.

NBA playoffs missing key players

Leonard joins a growing list of injured stars who have missed games since the playoffs began on Saturday.

Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo missed Game 2 against Miami after sustaining a back contusion in Game 1. Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer indicated Antetokounmpo might able to play in Game 2, but that wasn’t the case. That series is also 1-1.

Memphis’ Ja Morant injured his right (shooting) hand in Game 1, and it was determined about an hour before Game 2 on Wednesday that he was unable to play. The Grizzlies won without Morant, and his status for Game 3 is unknown in that tied series.

The Clippers’ George hasn’t played since March 21, and Memphis’ Steven Adams and Brandon Clarke are sidelined for the Grizzlies.

If there’s a team that has generated the most hype in the past decade or so, it might be the Miami Marlins.

The team opened a state-of-the-art stadium on the site of the hallowed Orange Bowl in 2012. Then, it got major star power when Hall of Fame shortstop Derek Jeter was part of an ownership group that bought the team in 2017. Jeter brought on Kim Ng, the first woman general manager in Major League Baseball, in 2020.

The Marlins have only made one postseason appearance in that time, during the shortened 2020 season when they were swept in the National League division series. The team is also consistently toward the bottom of MLB attendance.

Jeter parted ways with the club last February. While he was part of the front office, part of his efforts to revamp the franchise was firing president David Samson. In an interview with Front Office Sports, Samson recalls his time with the New York Yankees star at the helm.

‘He was able to bring in all his own people and he thought that everything that I did was bad,’ Samson said. ‘So he erased anything I had done. … Anything I did, he did the opposite and assumed it would work.

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‘He assumed that he could get a bigger TV deal. He assumed he could get a big naming rights deal, that he’d get tons of season-ticket holders, that he would make the team a winning team. And after four years, I think he realized that being a shortstop and being an executive are two totally different things. … And I think he realized quickly that being a pitch man for Subway was probably going to be more up his alley than running the team every day.’

Samson said that Jeter had free reign over the team after joining the ownership group where businessman Bruce Sherman footed most of the bill. Samson said that the five-time World Series champion had ‘absolutely no accountability.’ He continued that he found out from ESPN that he was fired and when he asked Jeter about it, he said he was told, ‘Oh yeah, I didn’t get to you. I’m sorry.’

Samson, who is now a media personality, continued that Jeter’s lack of leadership eventually caught up with him, leading to what some viewed was his abrupt departure from the team.

‘I think the partners with the Marlins realized that the promises he had made were not coming true,’ he said. ‘And so that made getting rid of him sort of an obvious thing.’

Sherman maintains ownership of the Marlins, who are currently 10-9 and sit in the middle of the NL East standings. They have the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner in Sandy Alcantara and the cover star of ‘MLB The Show 23’ in center fielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. on their roster, and this past offseason, they added second baseman Luis Arráez via trade. Arráez leads MLB with a .438 batting average through Wednesday.

Williams, a five-star combo guard, is facing five counts of assault with a deadly weapon stemming from a March 27 shooting outside his San Diego area home. He is also facing a count of shooting at an occupied vehicle. Williams was arrested April 13 in connection to the incident. Williams faces up to 28 years in prison if convicted on all charges, according to Deputy District Attorney George Modlin.

Williams fired at a car carrying five people, including three under 18, following ‘a verbal argument about guests in the house being asked to leave,’ according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.

Williams appeared in court via remote video call Thursday after his attorney, Troy P. Owens Jr., made the request ‘for security reasons.’ When asked why by the judge Louis Hanoian, Owens said, ‘I can not disclose that,’ according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

After the hearing, Owens told reporters the allegations against Williams “are not an accurate reflection of what happened,’ adding he was not aware of a “relationship” between Williams and the victims, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Williams is due back in court for a preliminary hearing on June 29. Per the terms of his release, Williams is subject to five protective orders (versus the five people in the car) and is not allowed to possess firearms or ammunition.

Last week, Owens wrote an open letter stating a ‘disturbance’ ensued at Williams’ home that was initiated by ‘several uninvited guests.’

“During the aftermath of this disturbance, there were reports of shots being fired,’ Owens’ letter reads. ‘Mr. Williams is alleged to match the description of the shooter. He has posted bond and looks forward to addressing any allegations against him using the established procedures in our justice system. We are aware of several narratives being advanced online that are not factual and are designed to humiliate Mr. Williams. We are confident that the truth will come to light.’

In 2021, Williams signed an endorsement deal with Puma. It made him the first American high school basketball player to sign a sneaker deal with a global footwear and apparel company. In November 2022, Williams signed to play for coach Penny Hardaway at Memphis.

On Wednesday, Hardaway declined to comment on any specifics related to Williams’ case.

“I can’t even speak on the case, out of respect for the ongoing process of what’s happening,” said Hardaway. “I don’t know enough to speak on it. That’s all I have to say about that. I don’t really have anything else to say about it.”

When asked about his approach to roster construction with Williams’ status with the team in limbo, Hardaway said he will continue to recruit.

“(But) as of right now, Mikey is still with us. That’s how I have to keep it until otherwise,’ he said.

Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @munzly.