A.M. ATL: Car talk

Morning, y’all! May your coffee be hot, your commute short and your weekend relaxing.

Let’s get to it.

IT’S UGA VS. TEXAS TECH, BUT NOT LIKE THAT

Sports betting is ruining sports, pass it on! (Jason Getz/AJC)

If you haven’t been paying attention to the drama coming out of Texas Tech University, it is wild. Walk with me. You won’t regret it.

• Texas Tech’s starting quarterback Brendan Sorsby got in hot water for sports gambling. Not just any sports gambling — nearly $100,000 worth of sports gambling. He also bet on his own team while he was playing for Indiana University. Not good!
• The NCAA deemed him ineligible to play after that. But after some legal scuffling, a Texas judge ruled Sorsby can play this season after all.
• This has irritated a lot of college football programs, on account of the whole betting on your own team while you’re playing thing, a situation obviously ripe with opportunities for corruption.
• The University of Georgia has been one of the most outspoken voices in the outcry. The athletics department even boycotted Texas Tech, saying it won’t schedule any games against the school.
• (Remember: Sports gambling is still illegal in Georgia.)

The situation has massive implications for student-athletes, college sports programs and the general integrity of the game, as it is. It’s reverberating in the academic halls of these institutions, too.

🔎 READ MORE: Why college leaders, especially at UGA, are so angry about this

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A NEW LOOK FOR SOUTH DOWNTOWN

Construction crews busy themselves all along Broad Street in South Downtown with the World Cup looming. (Bill Torpy/AJC)

South Downtown, near Broad Street, has been a pain point in the city for a while. Just a few blocks from Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the area just hasn’t produced long-term success for the community.

• About a year ago, a group of investors plucked a patch of historic buildings and storefronts in the area from certain foreclosure. A $140 million investment later, South Downtown is ready to debut its new look in time for Atlanta’s World Cup events.
• It’s part of a generational wave of investment happening in Atlanta’s core that also includes the $5 billion Centennial Yards project, the revamp of the former CNN Center, multiple city-backed housing projects and fresh businesses at Underground Atlanta.

🔎 READ MORE: What South Downtown has to offer

SOME COMFORT FOR THE DEADLINE-PHOBIC

Next time you blow a deadline, just remember: At least it wasn’t the long-anticipated, seven-years-coming, $700 million rollout of hundreds of brand new MARTA cars that your whole agency swore up and down would happen in time for the biggest sporting event in the world to land at your doorstep.

• Unsurprisingly, MARTA says there is “no timeline” for the rollout and the new cars won’t be in service in time for the World Cup.
• This was apparent in the last delay update less than a month ago. At that time, the trains hadn’t passed safety tests, after which the Georgia Department of Transportation needed 30 days to sign off on their readiness. The math simply didn’t shake out.
• No shade to the good workers at MARTA, who are reportedly “heartbroken” by the delay, brought on by issues with the railcars’ manufacturer, Stadler.

MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS

📺 Turner and CNN alumni gathered at Techwood this week to seek comfort in the angelic glow of Anderson Cooper’s hair at a private memorial for founder Ted Turner.

🗳️ Voter guide: Today is the last day for early voting for state primary runoffs. Election day is this coming Tuesday, June 16. Know before you go!

🐘 On that note, the Jones-Jackson race may be decided by voters who originally went for their fallen gubernatorial competitors, Chris Carr and Brad Raffensperger.

COME ON BARBIE, LET’S GO NOT GET BANKRUPTED BY HIGH GAS PRICES

This Barbie is an engineer AND an artist. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

Mali “Sota” Hightower knows what he’s about. When the Ellenwood resident and car builder takes to the streets, he does so in a modified kids’ Barbie car, pink paint job and all.

• The Barbie camper runs on a pull cord, has no doors or windows, and Hightower locks it up with a bike chain.
• Does it look cool? Absolutely. He also says it saves him a lot on gas. It costs about $3.50 to fill up, and a full tank in the camper can take him 20 miles, enough to get him to his job as a contractor.
• His sweet pink ride can reach 55 miles per hour (!!!), but Hightower’s no fool. He follows regulations similar to a moped, and never takes it out of the metro area.
• Hightower first played Dr. Frankenstein with kids’ cars in 2024, when he merged a toy Jeep and a go-kart. It worked surprisingly well. He’s crafted eight other gas-powered mini cars, which have been featured in music videos and viral social media posts.

Hightower’s fiancee, Jenee Ewen, has taken this all in stride, and provided the kind of explanation anyone who’s known a gifted weirdo will recognize immediately.

“Mali has a very, very intelligent mind, and he’s innovative, so I’ve been seeing him create art in many different forms,” Ewen said. “He always has a major idea that he’s either strategizing or bringing it to fruition physically.”

🎀 READ MORE: The mad genius describes his process, plus more pics

NEWS BITES

The skills people still perform better than AI, according to workplace experts

All of the ones that matter.

Up your World Cup style with these ATL-grown fashion picks

Buy local so FIFA doesn’t get any more of your money! They already got enough.

Atlanta welcomes Uzbekistan as team settles into their World Cup home base

Did you know the team is also called the Huma birds after a mythical firebird from several Middle Eastern traditions? Firebird, you know, like phoenix? Resurgens? Atlanta and Uzbekistan, soccer besties forever!

15 family-friendly things to do around town this weekend

Featuring this magical series of words: Honky Tonk Block Party at The Battery.

ON THIS DATE

June 12, 1998