Readers write

UGA AD shows true leadership

At the University of Georgia, the last sane, sports-fan-minded and athlete-first athletic director in the country, Josh Brooks, took a stand.

For years, college football has suffered at the hands of lawsuits that challenged the norms of college athletics. The latest episode with Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby is no exception. Brooks deserves a bit of recognition for his response of halting any play whatsoever in any program at UGA with Texas Tech.

In a sport gone mad, it is refreshing to have at least one athletic director willing to do what others dare not do: Lead.

BLAINE SALTER, ATHENS

Georgia’s voting maps don’t need changing

Our Founders created the House of Representatives to be the “people’s house” — the part of government closest to the people — reflecting popular opinion, responding quickly to changing public sentiment, and allowing voters to quickly remove unpopular politicians. In the Age of Trump, this is yet another bedrock American ideal that is dying.

With the recent Callais case, the Supreme Court ruled against Louisiana’s redistricting maps. But, despite GOP assertions to the contrary, the court said nothing about Georgia’s maps. Nor did it demand that we change our maps.

In fact, no court has ruled that Georgia’s maps violate the Callais decision. But Gov. Brian Kemp and GOP legislators are hurtling toward a special session to gerrymander our maps for the third time this decade. They’re eager to further restrict minority voting power and remove true public servants like Rep. Sanford Bishop — not with better policies to help Georgians, but with their squiggly, AI-generated lines on a map.

Let’s bring our voices to the Capitol on June 17.

DON HACKNEY, ATLANTA

Gambling has too much influence on sports

The Brendan Sorsby situation is a mess, but I think the bigger problem is gambling and how much it’s taken over sports.

He made over $90,000 in bets on college and pro sports over a four-year period as a student-athlete and only received a two-game suspension for his upcoming final season with Texas Tech.

People are blaming the kid, and he deserves blame because he knew the rules. But let’s be honest, gambling is everywhere. Every pregame and postgame, and every commercial break. You can’t get away from it.

We’re constantly telling people to bet, especially preying on young people, then acting surprised when a student-athlete gets caught up in it.

What Sorsby did was wrong. But this feels like a gambling problem more than a Brendan Sorsby problem.

As long as sports keep pushing betting every chance they get, stories like this will keep happening.

BRIAN DINAPOLI, DECATUR

What kind of a country detains children?

The U.S. used to be a constitutional country, respected for its commitment to human rights. What ICE and the detention centers are doing has convinced me that we are no longer that country.

Some adults have lived and worked in the U.S. for years, yet they are detained because an ICE official thought they looked “undocumented.”