Associated Press (and former Charlotte Observer) business writer Christina Rexrode started calling CEOs at the start of the 2012 NCAA basketball tournament for their brackets. The North Carolina alums who picked up the phone had few kind words for Duke.
Family Dollar CEO Howard Levine told her he went to UNC's basketball camp as a kid, and still wears his UNC hat to meetings to antagonize co-workers who went to Duke. So he was heartbroken when older son Brian chose to do the same.
"I told him, 'OK, you're going to Duke, and I can get over that,'" Levine recalled. "But you can't wear that Duke stuff when you come home.'"
Cute, but hardly impolitic. For that, we turn to U.S. Rep. Brad Miller.
After speaking with the state's five-term congressman last week, Rexrode decided to call back when North Carolina State made the Sweet 16 as well, and ask about divided loyalties.
"The way I deal with it is, I scream my lungs out for Carolina," Miller said. "I make no pretense that I am at all half-hearted in my support for Carolina. Nobody in North Carolina would trust a politician who claimed to be neutral on a matter as important as college basketball."
Miller said he rooted for N.C. State against Georgetown, And when they play out-of-state. And any time a Wolfpack win doesn't affect Carolina's ranking.
Duke is another story altogether.
"I have said very publicly that if Duke was playing against the Taliban," Miller said very publicly again, "then I'd have to pull for the Taliban."
Guess who's not running for re-election?
- Jim Litke, Associated Press
Friday, March 23, 2012
'... if Duke was playing against the Taliban ...'
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29 comments:
When I was a little boy growing up in Nashville in the 80s, I said if Vanderbilt played the Russians, I'd be pulling for the Big Red. I know the feeling!
Carolina fans are obligated to hate dook and vice versa. Neither one ever wants the other to pull for them either. If they did, the greatest rivalry in sports would be dead. Kinda like the NC State / Carolina "rivalry" is now. State still hates Carolina, but State is just another game on the schedule for Tar Heel fans.
should have just left the comment as nobody in North Carolina would trust a politician..
LOL, anything, will print anything to give your dear Hole fans some comfort, knowing without Marshall, the end is very near!
The "Taliban over Duke" comment is ridiculous. I'm a UNC grad, but if another ACC team is playing a non-ACC team, then you can bet I'm rooting for the ACC team. Duke is a great institution with a great basketball program, not as good as UNC, IMHO, but that's not the point. Both Duke and UNC being good makes each other better, and it doesn't hurt to give respect where respect is due. However, I did draw the line at Norm Sloan ("Sludge") back in the day!
Tar Heel Observer propoganda. These people reek of jealousy. For every bitter kid who got waitlisted from their dream school or didn't make the varsity squad, this article's for you! Come join this sad communal of Duke longing, envy and hate!
Envy rears its ugly head...it's really funny how UNCheat hates Dook waaaaaaaaaaayyy more than Dook dislikes them.
Is it the fact that Dook has won 5 of the last 7 vs. UNC? 20 of the past 30?
Is it the fact that Coach K has 4 titles and Dean Smith has 2? Maybe it's because it's common knowledge Duke outranks UNC in undergrad, business school, medical school, and law school? Is it the fact that Duke alums make more money and get better jobs after graduation?
Maybe it's the fact that Duke alums get real jobs, while Tarhole alums get jobs with the Charlotte "Disturber"!
Maybe it's because Duke costs $54,000 a year and most of their students come from New Jersey. I am quite content with my children getting the best value in college education at $17,000 a year in Chapel Hill. No jealousy here. It does amaze me how idiotic Duke's brilliant trust fund babies always look, especially when they lose. Half of them are probably "legacies" and the other half areas ably children of China's ruling elite.
Why is this in the paper. I remember when the observer said it was not slanted toward unc and was calling anyone who said they were crazy. Now you say you are bias because most of your readers are unc fans. What happened? For me April can not get here fast enough......
I can assure you that Duke fans don't spend nearly as much time obsessing over this as Carolina fans do...
UNC-CHeats.
GO JAYHAWKS!!!!
One thing you will never see on this page "Duke alum here" or "the other day when I was at the Duke football game".
"Half of them are probably "legacies" and the other half areas ably children of China's ruling elite."
Thinly veiled racism from a Carolina fan? No doubt, I'm sure you take pride in your fine institution built on the backs of slave labor. http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/exhibits/slavery/ 22,000 white kids in the stands of the Smith center and five black guys on the court at your "institution of diversity." Keep that plantation mentality alive!
Evidently Rep Brad Miller doesn't remember what happened on 9/11 and who did it. Probably because he went to UNC. A very insensitive comment to make in today's world.
Ooops, the heels just lost to Kansas. Guess Miller will want an investigation.
>>Kinda like the NC State / Carolina "rivalry" is now. State still hates Carolina, but State is just another game on the schedule for Tar Heel fans.<<
Just like Carolina is just another game on the WOLFPACK FOOTBALL schedule...you know Football, the money sport. The reason the ACC has expanded...AGAIN! Just the facts.
You may want to look into football, this basketball thing not looking so good for the All-American loaded 'heels.
UNC alums and Walmarters reek of Dook inferiority...it's kind of sad and pathetic.
Cute, 12:10. It would be even MORE meaningful if it were actually true. New Jersey is fifth on Duke's undergrad student population, behind FL, NY, NC, and CA. For your information, those are the fourth, third, and first US states in population with North Carolina clocking in at tenth, nearly ten million residents behind Florida.
Top Alumni Bases by salary...I see Duke University right there at #7, no UNC in the first 100 or so. I got bored after that and stopped looking.
http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges/top-us-colleges-graduate-salary-statistics.asp
There have been a lot of very dumb coments posted here. To think that UNC and Duke will suddenly become non-factors because Kentucky finally won a title is absurd.
Kentucky had a great team this year. Their head coach is subject to much second guessing because of his tainted past. Hopefully, for the sake of this great game, he won this the right way. Just as Roy Williams and coach K have done for many years.
I complete agree with the last commentor, I mean Kentucky had a very good team last year and those other comments are shallow
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