U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole is challenging her husband on the Final Four.
The Salisbury Republican and her husband, former Sen. Bob Dole, have agreed to a wager on the NCAA tournament game Saturday between UNC-Chapel Hill and the University of Kansas.
The loser of the bet will donate $1,000 to the academic scholarship fund of the winning team's school as well as assume dog walking duties for the couple's miniature schnauzer, Leader.
"One North Carolina team already had Kansas on the ropes, and now it's time for the Tar Heels to finish the Jayhawks off," said Elizabeth Dole in a statement.
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Re: Dole vs. Dole in Final Four
The Doles are showing they appreciate Roy Williams, from Manteo to Murphy and even across the Tennessee line to Chattanooga since they seem to be singing a new refrain to the 1941 swing classic, "Chattanooga Choo-Choo":
"Pardon me Roy, are those your teams in San Antonio?
"You helped Kansas back then, now you no longer roam.
"It's gonna be, a Final Four worth remembering,
"So Carolina Tar Heels, bring Roy and the title back home!"
If Woody Durham does the vocal, then it's bound to be a hit.
Tar Heel fans may or may not welcome support for Carolina from Duke folks during the Final Four. But Duke fans who want to support UNC for the good of the state should try to outgrin Mike Easley and do cheer for Chapel Hill whether their friends from Carolina like it or not!
Elizabeth Hanford Dole, whose loyalty to Duke is "self-evident," to use University of Virginia founder Thomas Jefferson's preferred adjectival designation, graduated from Duke in 1958, the year after the North Carolina Tar Heels won their first NCAA title in 1957 under "the Smiling Irishman," Coach Frank McGuire.
So for Sen. Dole to demonstrate that a good Duke education can help a person appreciate the fact that "nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina in the morning" sets a good example for any and all beleaguered in-state Dukies who don't want to be on the outside looking in in their own home state.
Meanwhile, Bob Dole can perhaps persuade his fellow Kansans that while Roy Williams may be "as corny as Kansas in August," when it comes to his native North Carolina, he just can't help singing: "See You in September."
And remember, Tar Heel fans, the great Southern band Alabama has reminded us many times: "If you're gonna play in Texas, you have to have a fiddle in the band." Perhaps the same could be said for academic-athletic exchanges with the Lone Star State: if you're going to travel to Texas, you need to have a Biddle in the band.
Look at it this way: all those good Duke people in allas, Houston and San Antonio who may be cheering for "ABD"--not Angier Biddle Duke but rather Anybody But Duke--well, if they hear a few Duke fans from North Carolina hollering for the Tar Heels, maybe they'll take their Texas time deciding which team to pull for.
And besides, when you're competing out in San Antonio, it never hurts to have a few re-inforcements.
David Proctor McKnight