NC congressman Price epitomizes ‘a house divided’ in Final Four UNC-Duke game
What do you do when you’re a congressman representing two opponents facing off in the Final Four?
And you’re an alumni of one of the schools?
And you taught at the other?
That’s the position U.S. Rep. David Price, a Democrat from North Carolina, found himself in this week.
“Tomorrow is a big day,” Price said in a video he posted on Twitter. “It’s the first time in history that the Duke and UNC’s mens teams are meeting at the NCAA basketball tournament.”
Both Duke University and UNC are in North Carolina’s 4th Congressional District. Price, who lives in Chapel Hill, graduated from UNC in 1961 and was a Morehead Scholar. He was a professor of political science and public policy at Duke University.
It seemed like a bold choice, though, for the congressman to don the Blue Devils hat and tie and have the school emblem on a banner behind him, as if he was declaring his allegiance to the college.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the Duke team and what they’re accomplishing in Coach K’s final year,” Price said to the camera.
Like Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski, who is retiring after this season, so is Price, who announced he won’t run for reelection. So it seemed as if Price chose his final year of Congress to wade into the dangerous territory of declaring his allegiance to Duke.
“They’re making Durham and all of North Carolina proud,” Price said. “That’s why I feel confident in challenging the member of Congress who represents UNC the following bet: if Duke wins you owe me the best North Carolina BBQ you can find.”
And that’s where things got ... weird.
Price appeared on camera again, but this time in a UNC hat and a Carolina blue tie in front of a banner with UNC’s emblem.
“I accept,” Price said, making it clear that he is the human epitome of a house divided.
Then the Tar Heel version of Price repeated the same speech, but replaced Duke with UNC in each sentence.
So it remains unclear which team Price is actually rooting for, but what is clear is that no matter what, Price has set himself up to eat the best North Carolina BBQ he can find.
Hopefully he follows up with a video of where he finds it.
But as all good North Carolinians know, that allegiance can be just as dangerous as choosing between Duke and UNC.
This story was originally published April 1, 2022 at 1:50 PM.
