The terrifically-named Pope family has made some waves among our user base, but meanwhile, another papal naminee has quietly booked his own spot in the Elite Eight. North Carolina academic Pope “Mac” McCorkle III is one win away from the Final Four, and in this election year, his history in the political sphere would make him a fitting Name of the Year champion.
McCorkle works at a school well known for its tournament success. He is an “Associate Professor of the Practice” at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy. While many Blue Devil standouts have drawn their fair share of hate over the years, McCorkle has opted to provide a less divisive point of view. While he himself is a former Democratic Party political consultant, he has been quoted in severalarticles that have tried to understand the increasingly purple and complex political landscape of his home state of North Carolina.
The NOTY world, like American politics, is fueled by debate, and so McCorkle fits right in. Here, however, we’re not arguing about wedge issues like abortion. Instead, we’re weighing McCorkle against his Elite Eight challenger, Dick Tips. Mr. Tips has easily overcome all of the onomastic challenges he has faced thus far; can McCorkle do anything to blunt his momentum? Our North Carolina professor can call upon the spirits of Laettner, Boozer, Okafor, and all the other victorious Blue Devils as inspiration for his own run.
Good luck, Mac. You’ll need it.
(Obligatory Twitter plug.)
ELITE EIGHT
BULLTRON REGIONAL FINAL
#1 Tillmann Buttersack vs. #6 Onno Hoes
SITHOLE REGIONAL FINAL
#1 Pope McCorkle III vs. #7 Dick Tips
DRAGONWAGON REGIONAL FINAL
#9 Taco Pope vs. #6 Howdy Goudey
CHROTCHTANGLE REGIONAL FINAL
#3 Sweet Orefice vs. #13 Jorja Pound Turnipseed