Fans of the No. 21-ranked Western Michigan Broncos can enjoy an extra special breakfast treat as they get ready for Saturday's nationally broadcast game against the Buffalo Bulls.
Sweetwater's Donut Mill in Kalamazoo, Mich., is celebrating the arrival of ESPN's College GameDay by stocking the shelves with pastry tributes to each person on the show. There are seven unique flavors, based on each person's football career and personality, and one to honor the Broncos.
General Manager Tricia Garner told Malachi Barrett of mlive.com that her son Tregg came up with the idea.
"My son is a huge sports fan and he attends WMU," Garner said. "He started brainstorming and told me where [each host] went to school, their personalities and showed me film on them."
She then incorporated the elements into her recipes. Garner isn't an Ohio State fan, but admitted her favorite is the Kirk Herbstreit Buckeye doughnut. It's a yeast doughnut filled with peanut butter fluff, topped with a thick layer of chocolate icing and chocolate sprinkles, then garnished in the middle with peanut butter chips.
Desmond Howard's doughnut is a tribute to his Heisman Trophy-winning days at Michigan. It's a chocolate or white cake doughnut featuring white fluff on top with blue and yellow sprinkles and finished with a blue drizzle.
The Lee Corso doughnut uses real orange juice to symbolize Corso's career at Florida State. The orange juice-flavored cake doughnut has orange-flavored white fluff, yellow and orange sprinkles, and is topped with an orange slice.
The fruity Samantha Ponder doughnut is a strawberry-filled yeast pastry with white fluff, covered with strawberry licorice bits and a strawberry drizzle.
Although host Rece Davis attended the University of Alabama, his doughnut is a play on his name. The Rece Reese's doughnut features a chocolate cake doughnut covered with peanut butter fluff and a chocolate drizzle.
Former Georgia linebacker David Pollack is celebrated with a peachy yeast doughnut filled and topped with peach fluff and garnished with peach candies.
Rounding out the group is "The Bear" doughnut for Chris Fallica, which is a yeast doughnut dipped in white icing and then dipped in Kellogg's Honey Smacks cereal.
As for the WMU Bronco doughnut, it's a white or chocolate cake doughnut with white fluff, dipped in brown, black and gold sprinkles and drizzled with chocolate.
The online story did not mention a price for any of the doughnuts.
That's sweet, too
Another tasty creation was celebrated Tuesday when the New Orleans Zephyrs, the Class AAA affiliates of the Miami Marlins, changed their nickname to the New Orleans Baby Cakes.
It's a play on the king cake, which can be eaten in New Orleans during the Carnival season and often has a small plastic baby inside. The nickname was selected from a group of seven finalists following an online contest, during which more than 3,000 submissions were entered.
"Our goal was to give the baseball fans of New Orleans a team and identity they can call their own," Baby Cakes President Lou Schwechheimer told Julie Boudwin of NOLA.com.
Players promoted from Class AA to Class AAA in the Marlins organization will now go from being a Jacksonville (Fla.) Jumbo Shrimp to a New Orleans Baby Cake.
Gotta have dinner before dessert, right?
Sports quiz
What city did the New Orleans Zephyrs move from to New Orleans in 1993?
Answer
Denver, which was awarded the Rockies franchise.
Sports on 11/18/2016