Thanks to Syracuse Orange star Buddy Boeheim and the team's 2021 March Madness run, donuts might soon have their moment in front of the United States Supreme Court.
Sort of.
Glazed & Confused, a boutique donut shop in Syracuse, New York, ran into some trouble with the NCAA when it announced it would be offering donuts featuring Buddy Boeheim's face ahead of Syracuse's Sweet 16 game against No. 2 seed Houston on Saturday.
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Although Buddy, a junior guard and son of Orange coach Jim Boeheim, didn't even know about the donuts and wouldn't profit off of them -- all sales were going to go to charity -- there was concern from Syracuse that the donuts would violate NCAA name, image and likeness rules. The Supreme Court will hear a case this summer on what compensation means for college athletes.
"It's a hot topic because it's in the Supreme Court," said Paul Valenti, the owner of Glazed & Confused. "And this is the dialogue, like, should it be allowed to not be allowed? When will this change? And I can't believe we're arguing about donuts."
In the five years the shop has been in downtown Syracuse, Valenti has learned not to use Syracuse's name on his pastries. But, he didn't think putting Buddy's picture on the donuts would be a big deal. But, after his conversation with Syracuse officials, the shop made a quick change.
"... We thought OK, ... we'll put a fun old picture of coach," Valenti said. "He was the original [jersey number] 35. We're gonna play into it like, 'Hey, unfortunately, the handsome charismatic Buddy's not available, and we're gonna play this like Buddy got bounced by Dad.'"
