Originally started for no reason better than "it’s a great thing to see when a guy sees fresh, big-ass donuts and they want to eat them", this Minnesota Vikings institution now has strict rules -- including uniforms, a "donut combine" and a donut huddle.

I like the donut viewing part of the ritual!

3. Do not touch the donuts before the designated time. Do not eat the donuts before the designated time.

Sug might open the boxes at 7:50 a.m., but no one is allowed to touch a donut until 8 sharp. “Everyone is just allowed to look at the donuts,” he says. “Basically a donut viewing.”

Says Rudolph with a sigh, “It seems like the longest 10 minutes ever. As I get older and a little smarter, I stroll in there around 7:57, 7:58. I make sure I’m there on time, but then I don’t have to sit there and wait all 10 minutes.”

During that excruciating waiting period, players stake out their preferences. “We’ll give a rundown of the donuts, look at them all and extend them through a combine, like the NFL combine,” safety Harrison Smith says. Donuts are judged on factors such as crispiness, size and frosting distribution.

Sometimes a player can’t resist temptation and grabs a donut before the viewing period has ended. “Huuuuuge penalty,” Greenway says. He threw such a flag at the first club meeting this season. New Viking Jeremiah Sirles smelled something good and ambled into the training room, “Big offensive lineman—talk about a guy who looks like he’s had a donut before,” Sug says with a laugh. Not knowing what he was walking into, Sirles reached for a donut. Bam! Suspended from the club before he even knew what it was.

“Three weeks of no donuts,” Sugarman says. “You can sit on the side and perhaps buy the donuts, but you aren’t allowed to eat the donuts.”

It’s every man for himself at Donut Club, and new attendees must watch and learn the routine. “You let them make mistakes and then yell at them,” Greenway says. “We like to watch them squirm. It’s a whole process that we enjoy.”

Interesting:  "Defensive end Brian Robison attacks his donut as he would an opposing QB."

I wonder if his coaches tell him to visualize the quarterback as a donut.