quinn Hunter/The Carolinian

By Matthew Johnson, Sports Editor

Published in print Apr. 8, 2015

As the ghost of Winter past is unfortunately elbowed out of the seasonal picture for the sneeze-worthy pollen and humid afternoons of spring, the world celebrated perhaps the most notable holiday of the spring season last Sunday, Easter.

Similar to Christmas, the religious undertones of the day’s celebration has incorporated a more encompassing audience throughout the years to include those who many not celebrate the spiritual nature of the holiday.

Instead of the gifts of toys underneath the Christmas tree, Easter features the sweet candy confectioneries of Mr. Hershey’s, Wonka, Nestle, and plenty of others in a candy basket.

In the spirit of the holiday, and as the sports-editing beagle, I decided to give out a couple of these goodies to some of the local and national sporting teams for their play these past few months.

1. Chocolate Bunny for UNCG Baseball

Akin to the Candy cane and corn for their respective holidays, a chocolate bunny has become the traditional stamp for its’ own holiday.

There are not many pastimes better than enjoying the chocolate texture of a delicious chocolate bunny, a classic symbol of innocence and serenity.

Yet, one pastime, baseball, does triumph over the cocoa rabbit, especially UNCG baseball.

Winners of 9 out of 13 before being cooled off by ETSU and Samford, Link Jarrett’s squad has ended the month as lively and active as the March Hare and will attempt to continue their strong play into April.

At the plate, batters such as Zac MacAeney have had a strong season so far and Ryan Clark has been the team’s workhorse on the mound

And as many enjoy the chocolate rabbit, the Baseball’s team adventures would be an enjoyable event to capture at the UNCG Baseball Stadium, as the unit has been one of the best teams on campus this spring semester.

2. Marshmallow Peeps for Men’s Tennis

For some reason, the fluffy nature of a marshmallow-coated baby chick does not feature the same seemingly universal appreciation as the chocolate bunny.

Typically  in stores in the weeks leading up to Easter, there seems to be an equal split of those who adore and have distaste for the marshmallow candy.

In a field different from sugary sweets, the sport of tennis has seen a similar trend with fans loving the sport and others indifferent for the game.

Men’s tennis team has sadly faced this problem in recent years, since the team usually plays in front of a nearly empty crowd, despite being one of the strongest teams on campus.

Posting back to back 14 win seasons and sitting at 7-3 at home this year, the Men’s Tennis team has been one of the strongest in recent years, and unfortunately like the Peep, there does not seem to be many who truly appreciate the sport.

3. Whoopers Mini-Robin Eggs for UNCG Softball

Heading into the new season, the usually strong softball team looked to duplicated previous seasons known for high win totals and deep conference tournament runs.

Yet, like the Mini-Robin Eggs by Whoopers, while on paper, the team and candy looks like a strong contender, both have fallen flat.

For the candy, it is such a clever idea to use multi-colored eggs as a candy.

I must also praise the use of the Robin for the candy.

The state bird of Connecticut  has at times been undervalued by the bird community.

The candy which typically makes me sick after eating four or five individual eggs, shares this characteristic with the performance of the Softball team these past few weeks.

The team, which dropped its third straight weekend series on Saturday, has been  especially dreadful in conference play.

So far this season, the team has been abysmal in the Southern Conference, going 1-8 this year and is two games under .500.

Unlike the malt-filled candy that will unfortunately stay the same unless they change the recipe, the softball team does have a chance to improve, and they will seek to begin this process on a two-day weekend away series against Mercer starting on Saturday.

4. Licorice and White Jelly Beans for the Charlotte Hornets

When engulfed in a bag of jelly beans, and I mean grabbing handfuls at a time and not caring who is watching, you are taking a journey.

A honey-like, sugary journey to a different realm.

Led by the citrus taste of orange or the lemony sweetness of yellow jellybeans, you are guided to a place where the nectars of heaven are in the form of a bean-shaped candy.

Unfortunately, there is rarely a traveler who has not faced the treacherous screeching halt of tasting the uninspired white jellybean or the bitterness of licorice.

If a sports fan and candy connoisseur were to encompass the discouraging nature of these two specific jellybeans, they would find the Charlotte Hornets.

Once a team that promised to bring legions of diehards to a sphere of welcome change and the playoffs, the Hornets have been far too inconsistent to fully enjoy to make the NBA postseason.

Abandoning the journey that so many travelers wished to be led by, it is for this reason the Hornets are bestow–cursed, with not the green or pink, but the licorice and white jelly bean.

Categories: matthew johnson, quinn hunter, Sports