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Hey, people of the Hoddle!
Spurs have collected a victory to begin the new year, Victor Wanyama is back, I predicted the scoreline correctly, and I had a slice of cake last night! Not a terrible day.
As I say that, though, I remember that my internet died right before 2017 ended and was only fixed halfway through the match, so it was not perfect. I did have cake, so there’s that.
Let’s ramble!
Ramble of the Day
The New York Times published an article about how GIFs allow people around the world to express their emotions in different ways a few days before the New Year. It is not a long read at all, but very revealing.
Some of the fun discoveries include that Brazilians frequently post GIFs of a woman called Gretchen and that Mexicans love using a GIF from an Egyptian advertisement for something called “Panda Cheese.” As one scrolls through, it is clear that the Italians have a fun little GIF culture of their own, possibly more fun than the others.
For starters, Wario is an image of anger in Italy. Meanwhile, they express sadness with a GIF of a reality television personality from Bad Girls Club. The best one, though, is that they use the following GIF to express love:
Apparently this is the GIF most commonly used to express love in Italia
— Elizabeth Cotignola (@LaDiavolina) January 3, 2018
(h/t @ScottSandalow/@ariellec) pic.twitter.com/JiX4RDnF2p
There’s a football/soccer connection everywhere, folks, even if you are not looking for it!
Now, for the links!
Links of the Day
Mauricio Pochettino says that it’s fair for Swansea fans to be upset about Fernando Llorente’s goal, which he scored from an offside position.
Terence Kongolo is joining Huddersfield Town. He is on loan from Monaco.
Crystal Palace’s Scott Dann and Jason Puncheon both suffered knee ligament damage and will miss the remainder of the season.
Preston North End’s Kevin O’Connor won the lottery for Christmas.
David Squires’s latest cartoon for The Guardian is about the sport’s New Year’s resolutions.
The day’s longer read: How AC Milan are worse off after attempting to play around with Financial Fair Play rules.