The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Thursday, December 20

Hi, Hoddlers!

Pretty successful derby yesterday, I’d say.

Ramble of the Day

I tend to experience commercials by sound more so than by sight. It comes mostly from turning my head away from the television during commercial break, but not tuning it out entirely — I suppose my ears never really disengage. It creates a few types of experiences for me.

For one, it means that I recognize commercials by sound, and usually by the music or song playing in it. I know the Joy by Dior fragrance commercial because I recognize it when the Rolling Stones’ “Like a Rainbow” plays. I know that a Vitaminwater commercial is on because I know the annoying song about regular water never being “as fun as Vitaminwater” the second it comes on. I learn the songs first, everything else later.

This frequently results in a situation where I’m shocked about the contents of the commercial because the song isn’t clear enough. I usually tune out any dialogue in a commercial with music, and sometimes even tune out the words to the song, recognizing only the tune. This isn’t the perfect example of the exact situation, but this springs to mind. The film Game Night used Portugal. The Man’s “Feel It Still” in one of its commercials, so I associated the song with a very adult comedy. Imagine how shocked I was when I heard “Feel It Still,” expecting to see Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams screaming and instead seeing animated bunnies because it was a commercial for Peter Rabbit.

It’s something that almost always results in me humming along to songs that end up being annoying because you hear them so many times in a day or a week. Yesterday, I accidentally started humming Kelly Clarkson’s “Underneath the Tree” after hearing it in some commercial (I haven’t gotten around to watching it when it plays), a song I actually don’t like at all. My younger sister, who probably hates the song more than me, got annoyed because, she says, “I think most songs in commercials are annoying.” She’s also shocked at how I can hum songs I actually don’t know, which almost always warrants a comment from her.

Anyway, it’s probably a weird way to engage with commercials, but that’s how I do it. Wonder if that frustrates advertisers or not.

tl;dr: I don’t watch commercials — I listen to them.

Links of the Day

José Mourinho has spent more than £530,000 at a hotel in Manchester while managing Manchester United, never buying or renting in that time.

Jorge Sampaoli received a blender as a Christmas gift at his first press conference as the coach of Brazilian side Santos.

Fans of Dutch side FC Groningen have put Arjen Robben’s name on turnip trucks in an attempt to get him to sign for the club.

Today’s longer read: writers for The Guardian detail racism in the sport across Europe, listing specific examples over the last several years.