The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur News and Links for Monday, March 5

Hi, everyone!

Did you all know that Paul Lambert won an Oscar last night? No, it was not the Paul Lambert that coaches Stoke City, but the Paul Lambert that was part of the visual effects team on Blade Runner 2049. Anyway, let’s get to the rest of this thing.

Ramble of the Day

Yesterday, I was at the SheBelieves Cup double header at the Red Bull Arena nearest me, which saw the U.S. women take on France, and Germany take on England. This also involved sitting in for Phil Neville’s post-match press conference, which was as one would expect. Cooler than Phil Neville, though (I know that is not a really high standard), is the fact that the U.S. women’s hockey team was also there. They got a tribute before the matches, and at halftime of the U.S.-France match. They also ended up in the commentary booth at halftime for anyone watching on television to watch.

I walked into the room where the food is at halftime, in an attempt to get some food, and I saw people gathered in a crowd. Naturally, I waded into the crowd and saw Gigi Marvin, a member of the U.S. women’s hockey team, standing in front of me and then noticed Kelly Pannek was standing right next to me, both wearing gold medals. I snuck a picture of Marvin right at the beginning.

That is a lightly zoomed up picture from my angle. I stood there for several minutes, listening to her talk thoughtfully about her adoration for the 1999 World Cup winning U.S. women’s soccer team and her own career. I also spent almost all of that time starting at her gold medal, and they are more beautiful in person. They shine wonderfully in a somewhat dimly lit gray room, and they are also larger than I thought they would be.

So yes, I am bragging about a cool thing I did. I hope you all still like me and forgive me, because I now feel bad about bragging, but I am also not in the mood to think of another ramble! (This will not be a common type of ramble because I hardly do cool things, so do not fret.)

Links of the Day

Fiorentina captain captain Davide Astori has died at age 31.

Garry Monk is the Birmingham City coach, replacing Steve Cotterill.

ESPN is reporting that Manchester United youngster Scott McTominay has chosen to represent Scotland rather than England.

Did you think Bayern Munich offering people the opportunity to watch a match in a hotel room was strange? Well, fans of Danish club Hobro IK watched a match in a hot tub recently.

Hey, there’s another David Squires cartoon! This one is about flares.

Today’s longer read: an interview with Blaise Matuidi on racism and life in Italy by Paul Doyle for The Guardian