The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur News and Links for Thursday, March 8

Hello, Hoddlers.

Yesterday, was, uh, not totally great. In other news, I did not get completely snowed in. Anyway, an interesting question (at least according to me) awaits.

Ramble of the Day

I have no buildup to this question. It just randomly popped in my head yesterday, and I figured it would be a fun one for us all to answer. Who was your first favorite player Obviously, we may all have different players at this point. I surely do, but I do have an amusing story about the first player I latched onto as a young one.

The first genuine experience watching football that I can remember was when I was 10. The 2006 World Cup was on, and I probably did not watch a lot of it. (I do recall being so excited that I bought an official Italy World Cup rug for my room, though.) I have brief memories of watching the Kovač brothers play for Croatia, and, of course, watching the United States. I also remember watching the U.S.’ second group stage match against Italy, and seeing Daniele De Rossi give Brian McBride a bloody nose.

For some reason, I really gravitated towards McBride. I must have thought that he was cool because he did come off the field after getting elbowed in the nose. I was so inspired that I took a group of my friends, decided to be a soccer coach, and coach them to have the spirit of Brian McBride. That was my only tactic as a soccer coach. I sound like I was a member of the Class of ‘92 and ended up with a coaching gig I was not qualified for! (Ten-year-old me would have loved the phrase “get stuck in.”)

Anyway, this episode ended up with me yelling at a girl because she wore a skirt to school that day, wondering why she would not make her life choices based on my non-professional team. She cried all the way back to the classroom, but I had a good reputation with teachers, so I did not get in trouble. (I was actually a really mean child, it turns out.)

That story did not end up being about Brian McBride, but at least I answered the initial question!

tl;dr: Go back and read the story.

Links of the Day

West Ham will be without Winston Reid for the rest of the season after he was knocked unconscious and injured his knee over the weekend.

UEFA will not act further on Liverpool youngster Rhian Brewster’s claim that he was racially abused in a UEFA Youth League match.

Today’s longer read: the story of former wannabe superclub Matra Racing, as told by Rory Smith and Elian Peltier for The New York Times