The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur News and Links for Monday, May 7

Hi, everyone!

Today begins a week that I have been waiting for since I thought about it the night before my first Hoddle. (This is also the week where I either lose some of you or realize you’re all stuck with me.)

Ramble of the Day

Other than the Bundesliga’s final match day of the season, Saturday will see another big even on the European continent in the Eurovision Song Contest. I would share all of the things I enjoy about it in one ramble, but I try to keep these things at around 500 words or less, so I have decided to break it down into an entire week!

A warning before I continue: I will share videos today and during this week with strobe lighting.

Today, I will tell the origin story of how I came to like this event in the first place. I don’t remember why exactly I tracked down a stream six years ago to watch it, but I did. It was an insignificant day until Ireland’s Jedward got on the stage and performed their song “Waterline.”

What an entertainingly silly show this was. When I look back upon the Eurovision performances I have enjoyed, this one automatically springs to mind because it so many hilariously enjoyable aspects.

These two people showed up in knight costumes and began to do these very dynamic, yet simple dances that carry the first half of the performance even though they are slightly uncoordinated. At this point, I was in laughing fits the first time I saw this thing, and then A FOUNTAIN SHOWED UP. They use it as a fabulous backdrop to continue their dancing spectacle, eventually making a heart with their hands, doing some cartwheels, and finally jumping into the fountain to end the show. The performance, naturally, did not rack up a lot of points.

It is a visual extravaganza to go with some energetic, yet genuinely awful pop. I spent the rest of the day, and possibly the next, laughing at it. It got me and my younger sister hooked to Eurovision and its host of characters and characteristics, which I will talk about over the week. It even got her to create a Eurovision playlist of our personal favorites that she asked me to share and that I will reference during this Eurovision week.

tl;dr: It’s Eurovision week! Make of that what you will!

Links of the Day

Sir Alex Ferguson is currently in the hospital recovering from emergency surgery after suffering from a brain hemorrhage.

Cardiff City will return to the Premier League next season, and the other things that happened in the Championship this weekend.

James Rodriguez would like to stick around at Bayern Munich after his loan spell ends.

Today’s longer read: John Branch on Hakan Sukur, who has gone from being a footballing hero in Turkey to co-owning and working in a cafe in Northern California for The New York Times