The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Monday, March 18

Hi, all!

Yesterday was a holiday. See if you can guess which one based on what former U.S. national team captain Marcelo Balboa wore during the broadcast of Colorado Rapids-Sporting Kansas City:

Ramble of the Day

If you’ve been paying attention, you know that I love potatoes, and in many forms. I’m a huge french fry aficionado, and I also enjoy them roasted and mashed, to name a few. If you name a type of potato or potato dish, I probably like it...except potato chips (or crisps, depending on your preference).

What I’ve realized as I ramble is that potato chips, unlike most other forms of potato, are about their crispiness. I have no particular problem with crispy food, and actually enjoy it necessary contexts, and it’s ultimately not why I dislike chips. Ultimately, I find potato chips to be one-note, particularly unlike other potato foods.

It’s a little bit of texture and a little bit of taste, and not always a great platform for the tastes I like. A regular potato chip tastes like salty oil — and almost all of them have too much salt, which is a turn-off for me. This is also true of fries with too much salt, though those I’m willing to put up with it because the texture experience lasts longer with a fry, and the inside can balance out the outside. Any attempt to flavor a chip with seasoning tastes artificial or overbearing; I love a roasted potato seasoned with some black and red pepper, but any sort of spicy chip feels simultaneously overwhelming and dissatisfying. Chips just aren’t the greatest platform for flavor, and that is hardly ideal for someone with my tastes.

My dislike extends into most other chips on the market. I don’t like Doritos very much; I can eat maximum four Cheez Doodles before I have to stop; and unless tortilla chips are on the fresh side, I probably won’t like them, either. The only exception I have made is for plantain chips, which tend to have some thickness and bite to them, and also bring with them the perk of not being seasoned. (I’ll admit this is at least true for the bag of plantain chips I have; I’m no expert on plantain chips.)

I imagine this is not only an unpopular opinion, but one that might come as a shock because of my well-expressed adoration of potatoes. Perhaps it is my most unpopular of food takes, even more unpopular than my belief that milk is awesome and should only be consumed cold. I’ll let you decide that, though.

tl;dr: A type of potato that I actually don’t like.

Links of the Day

Napoli’s David Ospina collapsed during the team’s match against Udinese after colliding heads with another player.

The Argentine women’s top division has been granted professional status.

The crowd at Atlético Madrid-Barcelona set an attendance record in women’s football, with 60,739 people turning up for the game.

Today’s longer read: Richard Parkin on the unusual and possibly troubling large role agents play in Australian football for The Guardian