The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Tuesday, June 11

Hey, everyone!

55 pages later, and I’ve found a picture of Tottenham players smiling. I wasn’t going out of my way to find one, but it was nice to see.

Ramble of the Day

I recently found out that Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? is beginning its third run as a regularly airing game show, now on Nickelodeon. I was mildly surprised at the news, but more so that John Cena is the show’s new host. I honestly find it to be a very interesting career move.

It is no secret that Cena is trying to make the leap from professional wrestler to Hollywood star, and may have already completed it. Having films like Trainwreck, Blockers, and independent film The Wall on the filmography really show he’s going for that, but Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? seems like a different pace entirely. It definitely doesn’t fit the traditional mold of the glamorous Hollywood leading man, but Cena’s clearly not trying to do that.

It seems that he goes where his tastes lie. He seems to have shown a bit of range in choice (I haven’t seen a movie starring John Cena at this time), from comedies in the PG-13 and R rating ranges, to children’s movies like Ferdinand, and even that random indie in between. It’s mostly an attempt to be part of the mainstream, and in some ways, Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? is the same. It’s a seemingly wide-ranging mainstream, though; he’ll want people generations apart to enjoy his work, and different work at that.

There might be some passion attached to all of these projects — perhaps he just sees the fun in many different types of work. Of course, all of these gigs also seem to pay nicely, which I imagine is part of the appeal (and would be for many, if not most).

I’m extremely fascinated by this space he’s carving for himself, though, particularly compared to fellow WWE personality turned actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. In case you need the reminder, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and I are enemies now, but comparing the career trajectories here are amazing. As I mentioned in that ramble from last year, he’s extremely interested in creating a very specific and narrow brand: the guy that makes action movies that unrealistically showcase his physical strength, with an occasional children’s movie slipped in there.

Again, this is the idea of entering the mainstream and appealing to multiple generations. They’re both also all over the place, but Cena still somehow seems like a toned-down, more attainable version of this; it feels like there’s less pretense with him. He doesn’t seem like an impossibly perfect man who can do it all; he’s just good at many important things, like most celebrities.

tl;dr: I’m extremely intrigued by John Cena’s career choices.

Links of the Day

Turkey says Icelandic officials disrespected them at Keflavik Airport, waiting more than three hours at passport control ahead of the team’s Euro 2020 qualifier against Iceland.

Transfer updates: Aston Villa has signed Anwar El Ghazi from Lille; Schalke has signed Jonjoe Kenny on a season long loan from Everton

Today’s longer read: Tom Davies on Justin Edinburgh’s impact as the Leyton Orient manager for The Guardian