The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Monday, August 19

Hi, everyone!

I could play a game of Guess the Above Chest, but I actually don’t have the answer.

Ramble of the Day

It’s 11:29p ET, and this might be the latest I’ve ever started a Hoddle, if I am to be honest. I can only think of one other time that could compete, and I know for sure that I didn’t stick a time stamp on it. What’s interesting is that this is automatically a situation in which I should be a little bit stressed; the Hoddle’s due to go up in about three hours and I should be longing for my bed after what turned out to be a pretty stressful day. I feel quite relaxed, though, up later than I’d have originally liked without a waking soul near me and most of the lights around me off. (Don’t worry, there’s enough lighting for me to not be straining my eyes while staring at a computer screen. I did turn down the brightness a bit just now, though.)

I could go into why my day was a bit annoying, but I truly don’t want to complain so loudly about trains being annoying. I try only to complain about traveling woes in private; only so many people need to hear the saga, and it’s not like it’s a particularly entertaining one. I also don’t like starting Hoddles late, and usually get started before 9p, so that makes today (yesterday?) a particularly late day. Perhaps I’d be a bit more stressed if I hadn’t just decided to do a free write, which tends to be my favorite type of ramble. Not that it matters; most of you won’t be reading this, anyway. (I hope that doesn’t come off so harsh; the Hoddle is about interaction at the bottom first.)

It’s 11:38p and I just spent the last few seconds figuring out what to write next. I had something in mind, but I pushed it aside when other thoughts popped in and now they’re lost. I doubt they were that important, anyway, and I am still in that good mood. I’ll admit that the exact feeling of relaxation is leaving, but I think it’s because I was listening to a string of songs I really liked and then ones I liked a little less, at least on the day. No reason to reshuffle the playlist — I think. This could change in the next few days.

I’ve checked the word count and I have gotten to 400 quicker than I could’ve imagined. It’s 11:41p! I guess that’s what writing thoughtlessly does for you sometimes, but that certainly means I should sign off.

tl;dr: A lot of nothing, really.

Links of the Day

Three people have died during riots in Honduras ahead of a Liga Nacional match between Olimpia Motagua.

Former Nigeria coach Samson Siasia has been banned for life by FIFA for his involvement in a match-fixing scandal.

Ashley Cole has retired after a 20 year career.

A civil rights group has criticized Manchester City’s reported plans to introduce facial recognition technology to replace tickets, arguing it would “normalize” mass surveillance.

Transfer updates: Bayern Munich has signed Philippe Coutinho on a season-long loan from Barcelona, Michaël Cuisance from Mönchengladbach, and Liam Morrison from Celtic

Today’s longer read: Steve Brenner on the persisting pay-to-play debate in the United States for The Guardian