The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Wednesday, August 21

Hi, all!

I’ll be honest: I haven’t gone to my list of pre-thought ramble topics in a while, today included. Spontaneity can be fun!

Ramble of the Day

Right before I clicked the New Story button to create this Hoddle, I took a quick look at my Twitter feed. I saw an ad in the form of a tweet: comedian Rob Riggle was doing some promotion work ahead of the upcoming season of the National Football League. Not only do I not watch the NFL, I also don’t care much for Rob Riggle. (He’s popped up in random things that I’ve seen, and I haven’t enjoyed any of it.)

There might be reasons to target me, and I don’t care that much that I was — I’m not here to rail on the algorithm. I’m actually hear to express my like for the option to not like an ad and allow it to disappear. I’m actually allowed to not like it, press “I don’t like this ad,” and be done with it. It would be funny (in concept only) to report it as spam, but in practice completely unnecessary. I can just politely get rid of the ad, though; no harm, no foul, in a way. I’m thrilled by the option, truth be told.

I don’t use the button that frequently. Even if I’m not into an ad, I mostly just scroll past it and move on. In fact, it’s not even an instinct for me to reach for it; I’m pretty sure I just forget it exists for the most part. Still, it’s a nice little convenience - I don’t have to make a big thing out of something, and no one needs to address this thing, large or small.

tl;dr: Quick appreciation for the “I don’t like this ad” button on Twitter.

Links of the Day

Manchester United has condemned the racist abuse Paul Pogba has faced on social media after missing a penalty against Wolves on Monday.

The EFL has suspended a fifth Bury match, this one a League One encounter against Tranmere.

Aston Villa has fired youth coach Kevin MacDonald after he faced accusations of bullying.

MLS has awarded an expansion team to St. Louis, and the team will begin competing in 2022.

David Squires covers VAR in his latest cartoon.

Today’s longer read: Suzanne Wrack on London City Lionesses’ aim for equality after splitting from Millwall for The Guardian