The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Tuesday, August 6

Hi, all!

We’ve got a Hoddle debut for that not-so-aesthetically pleasing training top!

Ramble of the Day

I hadn’t picked out a ramble topic for today, but remembered something out of the blue. I am only slightly obsessed with the concept of handwriting, and though I don’t regularly write in cursive, I had a feeling I was having a good cursive day. While I was listening to some music, I decided to test the theory by jotting down some of the lyrics on a small piece of paper. It was true, but that’s when I remembered what I remembered.

As English teachers do, my ninth grade English teacher would give us vocabulary quizzes at some frequency, probably weekly. When we were done taking our quizzes, she would encourage us to write or draw on the back on the paper. She actually took a look at them as she graded, getting to know us more in the process. I remember her once talking about how one of my classmates would write song lyrics on the back of her quizzes; our teacher said she would Google those lyrics and listen to the songs.

I then wondered: What did I do on the back of those quizzes? I quickly remembered the answer: I would essentially jot down whatever was on mind. I suppose one could call it rambling.

I remember doing free writes. I remember once admitting that I did briefly consider speaking in a posh English accent on the first day of class to play a prank on a teacher I’d be meeting for the first time. (This didn’t happen because I was both not brave enough, nor would I have risked embarrassing myself in front of my classmates, who extremely would’ve been weirded out by this.) My teacher later asked me if I was true, and I told her it was. (It was a fun little exchange before class between a teacher who was eager to get to know her students and a student happy to enjoy a nice working relationship with a teacher.) There were other things, but I naturally don’t remember them all. (Do you think I remember all of my rambles for the Hoddle?)

This unintentionally became a ramble about a nice teacher, but that’s fine because I did appreciate the effort she and other teachers put in making school an enjoyable place. The real reason why I’m sharing is because I didn’t realize I had some practice rambling long before I got this gig. It’s like one of those small discoveries that completely blows your mind, even if you couldn’t translate that to any other human you know. I think the whole thing’s kind of cool, really.

tl;dr: I remembered that I used to ramble in ninth grade and am pretty excited by this discovery.

Links of the Day

German third division side Chemnitzer FC sacked captain Daniel Frahn after multiple displays of support for neo-Nazi groups.

Seven men have been arrested after fighting on the tube on the way to Wembley for the Community Shield.

Schalke chairman Clemens Tönnies is facing calls to resign after making racist statements targeted towards Africans.

Transfer updates: Manchester United has signed Harry Maguire from Leicester City; Brighton has signed Neal Maupay from Brentford; Crystal Palace has signed Gary Cahill on a free; Club Brugge has signed Simon Mignolet from Liverpool; Liverpool has signed Adrián on a free

Today’s longer read: David Rudin on managers branding themselves and their teams through their clothes for ESPN