The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Tuesday, September 17

Hi, all!

At the top of the Hoddle today is Becky Spencer, who you might be able to tell is a goalkeeper. This is her first season with Spurs, arriving from ... West Ham. She came up through the ... Arsenal academy.

Ramble of the Day

Like at least a few of you, I was watching Watford-Arsenal over the weekend. Before the result got truly enjoyable, I spent quite a bit of time thinking (out loud, mostly) about Watford’s home kit for a couple of reasons. For the sake of the ramble, the most pertinent reason is that I don’t like it very much.

Photo by Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Offside via Getty Images

The worst part it is that the half black, half yellow idea isn’t extended to the back, which reminded me of the old half black, half gray Tottenham third kit that featured the same design element in the back.

Photo by Nick Potts/PA Images via Getty Images

Now, I hated this kit when it was first released, and I didn’t like it much once the team started wearing it. As much fun as a pop of yellow is in theory, I also didn’t care for it in practice. I disliked it until I never had to see it again, but as you now know, I’ve seen it again. (In fact, I went out of my way to look for it.) Before I actually looked it up, though, I thought about the kit and said something along the lines of “it wasn’t so bad.”

I’ve found that there are a lot of kits that I don’t end up liking, and depending on the kit, I have to hear a sentiment similar to “it’ll look better in play” from my older sister (and occasionally elsewhere). I don’t change my opinion much at first, but over time, I just don’t care so much anymore.

This ramble was supposed to end with me sharing that eventually, I stop hating even bad kits. The reasoning might be that disliking kits isn’t important enough, or that my sister is perhaps right. Here’s the thing, though: now that I’ve gone out of my way to find an image of this kit ... I realized that I still really don’t like it. The execution is still better than Watford’s, but that image of Lewis Holtby looks like he’s wearing a deconstructed Newcastle jersey. Plus, the random strips of bright yellow still don’t work. It somehow gives off a sloppy vibe, despite its clean lines.

I suppose I really don’t like a color block half-and-half kit.

tl;dr: I thought I liked that half-black, half-gray Spurs third kit, but I don’t.

Links of the Day

12 Juventus ultras have been arrested on charges of extortion after they threatened to sing racist chants if the club didn’t allow them to buy more bulk tickets than available.

Former Hearts manager Jim Jefferies suffered a heart attack on Monday, but is recovering.

A report financed by FIFA and top European leagues has linked Saudi Arabia to a piracy operation targeting beIN Sports.

Secret deodorant has bought 9,000 tickets to nine National Women’s Soccer League matches in an effort to increase the league’s visibility.

Today’s longer read: Rory Smith on the rise and expectations for João Félix for The New York Times