The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Monday, January 20

Hello, all!

The Australian Open is back! Here’s Andy Murray commenting on his mom Judy’s Instagram.

Ramble of the Day

Worlds colliding will never not be a fascinating event to me. (That can explain my Jozy Altidore ramble last week.) Now, for another entry in that category: Sylvester Stallone introducing Al Pacino to Guy Fieri.

The first feeling in any worlds colliding moment is of shock, and primarily because it’s a shock that these people know each other. In this case, it’s not exactly shocking Stallone and Pacino might know each other — Hollywood might be a big place, but not that big, and even if it is, they probably have reasonable methods to get in touch with each other. The most interest part of this meeting is that Fieri knew Stallone; I did think he was too busy touring diners, drive-ins, and dives, but who knows? Maybe he ran into Stallone at one of those and they hit it off.

The next part of a worlds colliding event is the speculation part, which you can combine with the wondering part if you’d like. I have no other information, and I don’t know how soon I’ll have it, so I must guess because I never expected to see Fieri and Pacino (and Stallone) in the same place. There’s the previous theory that Stallone saw Fieri in a diner, drive-in, or dive, but I think it’s more likely that Stallone sought out the friendship after watching something Fieri did (or multiple somethings) and enjoying it enough. Jennifer Lopez, superstar in every right, admitted to being a fan of HGTV show Fixer Upper, had Joanna Gaines renovate one of her homes, and is also friends with her. Who’s to say Stallone wasn’t a fan first?

Regardless, it just shows that Stallone’s life is an interesting one, but it’s not like there wasn’t already proof of that. A quick look at the personal life section of his Wikipedia page will tell you as much — there’s a story about breaking up with a girlfriend via FedEx and one about starting “an upscale bottled water brand,” among others. They didn’t, though, include Sir Elton John’s very interesting tale about the time Stallone and Richard Gere fought over Diana, Princess of Wales at a dinner party John hosted.

Those are all partly dramatic, partly glamorous stories — as if it was out of a soap opera for the rich and famous. Not sure what soap opera character’s storyline goes from fighting over Diana, Princess of Wales to going after a friendship with a Food Network star, but one moves through different periods in one’s life — and that honestly seems like a very fun development for a soap opera character or a real life person to have.

tl;dr: Sorry, I went on quite a ramble about Sylvester Stallone after he recorded a video of the time he introduced Al Pacino to Guy Fieri.

Links of the Day

A Championship match between Millwall and Reading was halted because Millwall fans were chanting homophobic abuse

Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford will miss at least six weeks with a double stress fracture in his back.

Transfer roundup: Inter Milan signed Ashley Young from Manchester United

Today’s longer read: Paul Doyle on JS Saint-Pierroise, the first club from an overseas French territory to make the final 32 of the Coupe de France in more than 30 years, for The Guardian