The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Wednesday, December 16

Hi, all!

Here’s a fun fact about Wolves’ Owen Otasowie, who made his Premier League debut and got an assist yesterday.

Ramble of the Day

Back in October, Ashley John-Baptiste did a report for the BBC about Black students at Cambridge University. He follows three students during their first year at the university, and in the 12 minute video, the three detail the small and big ways a lack of diversity in the student body impacts their experiences.

There were a lot of things that stuck out to me, and I imagine others would feel the same about the experiences of these students. One of those things is that the students describe their experiences as isolating at times — one of the students, Sharon, said she’s been the only student of color in her class at times, to name one example. Later, Sharon admits that these experiences also come after Black people have been pressured to conform to perceived norms on hair, speech, and culture — it, of course, hasn’t moved the needle, which is only one way of exposing a racist expectation for what it is.

Another student, Success, puts it succinctly: “If there’s nothing that you apply to make Black students feel more safe ... then at the end of the day, you can’t say we’ve made progress.” It comes down to a seemingly simple thing of listening and valuing the experiences and feedback of oppressed people, who are genuinely trying to improve the systems around them when they offer that feedback. Listening needs to be the part of the process of fully accepting people and their cultures.

It’s just one takeaway I had from a video with a lot to take from it, and it is absolutely worth the watch.

Links of the Day

The EFL will not postpone Sunderland’s upcoming match even though one player has COVID-19 and seven are in quarantine.

Jan Vertonghen revealed he suffered a concussion during the first leg Tottenham’s Champions League semifinal against Ajax that took him nine months to recover from.

The federations of Spain and Mexico have partnered to share ideas and practices in an effort to grow the women’s game.

Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish received a nine month driving ban and was fined £82k for two driving offenses this year.

The Only Way is Essex’s Mark Wright signed for League Two side Crawley Town.

A longer read: Sam Marsden, Jordi Blanco, and Moises Llorens on the oral history of Lionel Messi signing for Barcelona 20 years ago, with a contract signed on a napkin for ESPN