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The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Thursday, April 16

You’re a fun one, Mr. Grinch?

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Soccer - Carling Cup - Semi Final - Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur - Emirates Stadium Photo by Sean Dempsey - PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images

Hi, everyone!

Above is former Tottenham forward Mido. Also, I keep having traveling dreams.

Ramble of the Day

Anyone with any familiarity with Instagram knows what Instagram is like: at some point or another, you end up looking through various people’s Instagram posts despite not following them. My younger sister was scrolling through Wayne Rooney’s Instagram posts the other day, and came across a few discoveries related to his children. Check out the family’s set up for son Kai’s tenth birthday in November.

It is a pretty normal picture, outside of that pretty distinct balloon with the Apple logo on it on the right side of the picture. A closer look shows that, behind and to the left of the young Rooney, is a cake that looks just like an iPad box. (The only thing really indicating it’s a cake are the candles; credit to those who made the cake.) That begs the question: Did the Rooneys throw their son an Apple (the company) themed birthday celebration?

It is, for sure, slightly unusual. There’s always another layer, though, because Rooney’s younger son Kit got himself a unique theme in January.

View this post on Instagram

Happy 4️⃣th Birthday Kit. We love you

A post shared by Wayne Rooney (@waynerooney) on

I would normally find a four year old sporting a full WWE outfit the most interesting thing in a photo, but it appears young Kit is a big fan of the Grinch based on his cake and the cardboard cutout in the third photo. I find it even more unique than the Apple themed birthday celebration Kai got, and I am honestly not judging the Rooneys for a second.

As we’ve all developed the habit of documenting our lives on the internet, probably every one of us has heard stories about kids having unique birthday parties. You can search Amazon for items to help you arrange a garbage truck themed party, and an eight year old recently had her birthday party at a Target in Atlanta. You could call it weird and you wouldn’t be wrong, but I’ll always encourage imagination and creativity in parents and children.

The Rooneys, and many parents like them, probably went all out with the theme because the kids would enjoy it. In the case of Kai’s Apple celebration, it checks out that a boy aged ten might be into Apple products. I would argue it is very unique on young Kit’s part to be so fond of the Grinch, and I would really love to know what about the Grinch is likable for him. I absolutely respect the choice, though.

I also respect the Rooneys (and I’ve already established my respect for Coleen) for leaning so hard into their kids’ likes to allow them to enjoy their birthdays and to be their unique selves. All of this is pretty funny, but in the most positive way.

tl;dr: Wayne and Coleen Rooney go very specific on themed celebrations for their kids’ birthdays, and I’m very much into it.

Links of the Day

Coronavirus:

Former Tottenham forward Jimmy Greaves is out of the hospital.

U.S. Soccer terminated its Development Academy program, though MLS will offer boys’ clubs competitive matches in replacement.

Guangzhou Evergrande fired Yu Hanchao after he was found guilty of changing his car’s registration plate.

Today’s longer read: Molly McElwee interviews female athletes, including retired USWNT midfielder Heather O’Reilly, on pregnancy and early motherhood during a pandemic for The Telegraph