The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Tuesday, June 2

Hi, everyone.

It’s time for some honest talk on my end, so I’m just going to get to it.

Ramble of the Day

Starting today and until it feels right, I’m not going to be bringing you the Hoddle as I normally would. To be very frank, I could not bring myself to write anything that did not have to do with current events. It feels so difficult, and inherently wrong for me, to use this platform as a distraction from the racial injustice highlighted by George Floyd’s murder in police custody and the subsequent protests.

In my two and a half years writing Hoddles, I have known very few restrictions and that is to the credit of our managing editor Dustin, a very encouraging and understanding person. There was just the one — try to avoid discussing electoral politics. It is a generally straightforward rule, an easy one to follow, and one that would avoid any of us having to clean up the comments section. (Believe me, not one of us takes pleasure in doing that.) The public discourse of the past wasn’t necessarily less important than it is now, but the actions of powerful people and the news cycle did genuinely allow for a little bit of distraction here and there.

I won’t call this an unprecedented time, either — far too many people of color, and black people specifically, have been unfairly labeled as threats and have lost their lives as a result. As a society, we could have learned lessons on systemic discrimination a long, long time ago. As people start saying, and not for the first time, that as a society, we need to start having uncomfortable conversations, I can’t sit here and ignore the moment.

To be completely honest, I don’t want anyone to ignore any of it. I want people to have those uncomfortable conversations. I want people who have not thought about racial relations in the United States and worldwide to start thinking about it. I want people, either newcomers to such conversations or not, to continue to listen to the victims and learn. I want people to, once and for all, start learning the lessons that result in fewer conflicts such as the ones between protestors and law enforcements. More importantly, I want us all to start learning those lessons so that innocent black people stop dying cruel and premature deaths.

I’m not sure what I’ll do for future Hoddles — I don’t even know what I’ll do tomorrow. I know you’ll have links, but after that, I have no clue. I just can’t envision doing something else until it feels appropriate, and I have no idea what appropriate means right now.

At this point, I cannot ask you not to discuss these matters because I very much opened the conversation. I know you all come from different backgrounds and have different views on a variety of things, but I hope you’ll be understanding. I also hope that you’ll have perspective.

Links of the Day

Coronavirus:

• Charlton’s Lyle Taylor and two teammates will not play when the Championship returns.
• MLS players skipped voluntary training Monday as a response to the league’s threat of a lockup.

FIFA advised governing bodies not to discipline players who honor George Floyd during matches.

Manchester United extended Odion Ighalo’s loan to January 2021.

Today’s longer read: Lindsay Gibbs interviews three black female athletes, including the Utah Royals’ Tziarra King, on racial injustice, advocacy, and talking to their white teammates for Power Plays