The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Friday, March 19

Hello, everyone!

I’ll ask again, since it does feel a little bit like the moment after that 3-0 loss at Brighton in October 2019 — anyone up for a playlist since we may be at the end of another manager’s tenure?

Ramble of the Day

I imagine at least a few of us wanted to throw a remote at our television screens (or computer, tablet, or phone screens) during yesterday’s match. In the spirit of both that and wanting to provide a distraction in the case you need it, it reminded me of a very short story from my childhood.

One day, my younger sister and I were in the living room room. We were technically unsupervised, but were most certainly old enough to be in one room while our older sister was in the next. None of us can remember why this happened — I’ll guess that it was time to change the channel on the tv, and that the remote was closer to my younger sister but that I took on the responsibility of finding something new to watch.

My younger sister tossed me the remote, but she didn’t get it quite right so instead of a light toss, the remote was coming straight at me. I felt it was destined to hit me and that it would hurt, so I decided to dodge it by throwing myself into a soft and large corner of the couch. I landed safely and dodged the remote, but there was a sound my older sister could hear from the other room. It was the sound of that leg of the couch snapping, and I felt the couch sink a little bit as I landed. The couch was broken.

My sister and I blamed each other for years, though we never truly fought about it. We have come to an understanding that we both deserve blame for the incident. The couch was also replaced years ago, though, so it’s water under the bridge.

tl;dr: One time my sister threw a remote control at me but messed up the throw and I broke the couch trying to dodge it.

Stay informed, read this: Nathan Kalman-Lamb, Derek Silva, and Johanna Mellis on the racial dynamics of US college sports, where Black athletes lack allies in institutions run predominantly by white people for The Guardian

Links of the Day

Four Inter Milan players tested positive for COVID-19, and the team’s match against Sassuolo was postponed.

Morecambe’s Yann Songo’o received a six match ban for using a homophobic slur.

Tottenham was awarded three points over Birmingham City in the FA WSL after Birmingham pulled out of a January match because the team did not have enough healthy players.

Brighton’s Aaron Connolly was sanctioned by the club for breaking COVID-19 protocols by inviting a woman to his home.

A longer read: Ben Fisher on the struggles Birmingham City faces after another managerial change, a host of departures up and down the club, and questionable leadership for The Guardian