The Doctor's Pact (Making sense of postapartheid South Africa's trajectory over 30 years via the prism of football.)

Rest in power, Nikki Giovanni: "I come from athletes - kneeling is a sign of love."

"... It never ceases to amaze me how even the most encumbered cultural elites in the U.S. exhibit a deep lack of interest and understanding for any social, cultural, and historical phenomena happening outside the U.S., outside of the idea of “American interest in the world" (Mariano Siskind).

I wrote a short obituary of Rashid Vally, Abdullah Ibrahim's go-to record producer for much of the 1970s, including for "Mannenberg Is Where It's Happening." It's on that other app you're all abandoning for here. Vally is in the first posing with a record and the second with the late Hotep Galeta.

The five finalists for 2024 African (CAF) Women's Player of the Year (for the period January to October 2024) are sisters Tabitha and Temwa Chawinga (Malawi), Sanaa Mssoudy (Morocco), Nadozie Chiamaka (Nigeria) and Barbra Banda (Zambia). The winner will be announced on 16 December in Marrakech.

"Soccer Ball, Bag 3", 2011, by Mark Bradford.

"Pinky Pinky (Ronaldo)", 2002. By Penny Siopis.

Diego Maradona, who died on this day in 2020, was once described by Eduardo Galeano as a short-legged bull who carries the ball sewn to his foot and has eyes all over his body. GOAT.