Antonio Gramsci
“The countdown to the 2010 World Cup South Africa can now be measured in days. And when it comes to the world’s most popular sport, there are often philosophical questions to ponder, but in the eyes of the world’s great thinkers — from Greek stoics to Jamaican Rastafarians — the game of soccer has always occupied a hallowed spot on a higher plain, up there somewhere between a bicycle kick and a diving header, depression and existentialism.” (NYT)