The Amazing Drogba

I was going to write this blog as a celebration of an amazing upset.  But alas, a great team is greater than a great player, and Brazil defeated Ivory Coast 3-1.   Like I said in an earlier blog, Didier Drogba is my favorite soccer player.  The reason why has very little to do with soccer.  Drogba is a phenomenal player. He is one of the greatest African players of all time and probably the best active player from that continent.  He is a star on a very good Chelsea team.  And today he became the first African player ever to score a goal against Brazil in a World Cup.  But like I said, I don't like Drogba because of soccer.  I like Drogba because he is quite possibly the most amazing humanitarian playing the game.  In 2006, Didier Drogba and the Ivory Coast soccer team stopped a civil war in their country.  That is right, they stopped a war!  Ivory Coast had been embroiled in a civil war since 2002.  There was a peace settlement in 2004, but by 2006 conditions had once again turned for the worst.  And then Ivory Coast qualified for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.  Drogba and his teammates pleaded with both sides to stop the violence so the nation could enjoy the tournament in peace.  And they did!  Because of their pleas, both sides in the war returned to peace talks.  And then in 2008, Drogba was instrumental in having an African Cup game played in the rebel stronghold of Bouake.  This game marked the first time that both armies in the war had engaged in a non-violent activity together.  Incredibly, Drogba does more for humanity than just stop wars.  In 2007, Drogba was appointed by the United Nations as a Goodwill Ambassador due to his charity work and devotion to improving the African continent.  In 2009, he received 3 million British pounds for doing a Pepsi comercial.  He donated this entire fee to build a hospital in his hometown in Ivory Coast.  And he convinced his soccer team, Chelsea, to donate their portion of his fee too!  We spend so much of our time as sports fan hearing stories about the bad guys in sports, the Tiger Woods and Ben Rothlisbergers of the world.  It is nice to know that there are also athletes who have used their fame and fortune to make the world a better place.  Didier Drogba is my favorite player because he is an incredible individual and a role model for us all.

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