Big Time

We're all about Time Inc these days after they published our fantasy preview in their Unofficial World Cup 2010 Guide, so here's a shout out to them for naming Didier Drogba one of their 100 most influential people in the world.

Imagine the body of an NBA star with feet as nimble as a prima ballerina's. When the World Cup kicks off in South Africa in June, he will carry the hopes of a continent as Africa's best-known soccer star. (West African fans will toast him with a beer glass called the Drogba. It's nearly twice the size of a normal mug.)

No one knows the rickety and high-spirited but often heartbreaking touring bus that is African soccer better than Drogba. At the 2006 World Cup, his homeland ravaged by civil war, he organized a statement from the Elephants, as the Ivorian national team is referred to, calling for peace. Many credit the ensuing calm for allowing reconciliation to begin. At a match last March, 22 Ivorians were killed in the crush to see their beloved heroes play. After the game, Drogba resolved to donate every dollar he earns from endorsements to a charity he set up to build new hospitals in the country.

He's certainly on our short-list of fantasy players of the year (other suggestions are welcome in the comments) and this is another nice feather in his cap.  To which, he'll likely be adding another Premier League winners medal this weekend.  And good luck to him in his pursuit of Jules Rimet.

UPDATE:  It's a two-fer as Drogs also graces the cover of Vanity Fair in his skivvies.