Boise State's Johnson chats with Chelsea's Drogba

                    

	Didier Drogba is having a breakout year as the leading scorer for two-time English Premier League champion Chelsea. Christopher Lee/Getty Images
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With his two-point conversion to beat Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl and his subsequent on-field proposal to cheerleader Chrissy Popadics, one might have thought Boise State's Ian Johnson, 20, had fulfilled his sports-related dreams. But, no. After the game, the running back revealed that he longed to chat up Ivory Coast's Didier Drogba, 28, a star striker for Chelsea. Talking to Drogba, Johnson said, "would be huge ... as big as winning this game." So I arranged for a transatlantic phone call between the two, and listened in. Here are excerpts from their conversation:

Johnson: Hi Didier, how are you?

Drogba: I'm good, thank you, how about you?

Johnson: I'm good. I wanted to ask you, growing up as a kid, we had tons of different sports; I kind of just picked football. Was soccer your only choice for sports or was there anything else? How did you get into it?

Drogba: I loved football since I was young, about 5 or 6. I only dreamed about being a football professional.

Johnson: As a kid who was your favorite footballer?

Drogba: Diego Maradona, because I watched my first World Cup in 1986 and he was my favorite player that year.

Johnson: You wear No. 11. How did you get that number? Was it always your favorite, or how did you pick it?

Drogba: I was born on March 11. I think it's is my lucky number.

Johnson: I'm No. 41, but I didn't pick that number. When you are a freshman they kind of just give you the crappy numbers. I got the number and was like, Wow, I hate this number, these guys must really hate me. Then the next thing you know, I just fell in love with the number. They gave it to me to shame me and I kind of made it into something bigger.

Johnson: How did you feel the first time you saw your jersey in a store?

Drogba: When you see your jersey in a store it's fantastic, but the best thing is when you come into the dressing room and you see your jersey, and it's your number and your name. You feel like something big, and then you want to play, you are very excited.

Johnson: I know exactly what you're talking about. They kind of told me, 'Ian, you're one of four guys, yours is going to be the last put out.' I was kind of supposed to be the small guy, but next thing you know I blew up and they were all over the place. It was amazing. There are kids wearing my jersey. I used to wear other peoples jerseys, and now someone else is following me. It was such a sense of accomplishment.

Drogba: Sure. Ian, I would like to invite you to London to see one big game. Especially because we are in the Champions League and I hope we are going to go far. It is one of the best competitions in Europe, and you should come see a big game. If you have time to come.

Johnson: I think I could find time to make a game [laughs]. The top team, in the top league, I think I could find time.

Drogba: Yes, you would be my guest.

Johnson: That would be amazing. You know the truth is; it's all pretty much my brother's fault that I became a Chelsea fan. A while ago there was this ridiculous video game where guys did triple back flips to score goals, so that was the first time I truly started to play soccer. It was all international teams, and he would always pick a small team like Mali or Wales, so I wanted to play with a small team also. So I found the Ivory Coast and I thought it was so sweet. It's a smaller place that not many people know about but they've heard about, but they were all so extremely good, so I started playing with them. The only person I ever scored with ever was Drogba, Drogba, Drogba.

Drogba: [Laughs]