Candidate for Man of the Year: Chad Ford

                            Trust me, Chad knows how to teach em' up.

I never really understood Chad Ford's role at espn.com. He's always insightful, but comes across a little stiff in the collar. I guess you could say he's a mix of Jay Bilas and Andy Katz. 

But now I learn he's currently living in Hawaii spending most of his days teaching undergrads at his alma mater BYU-Hawaii and surfing, while also providing the world with his NBA insider knowledge. How were we not made known of this? The fact that he can do this some six hours behind the east coast, while also finding time to surf baffles me and nearly makes him a MOY candidate. But this ain't hand grenades, and close enough won't get you an invite to this exclusive club. That is until yesterday, when Ford came through and became 2008's first candidate for MOY.

On yesterday's Simmons/Ford interactive mock draft (in it's second year) Simmons was awarded the first pick and after gloating about how amazing he is, he goes into this rant:

"Chad, thanks for coming back for another ritual beating. I give you a lot of credit -- you got creamed by me last year, you bounced back pretty quickly, and now, you're back even though our arguments from the inaugural Mock Draft Showdown remain in the ESPN.com archives. Remember, stuff like: Should Portland take Durant or Oden? (I won.) Is Yi Jianlian a top-5 prospect? (I won.) Is Al Thornton going to be good? (I won.)"

SG snags Derrick Rose with a 3,000 word SG bullshit intro (surprise). How do I know it was 3,000 word intro you ask? Because my man Chad Ford told me so.

Methinks thou doth protest too much. A 3,000-word intro trying to claim that you won our last mock draft? Really? Was Tim Donaghy the ref?

I also recall that you called for Doc Rivers' job. You said Rick Carlisle would be an upgrade. You wanted the Celtics to take Corey Brewer, saying he was in the "Pippen" mold. You gushed about Acie Law. You pushed for Spencer Hawes to the Hornets over my guy Thaddeus Young. I could go on.

Wow Chad, couldn't have said it better myself. Thank you for doing my job for me. Next time you're in the neighborhood, beer's on IHBS Nation.

* This is the first in the year long series of 2008 MOY candidate nominations. There is no rhyme or reason, or set criteria for nomination other than then the fact that what is said, written, or broadcast exposes SG for the fraudulent donkey he is.