Chad Ford is an Assistant Professor at Brigham Young University – Hawaii (BYUH) and is Director over the McKay Center and is known for his study of conflict resolution with an emphasis on large group ethnic and religious conflict and for his sports journalism with ESPN.

Ford was born in Kansas City, MO in 1971. He holds a B.A. in history at Brigham Young University (1995), an M.S. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University (2000), and concurrently earned a J.D.in International Law from Georgetown University and then served as a researcher for the United Nations in Northern Ireland.

Before joining the faculty of Brigham Young University in 2005, Ford co-founded sportsTALK.com with Jason Peery in 1996 which was sold to ESPN in 2001 and was renamed Insider. Ford still contributes to the subscription’s content. He’s known for his "insider information" and breaking news on NBA stories, especially regarding the draft, trade rumors, and international basketball. By 2005, more than 1 million paying Insider subscribers read his daily reports for ESPN. Also, he has covered the NBA in Asia, Europe, and Africa for ESPN.

Chad ⁱ/ˈtʃæd/ (French: Tchad, Arabic: تشاد‎ Tšād), officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west. Due to its distance from the sea and its largely desert climate, the country is sometimes referred to as the "Dead Heart of Africa".

Chad is divided into multiple regions: a desert zone in the north, an arid Sahelian belt in the centre and a more fertile Sudanese savanna zone in the south. Lake Chad, after which the country is named, is the largest wetland in Chad and the second largest in Africa. Chad's highest peak is the Emi Koussi in the Sahara, and N'Djamena, (formerly Fort-Lamy), the capital, is the largest city. Chad is home to over 200 different ethnic and linguistic groups. Arabic and French are the official languages. Islam and Christianity are the most widely practiced religions.

Beginning in the 7th millennium BC, human populations moved into the Chadian basin in great numbers. By the end of the 1st millennium BC, a series of states and empires rose and fell in Chad's Sahelian strip, each focused on controlling the trans-Saharan trade routes that passed through the region. France conquered the territory by 1920 and incorporated it as part of French Equatorial Africa.

Stephen A. Smith (born October 14, 1967) is an American sports reporter for ESPN, columnist, radio host, and television personality. He currently hosts The Stephen A. Smith Show on ESPN Radio 710 Los Angeles and ESPN Radio New York 98.7FM and is a featured columnist for both ESPNLA.com and ESPNNY.com. Smith also is a regular on ESPN's First Take along with Skip Bayless.

Smith was raised in the Hollis neighborhood of the New York City borough of Queens. He lived with his parents and four older sisters.

He attended Winston-Salem State University, a historically black university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. While in college, he played some basketball under Hall of Fame coach Clarence Gaines. He later wrote an article for the university newspaper suggesting that Gaines retired due to health issues.

In 1993, Smith was a sportswriter for the Daily News in New York City.

Since 1994, Smith has had a position as a writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer. He was initially a general sportswriter for the Inquirer before he gained positions as their reporter for the Philadelphia 76ers as their NBA columnist, and eventually, as a general sports columnist. On August 23, 2007, the Inquirer announced that Smith would no longer be writing columns and would instead be demoted back to the position of general assignment reporter. Prior to his job with the Inquirer, Smith has had positions with the Winston-Salem Journal, the Greensboro News and Record and the New York Daily News. In 2008, the Inquirer ended its relation with Smith, which coincided with Smith starting his own blog. In February 2010, Smith returned to the Philadelphia Inquirer after winning an arbitrator's ruling that he was to be reinstated, but having to agree to remove all of his political views from his website and from cable news shows.

William J. "Bill" Simmons III (born September 25, 1969) is a sports columnist, author, and podcaster. He currently writes columns and hosts podcasts for Grantland.com, which is affiliated with ESPN.com. He is a former writer for ESPN The Magazine and Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Nicknamed The Sports Guy, formerly The Boston Sports Guy, Simmons gained the attention of ESPN with his web site, BostonSportsGuy.com which earned him a job offer in 2001.

Since joining ESPN in 2001, in addition to writing for ESPN.com, he has also hosted his own podcast on ESPN.com titled The B.S. Report, appeared as a special contributor on the television series E:60, and serves as an executive producer of ESPN's documentary project, 30 for 30. He also has written two best-selling books and worked as a writer for Jimmy Kimmel Live!. On June 8, 2011, Simmons launched Grantland.com, an online magazine for which he serves as Editor-in-chief. At this point he began publishing his Sports Guy columns and B.S. Report podcasts on Grantland, which are then linked to from ESPN.com.

Skip Bayless (born John Bayless II on December 4, 1951) is a sports journalist and television personality. Bayless regularly appears on ESPN2's ESPN First Take and its afternoon show 1st and 10. Bayless previously wrote regular columns for ESPN.com and its "Page 2" section. He is perhaps best known for his strong opinions and sometimes controversial stances on professional athletes.

Bayless was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The first child of John and Levita Bayless, he was named John Edward Bayless II on his birth certificate, but his father immediately began calling him Skip or Skipper. The name stuck, and Skip Bayless was never called John by his parents. He eventually had his name legally changed to Skip. His brother is the chef, restaurateur and TV personality Rick Bayless.

Bayless as a junior, along with Jerry Waugh, Jim Hill, and Tony Robinson led Junior Varsity (JV)'s Northwest Classen High School basketball team.

Bayless averaged 1.4 points per game as a senior playing basketball at Northwest Classen High School.