The Open Run With Will Strickland

The Open Run With Will Strickland Episode 240 – The Sacrificial GOAT Fin. No matter in what language it’s uttered, printed or intimated, The End is always The Inevitable, be it for players, coaches, styles of play, eras… and even broadcast professionals in their fifth decade of being one of the nicest on these mic devices. Today’s topic, as it has been for the past five years, is hoops. And most o...

The Open Run With Will Strickland Episode 239 - Interregnum   There is a space between Right and Wrong where decisions are made. The Eternal Struggle is between the Heart and the Mind. The Heart knows no Logic; the Mind knows no Feeling. War or Peace. You choose. The penultimate episode weighs what’s next for everyone from the victims of Brown University and Bondi Beach shootings, the recently arr...

The Open Run With Will Strickland Episode 238 – All The Things   Wall $t’s Dear Ol’ Dad (Bless The Dead) once told him that there are two sides to every story; three when you include The Truth. Bars filled with wisdom have put your host in a reflective mood as many of the players he’s watched over the past two decades-plus are in the twilight of their careers, with social media narratives that oft...

The Open Run With Will Strickland Episode 237 – The Maybes Suppositions can be dangerous. Fear can paralyze even the most stout of heart into questioning the point & purpose of their existence. The Artist Governmentally Known As Duval Clear sits down with Wall $t to talk flipping uncertainties to motivation & eventual activation  as the legendary rap vet also shares thoughts on his longevi...

The Open Run With Will Strickland Episode 236 – Miles x Minutes How wide do you believe the gap between “good” and “great” is? It's not rhetorical. Many a player, team and coach with ask of themselves and others the very same question, verbally or in competition. What does it take to get there? Almost two years ago to the day, the now 14-2 Detroit Pistons were the worst team in NBA history, sq...

The Open Run With Will Strickland Episode 235 – Critiques x Credibility Who would hire a cab driver to build a new home for them? Oft times, in today’s sports media landscape, the rough equivalent of that same cab driver is given the keys to the reporting car, spouting baseless drivel about a gamethey’ve never played. On many an occasion, it's reared its ugly heads in the most beautiful game o...

The Open Run With Will Strickland Episode 234 – Interruptin’ My Kung Fu “If You’re Going Nowhere In Life, Any Road Will Take You There…” This bar from Wall $t’s Dear Ol’ Grams (Bless The Dead), uttered to him when he was but a wee lad, set the groundwork for his decision to trail blaze and never path find. The wise woman’s words came with an additional caveat: don’t allow distraction to derail you...

The Open Run With Will Strickland Episode 233 – Strategic Amnesia Misremembering… Learning how to forget… Convenient tools on occasion. In the ongoing battle of era toughness and credibility, the past and those who hold it dear, some to the point of grossly misrepresenting the goings on of the time. This week’s guest, Senior Advisor – Basketball, for Capelli Sport, Mike Parker, taps his thinktank...

The Open Run With Will Strickland Episode 232 – Wanna Bet? Appealing to someone’s competitive nature is one thing; crafting an environment where greed and excess are normalized to the degree that people see it as aspirational is another. Gambl—ahem… pardon us… “gaming”, legal or otherwise, in sports has, is and will always be a divisive topic for many. When the integrity of a league, organization...

The Open Run With Will Strickland Episode 231 - Untitled Ever been on the outside of an inside joke? Make sure you are not as Wall $t. might crack a smile, but ain’t a damn thing funny about mixing it up with Austin, Texas’ AM 1300 The Zone’s The Morning Kickoff’s duo! Former Major League baseball player, Friend of the Program and high school hoops teammate of your host, Mike “Hardball” Hardge, an...

The Open Run With Will Strickland Episode 230 – Screams Beneath The Soil What you focus upon will grow. Be it is negativity or positivity in your crosshairs, your energy will reveal and yield. On the show this week to help our hoops goodness bloom and blossom is Friend of the Program and co-host of CBC Gem’s The Great Canadian Baking Show, Alan Shane Lewis. Though we should have hailed the 2025 WN...

The Open Run With Will Strickland Episode 229 – The Violence Of Truth My Dear Ol’ Dad (Bless The Dead) used to say that there are two sides to every story… three when you include… Well… Friend of the Program and all-everything Canadian sports broadcaster Savanna Hamilton will help me to get to that. Whether we’re discussing Kawhi and the Clippers using the NBA like it’s the Fifth Amendment in the...

The Open Run With Will Strickland Episode 228 – Anti-Social Media I’ve always had a Love | Hate relationship with these rough interweb streets. Working in sports media in Canada didn’t change it; only amplified it. Circumstances changed.  We’re here wow, but I’m revisiting its relevance in Life. The Internet is Forever… and so is one of the hotly contested WNBA semifinals ever, including an all-ti...

The Open Run With Will Strickland Episode 227 – Outta Town Shooters Despite the adage that in order to get a job done right, you gotta do it yourself, sometimes in Life, you may be required to count on outsourcing talent to complete a mission. With the NBA’s first wave of training camps and media days upon us, outside of lingering questions about the future of the hashtag #HeWhoShantBeNamed, rando...

⁠ The Open Run With Will Strickland ⁠ Episode 226 – Ordered Steps “It Was Written”… or so it says. What is the difference between Fate and Destiny? Is there any? As the 80th campaign of the National Basketball Association is a scant few days away, we explore the stumbling blocks and stepping stones lain before us as a team in the Pacific Northwest changes ownerships and fans are nervous about thei...

The Open Run With Will Strickland Episode 225 – Get The Day Back No matter when you are reading this, you’ll never have that exact time ever again. What do you do with that knowledge? Inevitability… As the sand in the hourglass waits for no one, and yet somehow, we often wish it would stand still, the WNBA playoffs loom large as does a potential lockout for the ladies. The 80th campaign of the Nat...

The Open Run With Will Strickland Episode 224 – BBall Bong Bong On the last episode before our #PartsWellKnown Tour across Canada for The World’s Most Unique Basketball Tournament, Wall $t. summons the wonder twin powers of Los Hermanos Del Baloncesto by calling upon El Jefe Supremo of FC21 All World, Friend Of The Program and cultural renaissance man, Bobbito Garcia. The guys do a deep dive on Bo...

The Open Run With Will Strickland Episode 223 – Engagement Farming We all join things to fit in… belong. It could be the band, chess team, the military or a book club, but we join to be a part of something greater than ourselves. This week, a new champion will be crowned in The Association, a basketball team rooted in teamwork making the dream work. There will also be 59 young men, looking to be c...

The Open Run With Will Strickland Episode 222 – Faded Pictures Living in the past can be tough. Nothing ever changes. Not accepting the natural evolution of things can be even tougher. We’re here to ease the transition toward acceptance, revolution… or both. Wall $t. calls on former St. Bonaventure forward, 2x Nike Battlegrounds Toronto winner and head honcho of King Nation youth basketball club V...

The Open Run With Will Strickland Episode 221 – Proof Of Concept 1,307 total games played in the 2024-2025 campaign, but… will we see seven more? The roads the Western Conference champion Oklahoma City Thunder and the Eastern Conference-conquering Indiana Pacers took to get here matter little at this point. The time is now and both teams are ready to face the challenge ahead in their quest for ult...

The Open Run With Will Strickland Episode 220 – Belts In Motion The end of May brings reminiscence for several things past, be it a long lost loved one, the real origin story of MemorialDay, and why one NBA conference finals series is more compelling than the other, despite an alleged lack of star power. Wall $t. does the knowledge on this curiosity as well as dueling superagents supporting their...

The Open Run With Will Strickland Episode 219 - Hardwood Even though we’re about a month away from Father’s Day, the relationship between Black fathers and sons can be simple and direct… complex and complicated or a number of other variables in between. That unique dynamic is explored, as Wall St. goes on the road to discovering Black male redemption with Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Hubert D...

The Open Run With Will Strickland Episode 218 - Uptempo What is The World’s Most Expensive Commodity? In the NBA, it’s spent in 48 minute blocks… Occasionally, when the game gets restless, it generally requires at least 5 more. Of the eight teams left to battle for professional basketball’s greatest prize, some are on the verge of exhausting their supply... others replenish theirs after every win....

The Open Run With Will Strickland Episode 217 – Engine Light The Elite Eight. 30 started the journey where only one with reign supreme. Wall $t. calls on frequent collaborator and super podcast producer Ryan Antonio Henry to get on the road to riches and NBA diamond rings, where real hoopers do real things to wrap up all first round exits, offer report cards, preview the conference semis, doing so...

The Open Run With Will Strickland Episode 215 – The 2d SZN Never Forget. The Regular Season is where All-Stars are made. The Postseason is where Superstars emerge. The feeling is in the air as we’re close to rounding our who the NBA’s conference semi-finalists will be, but in the meantime in between time, Wall $t, goes in this week! Black Privilege, second generation stars and double standards, #t...