The Open Run With Will Strickland Episode 179 – Nobody’s A Nobody

Not sure if being a star in your role in Life is so much about effort as it is understanding.
The clarity, effort and focus it takes to live your dream can’t be understated.
But we ain’t gotta dream no’ mo’… because we got MOMO!
This week, Wall $t. calls on Toronto Raptors Registered Massage Therapist and owner of the world’s best laugh, Melissa “MOMO” Doldron, to talk NBA Summer League whilst the two get their Mary J. Blige on, reminiscing about when they first met, boxing and her amazing sense of spirit that guides her career arc.
In addition, the friends chat the impact of the WNBA coming to Toronto, which Canada Basketball squad heading to Paris has the best chance at earning a medal, Full Court 21 Canada’s #LadiesFirst initiative and how where she works reflects the city in which we inhabit being a great thing for the progression of women in sport, on and off the playing surface.
News. Views. Truths.

References Made:

Pinball Clemons, All Balls Don’t Bounce, boxing, Freshman 15, LinkedIn addictions, Lenn-ox Lewis, meritocracy, Alex McKechnie, Fiserv Forum, Dedmonton, sip and paint, Masai Ujiri, Porter Airlines, Roundball BC, The Count Of Monte Fisto, Asa Rehman, and more, all on the podcast where Basketball and Life are One: The Open Run With Will Strickland!
Do What’s Popular With The Population!
Find Will On These Rough Interweb Streets: Twitter: @W_Strickland1 IG: @WillStrickland1

The Open Run With Will Strickland Episode 178 – The Stuff In The Basement
You gotta do something you never did to get something you never had…
Read it again.
What does it truly mean to you?
Plenty have the talent to go get it… Few have the habits and discipline to not only get it, but keep it.
Sustained Greatness.
That is the subject matter for the day as Wall $t. tests your chest, doing a deep dive on a WNBA Commissioner’s Cup surprise, free agency on Day One in The Association, The World’s Most Unique Basketball Tournament being back outside again, bombshells in The French Revolution and last, but most certainly not least, the most anticipated and scrutinized second round of the NBA Draft in the history of mankind.
Yeah. It’s that level of hyperbole and absurdity.
Can you stomach it?
News. Views. Truths.

References Made:

Brongevity, #binHWSBN, All Balls Don’t Bounce, Udonis Haslem, jettisoned, Terms Undisclosed, Stephon Marbury, The Silent Assassin, dap, Oatmeal Women, party joints, The Gift and The Curse, Cheryl Reeve, for unlawful carnal knowledge, Maple Jordan, Lifetime Achievement Award, Quill Game Heavy, European wanderlust, The Stylistics, Below The Hardwood, Travis Kelce and more, all on the podcast where Basketball and Life are One: The Open Run With Will Strickland!
Do What’s Popular With The Population!
Find Will On These Rough Interweb Streets: Twitter: @W_Strickland1 IG: @WillStrickland1

The Open Run With Will Strickland Episode 177 – Price Of The Ticket
When the late great James Brown said he’s paid the cost to be the boss, it was understood that he’d chosen to do something he never did to get something he’d never had.
Are you willing to do the same for whatever your passion is?
Wall $t. calls on The Man They Call Twin aka Hussein Abdullahi, Commissioner of the Toronto Pro-Am Summer League, to talk about investment levels of time and effort to find ultimate success, why doing things for “The Culture” matters and a FC21CA collab!
The guys also review The 2024 league champion Boston Celtics, Jayson Tatum’s hunt for a personality and viral moment, Jaylen Brown’s permanent leap into something beyond superstardom, the significance of 617, Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark III, Canada Basketball’s good problems, the Raptors, Zach Edey and the NBA Draft, and home scorekeepers juicing the numbers for the Defensive Player Of The Year of St. Michael Jeffrey Of Wilmington in 1987-1988 season?
Oh no… Say it ain’t so!
News. Views. Truths.

References Made:

Forrest Gump, “Sloot”, collective bargaining agreement, Sports Illustrated, The Answer, Gangteenth, Dawn Staley, fire sale, Nipsey Hussle, Toronto Pro-Am, sorority, In Control Dillon, cooking the books, Mohandas Dewese, Yahoo Sports, Michael Cooper, Black Music Month, white Ford Bronco, The Wire, York University, Scott Wayne Barnes, “the culture”, LeBronto, and more, all on the podcast where Basketball and Life are One: The Open Run With Will Strickland!
Don’t Get Beat Off The Dribble!
Find Will On These Rough Interweb Streets: Twitter: @W_Strickland1 IG: @WillStrickland1

The Open Run With Will Strickland Episode 176 – The Uncertainty Scale

Self doubt can be an evil temptress.
One could possess all of the necessary tools to find success and ultimate glory, only to be hamstrung by any number of obstacles, real and imagined.
We traverse the sum of all fears with Friend Of The Program and host of Touring The AFC South, Mike Patton, vacationing above the 49th Parallel in The 6ix, to help Wall $t navigate the world of hoops this week!
The real meaning of Father’s Day is explored, which players have fathered sons and sonned fathers in The Association, the dangerous precedent that even Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese can’t stop, and after the first four games of the NBA Finals, what did we really learn about these teams and their star players?
News. Views. Truths.

References Made:

Tariq St. Patrick, El Heneral”, Indiana Clarks, glizzies, John Cena, Indigenous Peoples Day, Kobayashi, independence, Bomani Jones, highlights, Bernard McCullough, muthafucka, DMX, “Send It In, Jerome!”, gymnastics scoring, LinkedIn, Jimmy Walker not Jimmie Walker, QWERTY Courage, Lonzo Ball, Chubby’s, matador defense, Marlon Starling, YMCA, Touring The AFC South, DeLorean, The Wardells, and more, all on the podcast where Basketball and Life are One: The Open Run With Will Strickland!
Do What’s Popular With The Population!
Find Will On These Rough Interweb Streets: Twitter: @W_Strickland1 IG: @WillStrickland1

The Open Run With Will Strickland Episode 175 - The Standard
How many of us measure our success and happiness on the accolades and accumulations… of others?
Having examples to review as an indication of bar setting is great; using those examples as your bar?
Not so much.
Well, level up as Wall $t. assesses the first two game of the NBA Finals, primes Vancouver for the start of Full Court21 Canada’s 2024 National Tournament Tour, salutes those who plants seeds that grow strong roots on and off the court, gives us a WNBA Power 5 and Rookie Watch for the week, launches the Caitlin Clark Protectionism Investigation Agency and ponders why Life gives you The Test first, then The Lesson after…
News. Views. Truths.

References Made:

Robert Keith Horry, listening vs. hearing, Paige Bueckers, Verizon Center, protectionism, Children Of The Corn, 1981 NBA Finals MVP, humility, Margo Dydek, iPromise School, the first ever kiss, Dearica Hamby, hoop goons, Drederick, Monday Night Football, Connor McDavid, air quotes, St. Michael Jeffrey Of Wilmington, Sucka Sauce, Nigeria, prostate cancer, Wilton Norman Chamberlain, and more, all on the podcast where Basketball and Life are One: The Open Run With Will Strickland!
Don’t Get Beat Off The Dribble!
Find Will On These Rough Interweb Streets: Twitter: @W_Strickland1 IG: @WillStrickland1

The Open Run With Will Strickland

Episode 174 – Paralysis By Analysis
The old phrase “Piss Or Get Off The Pot!” may sound disturbing, but decision making reveals certain character markers that oft times separates the champs from the chumps.
Choose Wisely.
The first round selection to help Wall St. earn them rings and things you sing about (bring ‘em out) is Canada’s biggest Dallas Mavericks fan and podcast super producer Ryan Antonio Henry.
Dwight Powell’s favourite fan and the head honcho of FC21CA’s #mapleGxNG set the narrative straight on Caitlin Clark’s first 11 games (in 20 days, no less) in the WNBA, and laugh at the handwringing around physicality being shown to the rookie while wondering if she and the other 143 women in the league are corporate partners… or competitors.
The guys also shop at (Washington) Wizards R’ Us like Association champions have for the past eight seasons, get to pattin’ pockets on the NBA coaches carousel and oh yeah… preview the 2024 NBA Finals between the Mavs and the Boston Celtics!
News. Views. Truths.

References Made:

Lindsay Harding, load management, prijatelj, Mid-American Conference, Brittney Griner, context, pommes frites, Kermit Washington, facetiousness, The World’s Most Unique Basketball Tournament, predictive text, #binHWSBN, wrasslin’, body shaming, objectivity, Unrivaled, Darren Waller, old pussy, Bishop Bullwinkle, nepotism, Glory, and more, all on the podcast where Basketball and Life are One: The Open Run With Will Strickland!
Do What’s Popular With The Population!
Find Will On These Rough Interweb Streets: Twitter: @W_Strickland1 IG: @WillStrickland1

The Open Run With Will Strickland
Episode 173 – Shattered Dreams
It is said that there are two sides to every story… three when you include the truth!
But with the line between reality and the virtual version of it being so very blurred by disinformation, bombast, prevarication and duplicity, where would any reasonable person when facts are a must?

You’re not saying we’re Number One…

Welpington.com, we’re sorry! We lied!
We’re numbers one, two, three, four and #FiF!
Aiding us in cleaning these rough interweb streets with brooms and directions toward #tackleBoxSZN loss of a legend, is schoolteacher-by-day | playground hoops vlogging giant and FC21 – Boston Director Mak Thompson!
He and Wall $t. discuss how he built a narrative of success in This Thing Of Ours called Basketball from pain and disappointment, and the inevitability of NBA Finals matchup not quiet set yet.
Angel Reese’s WNBA worldview, including a new team in Toronto, George Floyd, Scooby Doo and My Daddy’s Tools shape the episode as well!
News. Views. Truths.

References Made:

“Throw It Down, Big Man!”, R.I.P. Bill Walton, Pac-8, Dwight Equan Grant, White Men Can’t Jump, bear tings, Fenway Sports Group, broughtupsy, Golden State Valkyries, CEBL, vlogging, Texas Two Step, Chalky White, BringYaAss,org, Apologies Leonard Miller, air quotes, The Notic, piraguas, Nothing’s Over There, Michael B. Jordan, U.N.I.T.Why?, sage, All-Stars vs Superstars, and more, all on the podcast where Basketball and Life are One: The Open Run With Will Strickland!

Don’t Get Beat Off The Dribble!

Find Will On These Rough Interweb Streets: Twitter: @W_Strickland1 IG: @WillStrickland1

The Open Run With Will Strickland Episode 172 – Exit Ramp
Sometimes, it’s tough to know when to say “when”…
Imagine being married to the game and knowing, no matter what you did, you could not divorce yourself from it.
This week, Wall $t. collabs with a lifer who may never walk away from basketball: Canadian legend and hoops multihyphenate Leo Rautins, who has seen the heights and depths of an existence dominated by This Thing Of Ours.

The guys will chat about everything from being a prodigy in the sport, living a dream in the NBA and contributing to the game at every level to Caitlin Clark’s first week in the WNBA, Zach Edey’s future, Raptors draft options and the interesting combatants in the NBA Conference Finals.
News. Views. Truths.

References Made: Roundball Rock, Shawn Corey Carter, stolen credit cards, Megan Pete, guaaaar-onn-tee!, Boys II Men, wild parsley, Houston Comets, Ball Park franks, destination station, Trevor George Smith, Jr., Main Source, The Wheat Sheaf, tradition, Club 520 podcast, Micheal Ray Richardson, #tackleBoxSZN, Stu Granger, and more, all on the podcast where Basketball and Life are One: The Open Run With Will Strickland!
Do What’s Popular With The Population!
Find Will On These Rough Interweb Streets: Twitter: @W_Strickland1 IG: @WillStrickland1