With Earl Austin Jr.
The “Charlie Wies is God’s Gift to college football” talk can now be put the rest for a little while. Again. From the overzealous national media heaping unwarranted accolades to the school pooh-bahs giving Wies a 10-year extension during a bogus-BCS bowl campaign, folks are eager to give ‘ol Charlie the messiah label before he actually earns it.
To give Uncle Charlie all of this praise and glory is all well and good. The only problem with all of this worship is that it is still way premature. We are still waiting for a Charlie Wies-led Notre Dame team to come up with a meaningful victory against a college football heavyweight. Another opportunity came and went last weekend when the Michigan Wolverines rolled into South Bend and crushed the Irish 47-21. It was the highest scoring Michigan effort in the history of the rivalry.
If last year’s Fiesta Bowl blowout loss to The Ohio State University wasn’t enough to slow down the “Charlie Wies for God” Crusade, maybe this humbling beat-down at the hands of the Wolverines will. The Buckeyes gained more yards against Notre Dame than any other opponent in ND’s history in that bowl game, including five scoring plays of more than 50 yards. Michigan must have studied that game film before last weekend because steered away from their “three yards and a cloud of dust” running game to burn the Irish with big passing plays throughout the first half, in which they scored 34 points.
Maybe, folks will slow their role a little bit and let this man actually accomplish something special before making him the second coming of Knute Rockne.
*Major props to little brother, professional baseball player Richard Austin, on helping the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks to the championship of the Northern League. The Redhawks defeated the Gary-Southshore Railcats three games to one to win the title. Richard’s solo home run was the only run needed in the Redhawks’ 1-0 victory in the series clincher. Austin finished the season with a .296 batting averaged with 13 home runs and 69 runs batted in.
*There will be two major basketball showcase events for high school players hoping to catch the eye of college recruiters. The “Battle for the Rankings” Boys Showcase will be held on Saturday, Sept. 30 at Mathews-Dickey Boys’ Club. The event is put on by Rameybasketball.com, a local recruiting service run by Terrell Ramey. High school players from the 2007 to 2010 are welcome to attend. The cost of the camp is $30. The first 50 players in each class will be accepted. For more information of to register, you can hook on the website, Rameybasketball.com.
The Hoopstars Midwest Rockets organization will put on a one-day high school girls showcase on Sunday, Oct. 1 at Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville. Registration is limited to 80 players. For more information, call Dennis Griffin (314) 709-0880 or Matt Rockamann (314) 723-4667.
*It might be a good idea for the University of Indiana to stop scheduling Southern Illinois University in anything. The Division I-AA Salukis knocked off Indiana in football last weekend in Bloomington. In 2002, SIU defeated Indiana in basketball. Indiana went on to play in the NCAA Championship game that year, but they suffered a 10-point whipping at the hands of the Bruce Weber-led Salukis that season.