Shinsanity: Oklahoma fans turn doctor who performed surgery on QB John Mateer into internet sensation
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Oklahoma football fans were all fired up this week, and for a change, it didn’t involve something done by the seventh-ranked Sooners on the field.
Instead, it was all about the operating room, not the gridiron, and the man who performed successful surgery for Oklahoma star quarterback John Mateer. OU is off to a 4-0 start, but all is not right suddenly in Norman, with Mateer breaking a bone in his right throwing hand during last Saturday’s victory over Auburn.
On Wednesday, Mateer had surgery. The belief is that he could miss around a month, which is not what OU fans had planned for late September after such a great start. But let’s talk about that surgeon, Dr. Steven Shin, one of the country’s leading hand/wrist surgeons, who performed the surgery in Los Angeles.
Mateer is an early Heisman Trophy candidate who’s already thrown for 1,215 yards and 6 touchdowns this season. He’s also OU’s leading rusher with 190 yards and 5 TDs on the ground, so this is 1 precious right hand that Dr. Shin was operating on. The surgery was successful, and the Oklahoma faithful were going crazy not for Mateer but for the doctor who just might have saved OU’s season.
Mateer posted to social media on Thursday, thanking Shin for his services.
But that didn’t hold a candle to the outpouring from OU fans toward Shin. The reaction to Dr. Shin on social media was rampant. Even the state’s Attorney General, Gentner Drummond, officially issued a commendation for Shin.
Between Wednesday and Thursday, Sooner fans went wild on social media. Here’s a hilarious sampling.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
