Skip to Content
Sports

OU Fans and Media – I think they’re the same thing – breathe Dr. Shin memes to life…

Before the season started, OU announced it would begin selling fan access to the postgame news conferences as part of a Sooner Magic Memories promotion.

Primarily because it’s emblematic of the new era of college sports, and the minor-league depths universities are already willing to go to make extra money, the story made national headlines.

Via ESPN:

Oklahoma is offering fans a chance to attend postgame news conferences, but it won't be cheap.

It's one of the "Sooner Magic Memories" offerings the program has created to give fans greater access this season. The cost for two people to sit in on the media session after the Oklahoma-Michigan nonconference showdown on Sept. 6 is $692.11. For the SEC home opener Sept. 20 against Auburn, it's $576.86.

"Get exclusive postgame media access for you and one guest and see where real-time reactions unfold," the advertisement says. 

If you think fans paying $700 to watch Brent Venables filibuster a question from James Hale for five minutes at a press conference is Busch league, just wait until the OU Genos of the world start paying to ride the Sooner Schooner. Imagine the insurance liabilities that will open up!

Although I understand the revenue-inspired reasons for OU’s desperation – schools have to pay the players now – I thought the whole thing was absurd. I'm pretty sure OU already allows some fans to sit in the press box and attend press conferences. They’re called the online media!

Although I haven't produced a power poll this year, they’ve been doing a solid job covering the Sooners for the Sooners this year. Granted, that's probably because they're threatened by the idea of more fans at press conferences, but they really have been on top of their game.

On their YouTube shows, X-feeds, and live podcasts that are literally sponsored by the University, the local media has been doing and saying all the right things to keep OU happy – helping ensure these hard-working content creators can continue living their boyhood dream of having free inside access to players, coaches, and administrators’ sons.

Screenshot

Although I think the proliferation and explosion of online fan media is a net negative for true sports fans who want unbiased coverage of their team – and leads to teams and organizations having more influence on coverage than ever (see: Thunder, OKC) – it does help balance out the general online negativity.

It has other benefits, too.

For example, instead of having reporters examine the obvious flaws in a 4-0 paper tiger – like how the defense can’t force turnovers and a former linebacker can become your best pass catcher – or simply reporting injury news about the star QB before the team makes it official, we get to watch them participate in a cutesy fan worship of the surgeon who operated on Mateer’s thumb!

Via Barstool Sports:

Oklahoma Fans Turned John Mateer’s Hand Surgeon Into the Latest Viral Sensation With Thousands of Memes and Even Showed Up at the Hospital To Deliver Him Gifts

Almost everything on the internet sucks. Social media thrives on algorithms designed to sow hate and division among all of us, and we keep going back for another hit. But every so often, we get something pure and joyous from the internet.

And there is no better example of that than Oklahoma fans turning their accounts into Dr. Steven Shin stan pages on the day of John Mateer’s hand surgery. For at least one day, there was no bigger name in college football than Shin.

Listen. I’m a painfully self-aware, cynical person, so I know this has some “Old Man Yells At Cloud” energy, but am I the only OU fan who thinks the Dr. Shin memes were kind of stupid? Like, the first couple were okay, but the thousands of Chat GPT creations were a bit over the top, right?

“No, you suck Patrick. Get a life.”

Thanks for that, anonymous OU fans on social media, but I do want to clarify that I haven’t always been this way.

Back in the olden days of the Internet – a golden time when we were more like Barstool than Raw Story, and I still thought all this was fun – I probably would have been whipping up tweets, photoshops, and memes to play along.

But something about this one doesn’t feel very authentic.

I don’t know if it’s the proliferation of AI slop making it too easy for dumb people to crank out unfunny memes, or the fact that the University and homer media seemed to play it up, but it felt contrived.

Hell, it got so bad you even had politicians participating in the faux worship. Just like something appearing on The Today Show, once they get on board an online craze, it’s no longer cool.

Although I’m a fun-hating Debbie Downer, if you’re into seeing all the Shin memes, photoshops, and AI slop, head over to X. If you have anything remotely Oklahoma in your algo, you can't miss them.

If you’re wanting to know a space for good, quality, unbiased coverage of the team, leave a comment so we can all know about it.

Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter