Breaking news coming down from the CLG organization today as they announce mid-laner Austin “Link” Shin will be out indefinitely to undergo Tommy John surgery on his throwing arm. Known in medical practice as ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) reconstruction, Tommy John surgery is a surgical graft procedure in which the ulnar collateral ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with a tendon from elsewhere in the body. The procedure is common among collegiate and professional athletes in several sports, most notably baseball pitchers as the UCL can become stretched, frayed, or torn through the repetitive stress of the throwing motion.
This is shocking news for all CLG fans, and the first time we’ve seen this type of injury to a professional league of legends player since Dignitas’s entire team underwent the corrective surgery following several incidents with Baron during season 3.  A former player on that Dignitas team, and current CLG coach William “Scarra” Li indicated in a statement that he may have been aware of the potential for this issue to arise during the split, stating “when we held tryouts for mid-lane during the offseason, it was due in part with the knowledge that Link’s throwing arm has seen a significant amount of action during his 2 seasons with CLG, causing a lot of wear and tear and the potential for injury is always there. So far this season it hadn’t been an issue, but during the game yesterday against TSM, our worst fears were realized.”Â
 Dignitas Scarra showing off his range of motion after elbow surgery
The situation even seemed evident to TSM’s Dyrus who said after the game “I knew something was wrong after the fight around the fifth dragon. We knew we couldn’t give up all five, so we were desperate to defend it. We were there but didn’t really have much of a chance of stopping them, because we were so far behind. Then Link’s Lissandra E’d over the wall and ulted himself, hitting none of us.  That’s when I heard a loud “popping” sound, I could even hear it over the crowd. That must be when the injury happened.”
Link managed to finish the game despite the injury, but will be out for a significant amount of time following the surgery. “I hope to be back by the end of next split, the doctor said the ligament usually heals back stronger than it even was before, so if I can come back in time for worlds, my throwing motion should be better than ever.”
Potential replacements for CLG in the mid-lane are hard to come by at this point during the split, as most talented players are already committed to other teams. CLG might look no farther than owner George “Hotshotgg” Georgallidis. Â With Hotshotgg’s signature champion Nidalee back in the meta, he may be able to bring back the stunning spear accuracy rate we saw the last time he filled in during week 1 of 2014 spring split. Some say on a particularly quiet night on the rift, if you close your eyes, you can still hear the “whiffing” sound of spears flying by. Another potential replacement could be long time CLG mid-laner Michael “Bigfatjiji” Tang. When reached for comment, Tang replied with only, “H4H4 n0t playiNG 4Â that n00b team agaiN.”
The return of Nidshotgg
I suppose we all have to wait and see what the near future holds for CLG.
Disclaimer: This is satire. I hope that was obvious enough before you got to this point.
