User:Jalanielawrence/sandbox

Mike Webster
1. The wikipedia page has an area under "Football career" that is flagged for needing more work. I might add some stuff in there about his career and possible injuries he received, so it can connect to CTE. If Webster faced neurological problems during his career, I will incorporate that as well.

The article says Webster's last season was of 1986, but according to Steelers.com, this was due to dislocated elbow that sidelined him for four games. Then after that, Webster played for center for Kansas City Chiefs in 1989-1990. Webster was the Steelers offense captain for nine years. http://www.steelers.com/team/historical/mike-webster.html

Here is the paragraph I plan to edit: Mike Webster was regarded as the best center in the Big Ten during most of his career at the University of Wisconsin.[citation needed] At 6-foot-1, 255 pounds, he was drafted in the 5th round of the 1974 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Serving as a backup at center and guard for two years while being mentored by veteran center Ray Mansfield, Webster became the team's starting center in 1976, where he would remain for 150 straight games until 1986. These years included four Super Bowl wins by the Steelers, and Webster and Terry Bradshaw are consequently one of the most well-known center–quarterback pairs in history.[citation needed] Webster was honored as an All-Pro seven times and played in the Pro Bowl nine times. An avid weightlifter, Webster was known for playing with bare arms to keep opponents from grabbing his sleeves.[4] Webster is also perhaps the best-known of a long line of All-Pro centers for the Steelers.[citation needed] From 1964 to 2006, just four men started at that position: Mansfield, Webster, Dermontti Dawson, and Jeff Hartings. In his last year in Pittsburgh, Webster returned the favor by mentoring the then-rookie Dawson in the same manner Mansfield mentored Webster earlier in his career.

After the sentence "Webster became the team's starting center in 1976, where he would remain for 150 straight games until 1986" I plan on taking out the mast part of the sentence that says "until 1986" and adding the sentence, "within these years, Webster became the Steelers offense captain for nine years. However, things ended for him in 1986 when he dislocated his elbow, causing him to sit out for four games." To make things go smoothly within the paragraph, I plan on changing the beginning of the next sentence with "With the Steelers wining Super Bowl IX, X, XIII, and XIV, Webster and Terry Bradshaw became on of the most well known center-quarterback pairs in history.

2. Also, I am considering adding more information under the "Ailment." I think the page can go into more detail about Webster being the first of many football players to be diagnosed with CTE.

I might add a paragraph going into detail about some research being done on CTE and some current findings.

Here is what the article has already: It has been speculated that Webster's ailments were due to wear and tear sustained over his playing career; some doctors estimated he had been in the equivalent of "25,000 automobile crashes" in over 25 years of playing football at the high school, college and professional levels. His wife Pamela would state years later that she felt that she caused Webster's change in personality in the years before his death and placed guilt on herself over her decision to divorce Webster, until discovering after his death about the CTE diagnosis.[2] At the time of his death, Webster was addicted to prescription medication.[18]

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy is caused by a repetitive hits to the head, that do not necessarily need to be concussions. The brain degenerates develops of build up of tau protein. Some symptoms found with CTE include memory loss, impaired judgement, and impulsive behavior. This mirrors Webster's last years alive. However, a lot is still not known about CTE. Many groups, including Boston University's Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center are doing extensive research to discover methods of diagnosing CTE in living-beings.

3. Under the post "Post Football Life" there is a couple sentences about Webster suffering from dementia and depression. I would definitely add onto that because as of today, there is no clear diagnosis of CTE in a living person but dementia and depression have been linked to people who have been diagnosed with CTE.

An article goes into detail of Webster's actions before death. He lost everything financially and and his actions were unusual. He bought a taser to use on himself to cope with back pain. He glued his mouth shut. He lost much of his memory. After many research, all these have linked to potential signs in living people who may have CTE. https://www.gq.com/story/nfl-players-brain-dementia-study-memory-concussions

This is what is in the article: Webster was proven to have been disabled before retiring from the NFL.[7] After retirement, Webster had amnesia, dementia, depression, and acute bone and muscle pain. He lived out of his pickup truck or in train stations between Wisconsin and Pittsburgh, even though his friends and former teammates offered to rent apartments for him. In his last years Webster lived with his youngest son, Garrett, who though only a teenager at the time, moved from Wisconsin to Pittsburgh to care for his father. Webster's wife Pamela divorced him six months before his death in 2002 of a heart attack[8][9][10][11][12][13][14] at age 50.[15]

Webster's body was cremated and the ashes were divided among his wife and their four children.

I would like to add: Bennet Omalu noticed Mike Webster's brain resembled those of boxers who had what was known as Dementia pugilistica, also known as "punch-drunk syndrome" Mike Webster's case was one of the first of many of the discovery of CTE in football players.