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The sad end of one of our own

I loved his play and his STEELERS-manship.

Abrutal sport with enticing money and fame. Kids brought up to love the game as if there is something to prove ..............................

RIP


Salute the nation
 
RIP to a troubled man.
 
steel dino said:
Colorado Buffalo alum....Cowher loved those guys...

RIP 81
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Yup. Johnson, Steed, Chad Brown, Kordell, Deon Figures were all drafted by the Steelers in the mid 90's. One of our scouts must've had ties to that school. And for the longest time I thought it was CJ who caught Kordell's hail mary vs. Michigan... I just remember the 81 jersey getting that rebound in the end zone. Turns out 81 was Michael Westbrook.

On a sad side note... we also lost Strzelczyk (sp?) - also from those mid 90s Steeler teams - to suicide related to CTE. RIP CJ
 
Its not always CTE.. remember that NFL players are typically guys who spend their entire lives in the spotlight… tgey are star high school athletes… stars in college, then get paid millions of dollars to play in front of millions of fans for years… they retire in their 30’s then many spend decades trying to find another purpose.. over 80% will go bankrupt in the years after they retire( it was over 90 at one point).. many struggle to stay in the spotlight
Ex pros Fighting depression as they age is a huge thing that simply isn’t discussed.

CTE may or may not be a factor, but its too easy to scapegoat it right now..
 
One of the players I pimped in the draft way back when. This definitely upsets me. Ugh.

My thoughts go out to his family and friends. I hope he finds the peace in death that he couldn't find in life.
 
For tge record, he passed in the summertime

Steelers Charles Johnson passes away at 50

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2022/07/19/former-first-round-draft-pick-charles-johnson-dies-at-50/ This one stings. This was one of my first draftnik wants a few years after I started following schools for potential draft picks. I followed Colorado closely and pimped him and Kordell to...
www.steelernation.com

This latest news was just the very sad revelation that he took his own life….
 
madinsomniac said:
Its not always CTE.. remember that NFL players are typically guys who spend their entire lives in the spotlight… tgey are star high school athletes… stars in college, then get paid millions of dollars to play in front of millions of fans for years… they retire in their 30’s then many spend decades trying to find another purpose.. over 80% will go bankrupt in the years after they retire( it was over 90 at one point).. many struggle to stay in the spotlight
Ex pros Fighting depression as they age is a huge thing that simply isn’t discussed.

CTE may or may not be a factor, but its too easy to scapegoat it right now..
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Idk, common sense says getting your bell rung repeatedly is going to have consequences long term. Age will contribute to that. I think CTE is very real and may be the death kiss of football in a few generations.


We all like football here. It’s obviously a Steelers board - hence football. I just think all this CTE stuff has put a hold on the sport. The nfl is trying like hell for player safety at the expense of entertainment. The two cannot correlate just because of the brutal nature of the sport.


Although I will also give credit to your argument. Living a lifestyle of fame, sensory stimulation -overload in a sense.

Basically a career based off adrenaline; Once you retire from that, it’s easy to fall into boredom/depression.
 
MTC said:
Idk, common sense says getting your bell rung repeatedly is going to have consequences long term. Age will contribute to that. I think CTE is very real and may be the death kiss of football in a few generations.


We all like football here. It’s obviously a Steelers board - hence football. I just think all this CTE stuff has put a hold on the sport. The nfl is trying like hell for player safety at the expense of entertainment. The two cannot correlate just because of the brutal nature of the sport.


Although I will also give credit to your argument. Living a lifestyle of fame, sensory stimulation -overload in a sense.

Basically a career based off adrenaline; Once you retire from that, it’s easy to fall into boredom/depression.
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A lot of examples of this in life, and you are spot on. I will add living with something that takes away normalcy and combine that with chronic pain is a hard pill to swallow. Then you add it to the adrenaline rush exiting from a person's life is a cocktail for disaster. Depression and anxiety is more powerful than some perceive. Even myself before I experienced both. I had this mentality of suck it up don't be so weak. But those conditions are anything but easy to always overcome depending on the volume experienced. Can be frustrating when you can't get rid of one or the other quickly enough. No shame for anyone to seek help if they are caught up in it and if they feel they can't shake it they should seek out counseling and or medication.
 
slashsteel said:
A lot of examples of this in life, and you are spot on. I will add living with something that takes away normalcy and combine that with chronic pain is a hard pill to swallow. Then you add it to the adrenaline rush exiting from a person's life is a cocktail for disaster. Depression and anxiety is more powerful than some perceive. Even myself before I experienced both. I had this mentality of suck it up don't be so weak. But those conditions are anything but easy to always overcome depending on the volume experienced. Can be frustrating when you can't get rid of one or the other quickly enough. No shame for anyone to seek help if they are caught up in it and if they feel they can't shake it they should seek out counseling and or medication.
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I hear you. In high school I was depressed at one point. I almost took my lfe. I just needed hobbies that were able to occupy attention in a positive manner.

No shame at all
 
MTC said:
Idk, common sense says getting your bell rung repeatedly is going to have consequences long term. Age will contribute to that. I think CTE is very real and may be the death kiss of football in a few generations.


We all like football here. It’s obviously a Steelers board - hence football. I just think all this CTE stuff has put a hold on the sport. The nfl is trying like hell for player safety at the expense of entertainment. The two cannot correlate just because of the brutal nature of the sport.


Although I will also give credit to your argument. Living a lifestyle of fame, sensory stimulation -overload in a sense.

Basically a career based off adrenaline; Once you retire from that, it’s easy to fall into boredom/depression.
Click to expand...

It may theoretically be a factor in some cases, but contact sports have been around for a long while before football and some are far worse… yeah some boxers end up punch drunk, but there are thousands upon thousands who have taken more headshots than an nfl player is ever going to get… literally are knocked out a bunch of times, and don’t show the issues they are worried about

Again theoretically sometimes it is a problem, but all those studies aren’t as conclusive as one might think… they know so little about it because its so hard to study while people are living and there isnt a good test to see if its happening and if so at what age..,

I mean it definitely can be an issue… ala mike webster, who had personality changes and showed signs of mental disorder that seemed out of place… but everything isn’t tied to it… it just a trendy catchall right now..

I don’t think jumping to conclusions in this case is warranted yet…
 
Thanks for sharing. I had no idea. Life is a mutha. RIP
 
Put me in the camp of let's not jump to conclusions about CTE. There are 53 players on a roster that's over 1500 players at a given time. Multiply that by a factor of what 15 or 20 since he played that's maybe 20 thousand. Of a population of 20 thousand some people will just have personal problems. I think CTE could be a culprit in many of these sad endings but not all. If it was boxers and MMA guys would be in the news weekly.
 
SteelerSask2 said:
Put me in the camp of let's not jump to conclusions about CTE. There are 53 players on a roster that's over 1500 players at a given time. Multiply that by a factor of what 15 or 20 since he played that's maybe 20 thousand. Of a population of 20 thousand some people will just have personal problems. I think CTE could be a culprit in many of these sad endings but not all. If it was boxers and MMA guys would be in the news weekly.
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We don’t really know about CTE until autopsy. Much like any injury the human body develops scar tissue. CTE seems to be scar tissue which kills of neurological responses.


The brain is being re-wired. CTE is one culprit, but there is a myriad of reasons. Genetics, drug abuse, age etc
 
RIP

Dude got to win a SB in 2001 with the P*** Don't know if he got to play in game, but he got a ring.
 
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