When will we learn to stop listening to what professional athletes have to say about things other than sports? Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall recently offered a lesson that should help facilitate that learning process.

After news broke throughout the world that Osama Bin Laden had been killed in a compound in Pakistan by members of the United States special forces, the former University of Illinois ball-carrier offered his take via Twitter: “It’s amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We’ve only heard one side…”

I’m not going to enter into the Lions Den of political and sociological arguments at play here, but what I will do is offer a piece of advice. Just turn him off.

This is far from the first time someone with a stage has proceeded to light that stage on fire for their own circus performance.

Carlos Delgado refused to stand for the singing of “God Bless America” from 2004-06 (upon joining the New York Mets). Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf (formerly Chris Wayne Johnson) did likewise during “The Star Spangled Banner” and is on record saying the American flag is a symbol of oppression. Casius Clay changed his name to Muhammad Ali and was stripped of a title and spent three years away from the ring in the 1960s as a result of his protest to US involvement in the Vietnam War, saying “Man, I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong.”

Professional athletes are entertainers, not sages. They are not here to help solve the world’s problems, but provide a brief escape from them. We don’t look to the President to run between the tackles on a crucial third-and-one, so why would we look to a running back for insight on foreign military affairs?

Mendenhall has over 36,000 people “following” him on Twitter (@BellevuePreps is not one of them), maybe they should take the lead instead.