Pittsburgh halfback Rashard Mendenhall describes himself as a “conversationalist and professional athlete” on his Twitter page. Amongst the 68 Twitter feeds he follows are those of Sondra Leche and Sarah Silverman, but if it wasn’t clear enough that Mendenhall is cut from slightly different cloth than your average NFL player, his public statements in the aftermath of Osama bin Laden’s death made it very clear to his employers. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Ed Bouchette :

After he retweeted — or repeated — an announcement that ended with “Bin Laden is Dead,” Mendenhall fired off a series of tweets that seemed to question why the terrorist leader had to die and whether the planes the terrorists flew into the World Trade Center towers were really what brought down the buildings.

“What kind of person celebrates death? It’s amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We’ve only heard one side …”

He quickly followed by retweeting a comment sent to him that read, “I’m not convinced he was even behind the attacks we have really seen no evidence to prove it other than the gov telling us”

“For those of you who said you want to see Bin Laden burn in hell … I ask how would God feel about your heart?”

“I have not spoken with Rashard so it is hard to explain or even comprehend what he meant with his recent Twitter comments,” Steelers President Art Rooney II said in a statement released by the Steelers this morning. “The entire Steelers’ organization is very proud of the job our military personnel have done and we can only hope this leads to our troops coming home soon.”