Warning to Athletes: Be careful what you put on Twitter..... Seriously.

Here is the most dangerous thing about Twitter: It allows us to say the first thing that comes to mind.

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Tom Pennington/Getty ImagesPittsburgh's Rashard Mendenhall created a stir with his tweets about Osama bin Laden's death.

There are times when that's not the best idea. And with Twitter there is no filter, no editor and no one there to stop us to think about the repercussions.

Twitter often can be a direct bridge to the brain if the owner of the account doesn't exercise restraint. We've seen many cases of that in the past year, and Pittsburgh Steelers tailbackRashard Mendenhall is the latest example.

Mendenhall is getting a lot of heat forhis controversial tweets on the death of Osama bin Laden. It caused so much of a stir nationally that the Steelers issued a statement Tuesday, basically saying they don't share the views of their leading rusher.

This is not a political blog or a conspiracy theorist blog. So we're not going to debate the merit of Mendenhall's comments. But as the star running back of one of the most popular teams in professional sports, Mendenhall should use more discretion with his tweets. There are plenty of other ways to debate controversial subjects in a less public forum.

I've interviewed Mendenhall many times, and in my experience, he's often careful about his word choice. Mendenhall is an intelligent person who's soft-spoken and rarely says more than what's necessary.

But there is something about typing into a computer or cell phone that makes some athletes say things they normally would not in an interview.

Just like anyone else, Mendenhall has every right to his opinions. But with his public position, Mendenhall and other players should be more careful with how they represent their employers.

LeBron James shares Hateful Tweets

MIAMI -- LeBron James started his own Twitter account in July because he wanted to be more in touch with fans and, as it has turned out, his non-fans.

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I just want you guys to see it also. To see what type of words that are said toward me and towards us as professional athletes. Everybody thinks it is a bed of roses and it's not.

”-- LeBron James

To illustrate that sometimes unpleasant interaction, James took the unusual step of retweeting some hateful Twitter messages to his 900,000 followers on Tuesday afternoon. On Wednesday, the Miami Heat star said he did it to show people what he deals with on a daily basis.

James published three negative tweets on his feed including one that was racially charged.

"I just want you guys to see it also," James said after the Heat's practice Wednesday afternoon. "To see what type of words that are said toward me and towards us as professional athletes. Everybody thinks it is a bed of roses and it's not."

In one message a person wrote that James is "a big nosed big lipped bug eyed (racial slur). Ur greedy, u try to hide ur ghettoness."

Last month in an interview with CNN, James said that he felt some of the backlash aimed at him after his decision to sign with the Heat was racially based.

In another message James made public he was called a "fraud" and a "bitch" and in another tweet the writer wrote "why don't u speak by laying ur head under a moving car."

James often retweets messages from friends and fans but they are usually positive ones. But he said he reads the negative messages for motivational purposes.

"You're always going to have people who love you and who hate you," James said. "I have enough motivation but I can always use a little more."