Posted By: Sabrina B. @gametimegirl

The currently unemployed King of Something — just ask him — keeps tweeting about the NFL.

LeBron James is lots of things; boring is rarely one of them. Maybe this whole NFL thing is a product of his own NBA lockout-induced boredom, maybe it’s a cry for attention, or maybe LeBron really does miss playing football. Most likely, it’s some combination of all three.

For those of us writing, tweeting and talking about what LeBron is tweeting and apparently daydreaming about, it’s strictly a hypothetical situation. We know it’s never going to happen.

James needs neither the money nor the bruises — to his knees, elbows or ego — that a journey into the NFL would bring. We presume he’s smart enough to know that the NFL is a fast, violent game, too violent for a guy who has enough time to make hundreds of millions more playing basketball to get any closer to the field than a third-level luxury suite.

The thought that he could give it a shot isn’t an entirely crazy one — and it certainly is an intriguing one. The thought he could last, however, is a different story.

“It wouldn’t be easy,” Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Leon Hall said. “I recommend he keep his NBA contract and just play the Madden video games if he misses football.”

Back when James was a wunderkind at Akron (Ohio) St. Vincent-St. Mary High School and the nation’s top high school basketball player, he was also a football player. He was a 6-foot-6 string bean then, a receiver who preferred the outside and was impossible to cover when an end-zone fade was thrown in his range.

James is much bigger now — listed at 6-8, 250 pounds — and anyone who’s ever seen him take a rebound coast-to-coast in four or five dribbles knows he has top-shelf speed and explosion. But he wasn’t much for breaking tackles in his football-playing days, and at the high school level he rarely dealt with either press coverage or opponents who were either taller than 5-10 or could match his athleticism.

The guys he was jumping over for those touchdown catches? They’re now teachers, car salesmen, chiropractors, regular folks. One of them might do Leon Hall’s taxes, but they don’t do what Hall does for a living.

Like James, Bengals safety Chris Crocker also was drafted by Cleveland in 2003. Crocker was picked by the Browns, and he spent many evenings courtside at Quicken Loans Arena watching James up close.

“There aren’t many guys with the athleticism and strength LeBron has in any sport,” Crocker said. “But I also think guys pick the sports they pick for a reason. Just like (Chad) Ochocinco thinks he’s a soccer player until he gets up close and sees how skilled pro soccer players really are, there’s nothing easy about the NFL.”

The topic was broached on Columbus radio Thursday afternoon with former Ohio State and NFL linebacker Chris Spielman, a tough guy if there ever was one. Spielman said he’d love to see James give the NFL a shot, saying he knows James is big and fast enough for the test.

Spielman said James is the “greatest athlete I’ve ever seen,” but there’s more than just the physical contact he’d worry about in a hypothetical transition.

“He’s the mentally weakest person I’ve ever seen,” Spielman said.

Yes, the NFL is still playing four full quarters.

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