I was with him to a point. Here’s what he said in response to TJ Simers of the LA Times, who fecetiously refers to Kent as “Mr. Chuckles”: “It’s serious work playing baseball, the dedication, the sacrifice and suffering. It’s serious business making a lot of money, playing hurt and doing your best for the family of four that comes to the ballpark and spends $150 expecting you to play well. That’s supposed to be fun? I laugh at your patheticness. A better way to say it would be, I laugh at the world you live in.”

I get that being a professional athlete is hard work. I understand that these guys, even baseball players, have to work pretty hard to keep their jobs and do them well. I also understand that TJ Simers can be an unwavering sarcastic prick. I hated him for a long time… though you might not think my reasons are very good ones.

He used to hate on Ryan Leaf. Almost as soon as he was drafted, Simers was calling him a prick at every opportunity. Way before it became apparent that Ryan was revealed to be… well, not quite cut out for the job of NFL quarterback. And when he was drafted, there was no bigger Ryan Leaf fan than yours truly. I’d have taken a bullet for him. Anyway, at the time, there seemed to be no call whatsoever for the Leaf-bashing… there was no reason visible to the public eye. But Simers continued with it, and I haven’t forgiven him… even though he turned out to be kinda right. But I’m not yet giving up on Ryan Leaf becoming a great QB.

Anyway… the point is, I get that MLB’ers work hard, but Jeff Kent the baseball player doesn’t need to be laughing at anyone else’s world. The IQ required to play 2nd base in the majors is hovering somewhere below Brick Tamland’s. 99% of baseball players have less real impact on the world than do most janitors. So I’m really sorry if all the sufferring isn’t worth it to Jeff Kent, but he could always feel free to go get another job. Very few families of four will be paying $150 to come watch him mop jizz.

Man, the stress of being a baseball player must really be something. Kenny Rogers wigged out on a camera man, shoving the camera down off his shoulder, out of his hands, and then kicked it. The confrontation doesn’t look that violent, but the dude’s in the hospital. I dunno… he could have strained a muscle or something.

And if he’s just milking it and looking for attention and/or money… well, I hope that works, too. There was no reason for Rogers to do what he did. He apparently just didn’t want to be filmed at the time. Maybe someone out there knows more than I did, but all I heard him say was, “I told you to get that camera out of my face.”

The cameraman denies any wrongdoing. It’s hard to see any in the video. And no matter what the cause, Rogers needs to show more self-restraint than that. I mean, what kind of an idiot does that? Walk away. Go play some catch. Go take a nap in the clubhouse. Go hump a catcher’s mitt. Maybe he and Jeff Kent could start a support group.

There are some sweet semifinal matches set-up, on both the men’s and women’s side of the draw. Venus vs. Maria, and Lindsay vs. Amelie Maruesmo… and then Douchebag Hewitt vs. Federer, and Roddick vs. some Swede named Thomas Johansson.

The women’s semis are tomorrow… and I can honestly tell you that I’ve never before been so excited for women’s tennis on a Thursday. I may even TiVo it. Of course, the problem with that is… that when I’m at work, all I really do is read sports websites, so it’d be hard to avoid knowing who won.

I think I’m going to root for Lindsay Davenport to win it all… she just doesn’t get the love she deserves. A Venus comeback would be very awesome, and you can’t go wrong with Maria Sharapova being on TV more… but I’m rolling with Lindsay. She’s like the Detroit Pistons of women’s tennis. She might not be as sexy or camera-friendly as the other hoes… but when it comes down to it, she’s accomplished as much as anyone, and brings some serious lumber, whether anyone wants to admit it or not.

On the men’s side, there are two things everyone wants to see… first, of course, a Roddick/Federer final… and secondly, Lleyton Hewitt hanging himself in the locker room after losing in the semifinals.