Hmmm. Maybe Kent would have some serious competition from Bradley on “Make Me Laugh.”

There is no way to verify if any such comments were made, or what they were, or what was the motivation behind them. Kent could have a white sheet with eye holes in his closet, for all I know. Or he could just be a sourpuss with a lousy sense of humor and an inability to deal with other humans, a theory for which there is ample evidence.

But Bradley should not have allowed his concerns about Kent and race to become public. He should have gone to Kent, man-to-man, and challenged him if he was upset. If a donnybrook ensued, so be it, although they probably would have had to fight to the death because it’s unlikely any of their teammates would come out of the trainer’s room long enough to break it up.

Bradley seems to have a problem with Kent’s role on the team. He said McCourt, general manager Paul DePodesta and manager Jim Tracy told him in spring training that he would be the Dodgers’ leader in 2005. Bradley told a group of reporters: “Everybody in here can see who isn’t here. If you’re going to be a team leader, then you need to mingle with the team, associate with the team. You can’t have your locker in the corner of every clubhouse when we go on the road. You can’t put your headphones on and sit in the corner and read a motocross magazine. As far as I’m concerned, he has no clue about leadership. He’s in his own world. We’re all in this world.”

Although I will concede that Kent is a red-assed loner who has a few demerits on his personal record — like the shoving match with Barry Bonds, or the time he lied and said he fell and injured himself while washing his truck when he really did it on a motorcycle — that’s not an excuse for Bradley to inject talk of race into this.

Racism is ugly. A charge of racism is the first step toward irreconcilable differences among teammates. And that’s not what the Dodgers need right now, not if they expect to back into the playoffs.

For all their shortcomings, Kent and Bradley are the two most important Dodgers (now that closer Eric Gagne is on the shelf). They don’t need to get along, but they need to avoid a venomous feud that threatens any chance for them to win a division title, or to build a contender next season.

For the Dodgers’ sake, Bradley had better put his cork back in and keep it in.

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