The baseball day in Los Angeles started on a solemn note Monday when the Dodgers held two moments of silence for fallen comrades in arms during Chavez Ravine’s opening day Monday (before a third passed later in the day).

(Pictures from 710 AM ESPN’s Beto Duran)

By the end of the game (an 11-1 pounderation of the San Francisco Giants, who could not devise a hacky time travel solution with the USS Enterprise despite the cross-promotional gold), the area around Dodger Stadium hosted numerous instances of disrespect to human life through stabbings, gun-waving, fights involving dozens of people, and the stray auto accident.

Of course, we would never draw a correlation between the drop in beer prices at Dodger Stadium and violence around the ballpark. After all, fan-on-fan violence is still seemingly less likely than vendor-on-vendor violence or security-on-fan violence. The relative safety of MLB.com’s At Bat iPhone app is looking better all the time, especially now that it works occasionally.

Another object d’mocktastery best safely seen from a distance that works only occasionally: Isiah Thomas. He’s apparently found a reason to leave the house as Florida International University has shown interest in hiring him as their basketball head coach.

(”Look! Look up at that paragraph! It says that someone wants me!  Do you see that?”)

FIU has found a certain comfort level with losing (five straight seasons) and could certainly use the limelight brought by a famous coach. Perhaps Isiah’s excited because he thinks he can ply his trade in a different country unfamiliar with his sordid past. (That’s what the “International” stands for, right?)

Another gentleman of leisure being paid by an NBA team to go away but still looking for a new home will also have to find a new place of leisure as well. At least two of Detroit’s casinos (current count: 439280410) have reportedly tossed Allen Iverson out on his ear for “boorish behavior”, including bodyguard-related scuffling, pouting after a loss, and being generally churlish.

(There’s always golf to ruin one’s forced retirement)

So kudos to the MGM Casino and the Greektown Casino for standing up to Allen Iverson’s shenanigans after he’s left town and will likely never return unless absolutely forced to by contract. Also, way to leak the information once the coast is clear.

We once spotted AI in the Omni Hotel in Atlanta, taking over a section of  the open-air lounge and bar to play cards in the late afternoon with his buddies. He did not order from the bar; instead, he had the bellboy bring his crew a beat-up old cooler filled with their own special reserve.

We did not get a chance to see his favorite drink, but we bet he could get it for 25% less this season at Dodger Stadium. Better bring the bodyguards to carry the overflow.

And now our riot police-approved hail of rubber bullets reinforced by the near-certainty there are relatively few industries interested in “boy whisperers”…

• The talk of Palm Beach, FL, last weekend had to be the NEW YORK TIMES pulse-taker on that chic town and their tumble through the economic dryer, especially the Jewish-Gentile divide between those taken by Bernie Madoff and those who avoided him. So let it be no surprise that the Wilpons, part-time residents of Palm Beach and full-time victims of Madoff, couldn’t stop talking about the con artist for over a dozen years or more.
• Clemson University’s men’s soccer coach has been forcefully granted a leave of absence after an arrest for allegedly beating his teenage daughters.
• A White Sox fan has filed suit against his favorite team for the crippling pain he experiences daily after being caught in the maelstrom that is the T-shirt toss.
• Finally, someone has ditched all that silly sport in rugby and skipped directly to the punching.
• Condi Rice stalks Tiger Woods but falls three strokes short of a restraining order.
• The Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers desperately need new arenas to replace their dilapated current homes, well over 25 years after their construction.  That’s according to NHL frontman Gary Bettman, who certainly showed puck-sized cajones to lay out that demand in this economy.
• Your 2009-2010 temporary receptacle for misplaced affection for college days gone well past: Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich, who will stay at Kansas for another year.
• Donations of human kindness for the decency-deficient (like media abuser Delmon Young) can be made to SPORTSbyBROOKS, c/o this station.
• Tom Hicks can soon kiss the Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars farewell as he has been declared in default by his creditors on his loans through Hicks Sports Group. Of course, the WALL STREET JOURNAL quickly blamed player salaries while burying the lede behind the subscription wall that perhaps Hicks shouldn’t have over-leveraged himself to buy into the English Premier League’s Liverpool side.  Maybe Chan Ho Park will float him some cash…
• Usain Bolt says that drugs are bad, m’kay, soon after suggesting marijuana might be awesome. Don’t step out of line on the corporations, Usain; you’ll never become the $10 million per year man if you do.