My Dear Marlo: I hope all is dandy with you this summer, and that you’ve finally had time to take a breather, relax and enjoy yourself. It’s been a bizarre summer for me. Firstly, someone tried to injure me at an outdoor karate demonstration in early June. There were hundreds standing around at the end of the event, and some guy from Singapore came up and tried to show me his martial-arts prowess. He seemed friendly enough, but seemed to get frustrated when he couldn’t make the aikido moves work on me. Then he asked me to hold my leg up in the air, and stupidly, I did. He grabbed it real hard and lifted it above my head and tried to spin me to the ground. My knee started to give, so I let myself hit the ground (cement), rather than letting the base leg be snapped.

It wasn’t fun. I hit the deck and screamed in agony. The crowd gasped. The guy then leaned over me and, from my back, I punched him in the face and then kicked him in the chops, sending him flying back. I don’t believe in violence, but self-defense is self-defense. Two karate chums helped me up, and the weirdo took off. I think he was trying to impress his girlfriend.

 I suffered a partial meniscus tear, and two sprained ligaments, but thankfully, years of training or genetics has made me flexible. There was no swelling, but I collapsed in a parking ramp elevator en route to my car. I’ve been doing light swimming ever since, and the knee has improved, but there’s still a limp/catch in the right knee.

Then, I had a stapedectomy/stapedotomy on 15th July. It’s an hereditary condition wherein the wishbone-shaped stapes bone that transmits sound from the middle ear to the inner ear calcifies and becomes "fixed", rather than vibrating. My surgeon drilled a hole in the stapes footplate (which is at the entrance to the inner ear), and inserted a tiny piston-like prosthesis. I’m starting to hear certain high-frequency sounds I haven’t heard in maybe 15 years, like the left speaker in my car stereo, but I can’t tell any difference in overall volume acuity. Supposedly, it will get progressively better with healing over the next few months.

I hope so, as I’m supposed to go on my first-ever Caribbean Cruise with sister Kim in mid-October. She met some guy in January or whatever, and they fell head over heels. So, they’re getting hitched on a Carnival Cruise boat in Ft. Lauderdale, then it’s bon voyage to Grand Caymen, Ocho Rio (?), Jamaica for six days. I really can’t afford it, as I’m 38-grand in debt on my home-equity loan, but I didn’t want to disappoint her, you know?

Nothing else exciting, other than taking some Zoloft for social anxiety with women/dysthymia, and sad that summer’s fast fading. But, football season soon arrives!

Could not tell from your pre-Valentine’s Day post whether that’s good or bad, from your perspective. I suspect good. And I suspect you’re a USC fan. I liked the Trojans in the Anthony Davis era. Michigan’s my team, but they were terrible last year under first-year head coach Rich Rodriguez. It was the first losing season in four decades for the Wolverines.

Last season was bad all around, including the NFL, as my Detroit Lions went 0-16, the first team ever to do so (Tampa Bay went 0-14 in 1976). But I expect major progress this season. The Lions have some outstanding players (running back Kevin Smith, wide receiver Calvin Johnson, a couple solid linebackers) and have upgraded in several key areas during the off-season via the draft and free agency.

I’ve often wondered whether you were a Los Angeles Rams fan back in the day when they had the Fearsome Foursome. After all, Rosey Grier was in your Free to Be flick. I remember Roman Gabriel, but I better recall when they had John Hadl at QB, Lawrence McCutcheon, Deacon Jones, et al. The Rams teams in the 1970’s were very good. I was thrilled in December 1970 when the Lions beat the Rams on Monday Night Football in Los Angeles. I don’t know which excited me more: the game, or my mother and neighbor putting up the Christ-mas tree!