Gladiator to fight The Big C; "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" delayed

I freqently joke that the salad I had for dinner will probably give me lymphoma. That's because it's a side effect of nearly every medication, fertilizer, virus, toilet seat contact, pencils, shark eyes, rubber tires turned inside out ... Well, you get the drift.

On the TV show "House" the two most frequent diagnoses you're likely to hear are lupus and lymphoma. Even the writers joke about this, but facts are facts: seems almost everything can lead to lymphoma. And almost everything can behave like lymphoma.

When I first had to describe this condition, my exact words were "leukemia's kinder cousin." It's a type of blood cancer so it's systemic, therefore its treatments are harsh. But these days they're mightily effective.

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This oft-occurring cancer seems to be making special rounds in real-life pop culture recently (not just the usual scads of movies and books). First, production on our favorite serial killer "Dexter" was suspended while Michael C. Hall underwent treatments for Hodgkin's Lymphoma. This week, it was announced that Andy Whitfield from "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" is being treated for non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

I'd like to take a moment and pay homage to Larry David who really brought the fun in on cancer commentary during "Curb Your Enthusiasm." He kept saying his friend's dad --- diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's --- was lucky because he got "the good kind."

Clearly, no cancer should be characterized as "good," and Larry's friends were appalled as usual. But for the rest of us, it's best if we keep the record straight. Although seemingly non-intuitive, it is non-Hodgkin's that's the tougher of the two. (Note mnemonic device included there free of charge.)

And while there's absolutely no way to avoid all things probably lymphoma inducing, it should be an easy proposition to at least avoid eating the rubber tires.