Emily Uffelman comes back from Lyme to run cross country

Lyme disease - Shouting out the word “lime” evokes sensory memories of Frank's soda or the color of a 1957 Plymouth Savoy. Perhaps a disco leisure suit or the Harry Nilsson lyric, “You put the lime in the coconut, you drink it all up.” The fact that the illness is transmitted by a deer tick raises the question, “Then why don’t the deer get it?” Cape senior cross country runner Emily Uffelman, a smart girl, an honors and AP student, was sidelined for the past year with complications from Lyme disease. “It’s frustrating,” Emily said. “It just takes time to get a definitive diagnosis and treatment, and to get clear from the disease.” Treatment with antibiotics is the commonly used therapy. Emily started out as a lacrosse player and resembles Sophie Turner, who played Sansa Stark in “Game of Thrones.” She switched to cross country before losing a year to Lyme. “Emily is just the greatest kid and a pleasure to have on the team,” said coach Matt Lindell. Emily’s dream school is NYU, where Cape’s illustrious grad Bryan Stevenson sometimes teaches. “I was Bryan’s high school track coach,” I told Emily. “I’ll put in a word about you,” which I’m doing here because, as sure as God made little deer ticks, I know Bryan reads my column. Emily is another inspirational and heroic Cape student, just a great person.

Masked marauders - Senior Night for Cape field hockey was my first time photographing nuclear families all hiding behind masks. I figure they are precious photos to remember the year 2020 – or a pretty lame remembrance. Everyone played along because no one wanted the COVID cops of cyberspace challenging Cape’s enthusiasm for following Division of Public Health protocols. Cape seniors pictured are Maggie Dawson, Riley Klopp, Jayden Hollomon, Julie Heffernan, Riley Keen, Haley Craig and Emily Monigle. Those seniors are trying to lead Cape to its first state championship in which everyone in the tournament wears a mask. 

Cano a go-go - Mets second baseman Robinson Cano, 38 years old, who made his bones with the Yankees, was just suspended for the 2021 season after testing positive for the banned drug stanozolol. It will cost him $24 million. He was always the coolest of cool players, just so chilled and efficient in style and temperament and approach to the game. Cano had previously served an 80-game suspension while playing for the Mariners for testing positive for a diuretic, which gives Cano a positive link to Darby Dog, who is on the drug and walks more than Barry Bonds. This disgrace and loss of income is a result of Major League Baseball’s aptly named anti-doping policy. Robinson Cano’s play was always “dope,” and now he is seriously dope and gone. Stanozolol is an anabolic steroid mostly used in veterinary medicine, which explains why Darby is still ripped at 14 years old. The flip side of addiction to any substance is always sadness. 

The ’rona is real - School sports are in a state of flux and schedules are tenuous. I'm just happy when I wake up in the morning and there is a game to cover somewhere and I’m not personally sick. And I never realized that so many community muppets had minor degrees in epidemiology and social psychology. There are no middle school sports this year, and that is getting no play whatsoever. I peaked in eighth grade. It was the best year of my life, except for a refugee haircut given to me by Marion the Hungarian, who came to the United States in 1956 along with 200,000 others when the Soviets invaded Budapest.  Anyway, Milford canceled its next two football games, and other teams have canceled games too. Coaches have been quarantined. It’s the ripple effect. I think we now need a football coach put in charge of vaccine delivery. I’d recommend my friend, coach George Glenn: “Don’t talk to me about logistical problems; just deliver it and get it here now.”  

Snippets - Cape football is an eclectic array of athletes and coaches, so now when you play the Vikings, you are playing “old school” Cape with some seriously good athletes inside those helmets representing 50 years of tradition. Coach J.D. Maull asked me, “When is the last time Cape had a running back that ran for over 200 yards two weeks in a row?” Current standout Jaden Davis has done it this season. My answer after we reviewed all the great ones was, “Let’s just say never, then watch for the reaction.” As I was leaving the practice field, I looked down at freshman lineman Finley Jones stretching. A flock of migratory geese on a flyby honked overhead. I asked Finley, a world duck-calling champion as a fifth-grader, “You want to answer them or are you good?” Duck duck goose on the loose. Go on now, git!