This past November in the middle of the Paralympic anthem during the Parapan American Games opening ceremony in Santiago, Chile, I raced out of the press area of Estadio Nacional to try and make it to the bathroom.

I guess the sandwich I ate an hour earlier from the concession stand didn’t sit too well in my stomach, because I got an instant urge to throw it back up. Unfortunately, I didn’t exactly make it all the way to the bathroom either — and I started heaving over the nearest trashcan in front of horrified spectators in the stadium concourse.

It wasn’t exactly the start I imagined for a trip that consisted of traveling the world and covering a global sports event like I had always pictured myself doing when I sought out to become a journalist, but here I was attempting to explain to the Parapan American workers that it was a bad case of food poisoning and I didn’t need to go to the hospital (with the very little Spanish I knew).

Of course, I certainly felt down bad in the moment and longed to be at home in my own bed with a bowl of chicken noodle soup for about the next 12 hours. But, even in the moment, I knew in the back of my head that this ridiculous moment would be something I would laugh at. Anytime I recount it with my Santiago counterparts Cole Bambini and Tyler Schiff, we all share a good laugh about it.

In fact, that whole trip the three of us could’ve caved in and soured our way through it considering it wasn’t official if we were staying 4,300 miles away from Syracuse for 12 days until less than a week before and it consisted of long days we weren’t briefed about. To balance the busy and tiring, we’d talk about the incredible athletes that we covered and laugh about the best parts of the day later that night over Pizza Hut and KFC.

Sometimes, life throws you curveballs, which in my case was a churrasco y queso sandwich in Santiago. All you can do with it, though, is embrace the situation and try to find what there is to laugh about it. Life would be pretty miserable if we bullied ourselves for every little mistake we made and pouted about every shortcoming thrown our way.

Of course, just because I’m finding an excuse to laugh doesn’t mean I’m advocating for fooling around. I always try to put in my serious effort to my work and to the relationships I’ve worked hard to cultivate with people who have become my lifelong friends here at Syracuse. And, of course, I’ll treat an out-of-conference Rutgers men’s basketball game against an above 300 NET ranked team like it’s life or death.

But, being less serious about the potential consequences of failure or people looking at you negatively might lead to something you never would have expected. At my time for the D.O., it was something like a more unique article about the band’s support for the volleyball team. Or asking Henry O’Brien what movie he would compare the 2023-24 men’s basketball season to on the Sportscast.

Additionally, I’ve been applying for the Digital Managing Editor position at the D.O. for the past two years, putting my heart and soul into each application. I might have been denied each time by management, and of course, lost out to extremely talented individuals, but I think everyone gets a good laugh out of it every time I make an attempt.

This past semester, I challenged myself by taking two different Spanish conversation classes. Santiago was pretty telling that I needed some work, and it didn’t help that my classes each had native Spanish speakers.

I knew right away I might not be receiving the best grade in those classes because I couldn’t always keep pace, but every time I would see someone from my class outside of it we’d always laugh about my struggles and it was an easy way for me to make new friends. Oh, and I actually improved more than I probably would have by taking a lower-level course because I continually made mistakes.

Back in high school, I was convinced I was going to be a sports journalist and work for ESPN one day, which is why I chose to apply early to Syracuse. In my four years, I didn’t necessarily become the next Wright Thompson. In fact, I switched my major to Public Relations and Information Management & Technology, abandoned ship at The D.O. for a semester, and worked for the Syracuse Athletics Communications Department.

So, yeah, my four-ish years as a journalist were ones that I can laugh at. But if it weren’t for all the times that seemed frustrating in the moment, I wouldn’t have had irreplaceable ones too. Because of my time at the D.O., I’ve made some lifelong friends and told the stories of some amazing people.

College didn’t teach me how to avoid having bad stretches and making mistakes. Instead, it taught me there will always be plenty of them. But, if we can manage to take those moments and laugh at them, we’ll get to enjoy the good stuff even more.

There’s not enough time to be serious all the time, so if you can’t laugh at yourself for some reason, call me and I’ll laugh with you.

— 30 —

Adam McCaffery was a staff writer for The Daily Orange, where his column will no longer appear. He can be reached at adamj40302@gmail.com and on X @adammccaffery9.

Published on May 2, 2024 at 8:10 am