There's always money in the Banana Stand

Following on the heels of the recent announcement of the return of "Arrested Development," I went on a watch-binge of the television series.  A fantastic little show, I highly reccomend taking a peek if you have yet to be exposed to it.

One of the central lessons of the series is that "there's always money in the Banana Stand."  The father, George Bluth, meant this literally, having lined the walls of the little frozen chocolate banana stand with $250,000 in cash, but, if you watch the series in its entirety, you'll notice that, through thick and thin, that little banana stand is the only reliable part of the Bluth family's income.  They may disrespect it, forget about it, laugh about it, but that little stand is the rock that the family, and all their wealth, is built upon. 

The Cross Country program at CU is our banana stand, and there's always money in the banana stand.

Fall sports have been, shall we say, 'rocky' in Buff-land for some time now.  Specifically, this season has been flat-out terrible; prior to last Friday's win by the soccer team, CU had gone 0-for-2011 against Pac-12 schools in all sports.  Ah, but the cross-country team.  They've been, per usual, a shining beacon of hope in the fall portion of CU's sporting scene.

The mens squad is currently ranked 6th in the nation, having emerged victorious at the recent NCAA Pre-Invitational.  They're one of six Pac-12 schools appearing in the top-30 poll, and stand barely behind Stanford, who sit at 4th.  The womens team, also one of six Pac-12 schools in the top-30, had been sitting at 4th before a slightly disappointing finish at the same event, yet they still sit at a respectable 16th in the polls.

All told, the CC squad is, yet again, carrying the torch for fall success. 

I'll admit, talking CC isn't exactly in my comfort zone.  I'm the last one you'll find running on a typically beautiful Boulder afternoon, and it's hard to follow a sport that's rarely on TV and doesn't make for stadium viewing.  However, I do love my Universtiy, and CC is all we got going on right now that I can trumpet with any seriousness (at least until basketball tips off... in 18 days, btw).

This weekend, instead of paying any attention to the injured, woe-begotten football program playing ASU in Tempe, AZ, I'm going to focus on, of all things, the Pac-12 Cross Country championships being held down the road in Litchfield Park, AZ.  God knows this athletic department could use some good news, and hopefully the CC squads can provide it by staking claim to Pac-12 gold!

THERE'S ALWAYS SUCCESS IN THE CROSS COUNTRY PROGRAM!