Just to make it clear how much of a pain it is to update this blog given the ever-glorious technological prowess of the E-R office (typed with a nasty snarl that I usually reserve for bad drivers, mayonnaise-based salads or the apocalypse), I might point out that at the moment, my current desk and serviceable computer is being overtaken by a news copy editor, a photographer has one of the news laptops and I, a sports writer, am blogging from the photo computer.

Up next: The Litter Box from the iPhone. iLitter. It could work.

But, at this moment, my issues are small potatoes (the snarl is back; I just thought of potato salad, which falls under "mayonnaise-based") compared to what should be an important and eventful Chico State sports week.

Most notably, the cross country teams (the women are No. 1 and the men No. 3 nationally in the USTFCCCA rankings) head to McKinleyville on Saturday for the CCAA championship meet. I'm going to get to this in a minute; first, I've been meaning to point out what a ridiculously long acronym USTFCCCA (United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association) is. I mean, it's eight letters long and it doesn't even spell anything. I have more trouble remembering how to spell it than I do with any real word.

I was talking with Mike Baca on ESPN Radio 101.7 FM/AM 1340's audio-snippet version of The Litter Box -- like I do nine times weekly, between Wednesday and Friday during the afternoon -- about Gary Towne's distance running clubs a couple weeks ago, and the main gist was that Chicoans (mostly ignorant ones) like to clamor a lot that Chico State should move to D-I and have some D-I competition so we can have some D-I-caliber athletics programs here. Our consensus was that the distance teams are far and away the closest thing we have, and a lot of these athletes are right in the mix with the big brother division anyway when the two collide at invitationals and such. I don't feel anymore like the program's getting slighted the way it used to; it used to be that people would have to put up billboards on Highway 99 to get national champions some attention. True story.

But now, mainly because these teams have been so good for the past decade, I feel like Chico State distance is at a point where we can all sit around on Saturday waiting to hear that the Wildcats won. Because they will. I'm calling it. I have a less-opinionated preview on the CCAA championship in Friday's E-R; check it out at my parent domain then. Towne was almost talking about the thing the way football coaches talk about bye weeks.

A WORTHY CAUSE
Well, even if it was an unworthy cause, like "Chico State Soccer for Savage Beaver Clubbing," I'd still point out that you should go to the soccer games this weekend mainly because they're fun to watch and both Wildcat squads are in need of some wins here against Sonoma State and Humboldt State. But, the cause is indeed worthwhile, so I'll pimp it more.

Friday is Think Pink Friday, which, if you've been using your eyeballs, you already know goes with October being breast cancer awareness month. It's an issue close to my heart because my grandma, 72 earlier this month, is a breast cancer survivor. There's a lot of stuff in life that's plenty scary -- deep sea creatures, the terrifying void of space, "what happens when I die," bad drivers, mayonnaise-based salads -- and the thing most of them have in common is that we don't know all that much about them. Cancer's the poster child of unknown fear, and if you can spare a dollar at a checkstand or wear a pink shirt to show your support, it adds up on the large scale.

Maybe you savagely clubbed a seal this week and need a reason to feel good about yourself. Or maybe you look good in pink (hey, I've been accused of it, so you can't be much worse off). Either way, if you really have nothing pressing to do and even have a remote passing interest in soccer, show up on Friday.