Fast Running Blog

This caused many an arguement in college...

I used to hate XC, preferring CC.  Now I have switched.

When I was in high school 1984 - 1988 it was CC, with an arrow through the letters.  But over the years as I would read articles in the paper I noticed it had become XC.  I have moved to an area without Cross Country so I do not know what is generally accepted nowadays.  I also do not know if different areas of the country use one over the other.  I live in Virginia and I have seen both over the years.  But I voted for CC because that is what is printed on the old sweatshirt I still have from high school.

Scott, I'm sorry to hear about the lack of cross-country in your area. Jon, I'm actually the opposite of you. In high school it was XC for me then in college it became CC. Partly I didn't like the connection of XC to X-mas versus Christmas. Partly because my roommate and I had a plate that had broken in half from the weight room. It broke so that when you flipped it, it looked like CC. We hung the pieces on our "running wall" in our dorm room and from then on it was CC to me...

It was CC with an arrow through it for me as well ('76-80) and I believe it's more XC now - Hopefully Dave Holt and Jeff F can set us straight on the current.

Sorry no clear cut answer here.  As with most, this was a big debate in high school - CC was the abb. but X-Country was also accepted (But NOT XC!).  As a coach, I have always put CC on our stuff.  Now, however, the team has adopted a cheer that says "XC" in it and some confusion has come about because CC stands for one of our biggest rivals, Cedar City.  So I thought about moving to PVXC for our gear, but it is hard to go against what I was brought up with!  Huh?
But that is a "Very important questions!"!

XC, because it looks tougher! Nothing more frightening that the letter "X"...

Another important question: Is it X-mas or Christmas?  I have always used Christmas rather than the other.

Paul does make a good point. I think I big bold letters accross the back of your shirt XC!!! Would send me running the other way  ;)

Christmas. For the same reason. Don't want to associate Jesus with the letter "X". Rather disrespectful too.

I agree with Paul. I've always thought of it as X-mas crossing the Christ out of the day...

I hate when people write x-mas, even when they might not understand what that sybmbolizes.  It is bad enough that we have taken God out of everything else, and then we try to take Christ out of a day that was set up to remember him.  Without Christ in Christmas it becomes only a selfish and commercialized day.  Hopefully we don't do that even by accident or because of laziness.

As for Cross Country I have used both XC and CC.  I think it depends on you and other schools around.  We used CC at Bear River, but if I were in Dave's shoes I would probably use XC as not to be confused with Cedar.  I switch preferences now and then.

Christmas.

Paul's comment reminded me of a youth activity when I was a teen where we baked and decorated cookies, then went out and gave them to all the neighbors on the street where our church was.  Once or twice, someone in our group said "Merry X-Mas", and we ended up discussing why we should not say it.  I agree that we should refer to the holiday as Christmas to remember that it is truly about Christ and celebrating His birth, and not about anything else.  BTW, I voted for XC, 'cuz it sounded badder.   8)

I think I've been convinced to go with XC from now on. 
And of course, Christmas always.

I always liked XC over CC with the arrow because the X was just so much cooler to me in school. Especially true when I was on a small team and we didn't get much respect. Not many school sports have an X in the name, and that made us feel cool.

And Christmas always over X-mas; though the ancient christian writings use X or XP to denote Christ, which is the basis of the term X-mas. People don't use that much anymore, which is why I perfer to avoid the confusion by using Christmas.

I prefer XC to CC.  Though when I was in high school and more recently when coaching most of our gear had the cc with the arrow through it.

Sorry a little late. I think both CC and XC are used a lot and pretty much ether works. Like Coach Holt said, we have a cheer with XC in it but CC is used on a lot of stuff (clothes, papers). XC is easier to say and I never just say CC. I guess CC with the arrow is kind of like a tradition thing and XC is like a new cool thing. 

XC just looks cooler, and you could do a better logo with that lettering.

XC Forever!

I have to admit, some of my gear says cc, but I think that all of the devoted runners are always going to use xc. It just sounds more official.

Does that mean you aren't a devoted runner if you prefer CC?

No. I don't mean that. I guess I would say that on average, the more devoted runners will use xc, but not always. No offense to anyone who uses cc.

Which is why I'm changing my name to "Chad X"

Ha. That is pretty intimidating.

Change it to "X Chad" instead and you can be the all intimidating "XC"

Man. I wish my name started with a c. I don't think that xs has the same effect.

Adam, I will put a vote in for XC as well.  I just made some new t-shirts that have East in small print above a big XC with a scratching paw over the XC.  In smaller print on the bottom I did write out Cross Country.  I think they turned out nice and agree XC is tougher, but add a scratching Leopard paw on top and as the kids would say, "It's tight".

It looks like xc has totally dominated cc in the voting. :-)