People may complain about all the advertising Coke has done during these Olympics, but let me tell you something - it works. I was only 5, but I can tell you that Beatrice was one of the main sponsors of the 1984 Olympic coverage. I don't have the faintest idea what they did (do? Is Beatrice still around?), I just remember that I'd see the name once in a while in places like restaurant bathrooms (maybe they made those giant toilet paper roll dispensers?) and think, "Beatrice. From the Olympics." To this day, it's one of the few memories I still retain from watching my first real Olympics.
     I have been spared the onslaught of advertising this year, however, because it is my first Olympics with TiVo and, let me say, it's everything I dreamed it would be. I fell in love with the Olympics during the 1984 summer games. It was a double whammy for me because not only were they the first games I was aware of, they were in our home country that year - Los Angeles if you recall - so the hype was even bigger. It was a huge event. We visited my grandparents during that time, and the Olympics were on all evening. That was when I learned how special the Olympics were. I still love the Olympics, especially the summer games. They're the only events that the whole world cares about simultaneously. My attention span waned a bit around 1992, but came back big time in 1996 thanks to a gorgeous specimen of a male gymnast named Kip Simons. Though his dashing good looks brought me to the sport of men's gymnastics, I actually stuck around because of the fabulous athletes on the team that year. I got really into it, watching all the meets on ESPN and NBC Sports in the years following. Once most of those guys retired, I waned again. In fact, I recall little of the 2000 and 2004 games. After all, by then I was an adult, and spending all night in front of the TV for two weeks or staying up late to watch those last few hours of coverage was really impractical. Still, when the games were over, I always felt like I'd missed out on something. Then, something wonderful happened. TiVo be thy name.
    Thanks to my beloved TiVo, I have recorded almost every minute of NBC's coverage. I've learned that I enjoy watching beach volleyball, and that water polo can't hold my attention. I haven't been subjected to heart-wrenching back stories of determined athletes, and I don't have to watch gymnasts make the same mistake 20 times from multiple angles. I've been able to skip the coverage of events that didn't interest me (I admire the road racers, but I can only watch them pedal for so long) to get to what I wanted to see, even when they were all sandwiched together. I watched the USA vs. China basketball game in double time, nicely bridging the difference between watching a sport I have never enjoyed and anticlimactically reading the results on the internet. The seemingly endless commercial breaks? Wonderfully, they are no longer an issue. Fear not, Coke and John McCain. I've noticed all of your spots and your advertising messages are duly noted. In fact, I may buy a Coke or two just to prove that TV advertising and TiVo can harmoniously coexist. I have watched hours upon hours of footage that would have been nearly impossible to watch in their entirety, allowing me to have a well-rounded, satisfying Olympic experience that I only imagined. And it's only Day 5!
     My only sobering thought is that had TiVo existed 12 years ago, I wouldn't have those VHS tapes of Kip Simons. Ahhh....Kip.