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Sports injuries are common, especially for pros. So common, in fact, that some athletes insure the body parts that helped propel them to fame — like soccer player David Beckham’s legs. One Australian cricket star even insured his iconic bushy moustache!

But how necessary is body-part insurance? GEICO Now talks with two sports agents to find out.

Read about it at geiconow.com and tell us what you think.

Baseball season’s in full swing, it’s time to celebrate … and save! Federal and military employees can get half off the purchase price on select Nationals tickets for choice home games. Why is GEICO doing this? Since 1936 the Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO) has served the needs of federal and military employees, and this is our way of saying “thank you for your service to our country.”

Federal and military employees also receive special discounts on GEICO auto insurance too, so don’t miss out on the savings double-header!

GEICO will also be expanding this discount to other stadiums across the country, so keep checking our website to find discounted MLB tickets in a city near you.

Each month, we share an image from GEICO’s past and invite you to exercise your caption-writing skills.

GEICO dukes it out daily in the insurance marketplace, competing with a host of other companies for customers. And for several years on the straight now, we’ve been the industry’s fastest-growing company, so we must be doing something right.

But the marketplace isn’t the only place where we’ve taken on our rivals. There have been times in GEICO’s history when we’ve competed against other companies at sports, too. In this 1960s photo, GEICO takes on Aetna in a basketball clash for the ages.

Look closely at the referee in the background – he seems to be calling an infraction on someone. What could it be?

It feels like a scene out of an old movie. Families perched on the hood of the car, the smell of popcorn in the air and a double-feature on the big screen just after sunset. It’s a page out of history, all right, but you can still experience it today.

A trip to the drive-in will often include two newly released movies for less than you’d pay for one at a modern movie theater. Even the popcorn and snacks are cheaper.

You’ll save money, get fresh air … and your feet won’t stick to the movie theater floor!

The rise and fall … and rise                   

The first drive-in theater appeared in 1933, in Pennsauken Township, N.J., and by the end of the decade, dozens more had opened. Almost 4,000 were operating in the 1950s. They were the perfect creation for a nation in love with both Detroit and Hollywood.

But during the 1970s and 1980s, rising real estate prices and the need for suburban land drove most of these theaters out of business, and the advent of cable TV and the VCR made it easy for families to watch movies at home. By the late 1990s, if you could find a drive-in theater at all, it was most likely a crumbling screen and an unused parking lot choked with weeds.

But drive-ins have made a comeback. A few of the original theaters still exist, and others have been re-opened as the popularity of drive-ins has grown again. And with the weather getting warmer, it’s the perfect time to rediscover this American pastime. You can find a nearby theater by searching driveinmovie.com and driveintheater.com.

Guest Blogger: Mary Manyahilhal

I confess: sometimes, I use my car for storage. I would store five pairs of shoes, three sweaters, two coats, a few bottles of water and, yes, a box of Cheez-Its. Last week, I found my long-lost tote bag in the trunk of my car. That’s when I realized that it’s time to do some serious spring cleaning.

Although it’s always great to have what you need when you need it, having a pile of clutter in your car can pose serious threats. For one thing, all that junk can be a distraction to the driver. And car thieves love walking the streets and looking for valuables they can easily take from a car. Heck, these items don’t even have to be particularly valuable to attract thieves; a friend of mine had a bag of leftovers on her passenger seat, and someone smashed her window, broke into her car … and took just her leftovers!

Fortunately, I haven’t been a victim of any car burglary, but why should I give a reason for thieves to break into my car?

So, while you’re in your spring-cleaning state of mind, take the time to clean out your car this season. Whether you get the car detailed or clean it yourself, be sure to determine what you really need in your vehicle and how to keep it out of sight.

If the Gecko ended up in a hotel room with a kangaroo and Richard Simmons, there must have been some other strange things that happened during his trip to Las Vegas, right? There’s a whole set of interesting photos to be found out there, and you might receive some in your mailbox if you’ve got Klout.

Thanks to the online influence website Klout, GEICO is offering a unique look into the Gecko’s night with a series of snapshots depicting everything from the Gecko photo-bombing a wedding to his adventures as a retro videogame character. Eligible participants have the chance to receive this as well as a variety of gecko-themed gifts such as bobbleheads or thumb drives. There might even be some special surprises along the way; if you’ve ever wanted to become a character in a video game or receive a prop from a GEICO commercial, you’ll want to check this out.

Twitter users: keep an eye on the hashtag #GeckoVegas to see all of the photos. To learn more and check your own Klout score, visit http://www.klout.com.

“Is this your first car insurance taste test?” asks the host of what is indeed the world’s first car insurance taste test, the newest series of GEICO commercials. The spots pit the sweet taste of GEICO’s savings and service against the harsh tang of its competitors, the latter generating a variety of surprising reactions. The hope is that you, too, can avoid bad car insurance face.

While the host’s relaxed demeanor brings about its own subtle comedy, the real stars here are the unwitting participants, who were served a variety of unpleasant (but safe) drinks to bring about the desired responses. In fact, the production team had to seek out new concoctions partway through shooting to make sure the gross-out moments were strong enough.

You can see all five taste tests right now on GEICO’s YouTube page. Which one is your favorite?

It’s your turn to play an April Fools’ joke on us.

Since it was so popular last year, we’re once again turning the GEICO blog into the popular old arcade game, Asteroids. Use your arrow keys and spacebar to fly around the blog and fire away.

Ready to play? Just click the “Go” button below and follow the instructions that pop up.

If you didn’t already destroy this sentence with your spaceship, take a look at geico.com for more April Fools’ foolishness.

Each month, we share an image from GEICO’s past and invite you to exercise your caption-writing skills.

Here we are on the Enterprise, where Mr. Spock is showing a group of Retrovian ambassadors around the starship’s technology center.

OK, not really. Although it does look like there’s a tour in progress here, this late-1960s photo wasn’t shot at some Hollywood studio, but at GEICO’s headquarters, somewhere deep inside the company’s state-of-the-art data processing center. Of course, there’s not a cloud in sight – get a load of the tape storage devices!

We’ve come a long way technologically since this photo was shot. These days your home computer – heck, even your smartphone – packs more processing punch than this roomful of sturdy devices. And you can go to geico.com and use your phone or laptop to transact most of your business with GEICO these days, especially if you’ve downloaded the GEICO App.

Still … some of this hardware really would look right at home on the bridge of the Enterprise, wouldn’t it?

There’s a lot to be said about GEICO’s commercials over the years, especially all the fun we’ve had with our beloved Gecko. But how would the Gecko fare in the golden age of 1960s advertising? Here’s your chance to find out – and express your opinion.

This week’s issue of Newsweek celebrates the return of AMC’s hit series Mad Men. The entire magazine has a retro feel, which includes throwback designs from its major advertisers. A couple of the ads are actually from the 1960s (like Johnny Walker and Smokey Bear), but most advertisers retrofitted current campaigns that fit the theme of the issue.

AdAge.com took all the retro ads from the special issue and asked readers to vote online for their favorite. While the Gecko is number one in our minds, you should check out how all the brands took on the retro ad challenge – and then vote for G.E.I.C.O.!