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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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?

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?

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.!

Each year, GEICO associates look forward to our annual company meeting in February, and not just because there’s usually good news to share. One of the highlights in recent years has been the music video that kicks off the meeting. A few weeks later, we post the video to our YouTube channels so that our associates (and anyone else who stumbles upon it) can watch it, comment on it, like it and share it. Sometimes unexpected things happen – like our 2010 video going viral.

So, what makes our annual videos so sensational? They often feature a catchy tune and lyrics that get stuck in your head. The Gecko makes an appearance and even Warren Buffett gets in on the action. But what make the videos truly rock is our associates! The videos aren’t comprised of wannabe idols hoping to make it big in Hollywood. We’re not paying professional backup singers to perform a GEICO song. These music videos showcase the talent of real GEICO associates, and they’re almost entirely written, produced, directed and filmed by our very own Media team.

Here’s this year’s GEICO associate music video – we hope you’ll enjoy it and start singing along. A special “thanks” to everyone who helped make this happen. We’re grateful to have such a talented group of associates working at GEICO … and remember “we’ve got your back, like it’s nobody’s business.”

I can’t claim to have much Irish blood in me; a few drops at most. And it wasn’t as if a bunch of my friends were of Irish extraction. So there really was no good reason for us to go whole hog on St. Patrick’s Day, but that didn’t stop us. It just seemed like a good idea at the time.

These days, my St. Patrick’s Day observations consist of little more than putting on some green clothing (if I remember to do even that much). I can’t imagine celebrating it the way we used to, but you can bet that plenty of people will, especially since it falls on Saturday this year.

So I want to encourage one and all – the legitimately Irish, those who will lay claim to some measure of that heritage just for the day, and those who couldn’t care less – to be careful this Saturday. No doubt there will be plenty of over-served revelers out and about, with the potential for drunken-driving disaster significantly higher than on an ordinary Saturday night.

The wise won’t get behind the wheel if they’ve been drinking. There are plenty of alternatives to this dangerous practice. Take public transportation, or designate a driver who’ll stay sober and see to it that everyone in your party gets home safely. In the Washington, D.C., area, the Washington Regional Alcohol Program sponsors SoberRide; you just call 800-200-TAXI (8294) and you can get a cab ride worth up to $30 for free. Most major metropolitan areas offer similar services.

So by all means, don your green garments and your “Kiss me; I’m Irish” button if that’s what floats your boat. But if you celebrate the day with alcohol, don’t push your luck (of the Irish); there’s simply no reason to put yourself or your loved ones at risk.

Now, my son is shaping up to be a pretty good driver – at least, when I’m in the car with him. But I won’t be able to accompany him every time he wants to get behind the wheel (not that I would want to). With all of the state graduated licensing laws, cellphone restrictions and texting bans, what more can be done to stop teen fatalities – short of requiring teens to have a parental passenger every time they drive?

For starters, GEICO’s parent-teen driving contract could help everyone in the family – even Mom and Dad – focus on safe driving habits. To download a copy of the parent-teen contract, please visit www.geicoteendriving.com. And even if you’re not the parent of a teen driver, you can still be an ambassador for safe driving and speak to teens about the dangers of distracted driving. You’ll find presentation materials on the same site.

As for teens, please restrict phone usage in the car to emergency situations. If you must make a call, pull over in a safe spot and park to do it. Do not engage in text messaging while driving and don’t let your friends do it, either.

And please let us know … what advice would you offer for teen drivers?

Starting in March, auditions for the contest begin and elimination rounds will continue through June, with finals taking place at the historic Lincoln Theatre in D.C. The two winners (one experienced and one novice) will receive $500 prizes and the title of D.C.’s Funniest Feds.

Funniest Fed, which debuted in 2007, is the brainchild of Naomi Johnson, a federal employee who also performs standup comedy. All federal employees and active or retired military personnel are eligible to compete. Prior experience in standup is not required.

Think you have what it takes? Federal employees who want to sign up for the competition will find complete rules and an application to audition on the Funniest Fed website.

“We think it’s time for people to pause for a moment and have a good laugh,” said Deedre Daniel, GEICO’s director of federal and partnership marketing. “Considering GEICO’s long history with federal employees and our company’s reputation for having a good sense of humor, we love this partnership.”

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

GEICO associates have always had a competitive streak. That has helped us rise from being the nation’s sixth-largest auto insurer in the 1980s (when I began my career here) to our current status as third-largest.

But we’ve always expressed this competitiveness outside the office as well, in assorted after-work leagues. Just like the folks in this 1950s photo, I was a member of a GEICO bowling league early in my career; later, I was commissioner of the softball league at the corporate headquarters.

These leagues help us unwind after a long day of serving our customers, and they give us a chance to get to know our colleagues away from the work environment. And they’re just flat-out fun!

This woman clearly has her game face on, but trust me, she’s having a ball! (Sorry about that lame pun.) What kinds of conversations do you suppose are going on in the background?