Now that we're getting used to living in post-apocOlympic Utah, it's time to look back on what we learned during those 17 days in February.
First, we learned that nothing, not even an organ transplant or a nasty case of mono, will keep some people from realizing their Olympic dreams.
Second, we learned that, unlike some traits, Olympic athletic skills can be passed from one generation to a second and even a third.
And last, we learned that NBC, KSL and all of those advertisers really got their money's worth.
I don't know what it was like around your house, but my household always goes a little Olympics crazy. If the Summer or Winter Games are on, we're watching. If they added Spring and Autumn Games, we'd probably watch them, too.
Even our children seemed to get into the spirit of things this year. Our 4-year-old daughter, Emma, showed she had been paying attention during closing ceremonies. As she watched 1984 figure skating gold medalist Scott Hamilton skate onto the ice carrying a broom at Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium, she said, "He must be curling."
All of which is to say, we were part of the reason for NBC's stunning ratings during the Games.
According to Bloomberg News, NBC's prime-time coverage of the Salt Lake Games drew 19.2 percent of U.S. television viewers, giving it the second-highest average rating for a Winter Games.
Even more important to NBC, the Salt Lake ratings were higher than the 16.9 it promised advertisers.
Ah yes, the advertisers.
They are the reason that, every night after watching the Games, I felt this bizarre urge to hop in my Chevy and drive to McDonald's, where I'd buy a Big Mac and a Coke with my Visa card. After eating, I'd want to call my wife on my Samsung phone to see if she needed me to stop at Home Depot on the way home.
Yes, seeing those same commercials zillions of times has left me with more than a few images burned into my brain. But I noticed that our kids also were taken in by the advertising.
Of course, the McDonald's ads were wasted on Emma, because she already was very familiar with the Golden Arches. I'll never forget the day a couple years ago when we drove by a McDonald's and, as she saw it out the car window, she asked to stop and eat there. It was a proud moment for us as parents: Our little one recognized her first corporate logo.
But the other advertising during the Games definitely caught her attention. While she mostly tuned out the athletic events, other than figure skating, both Emma and our 1-year-old, Grace, seemed to have their eyes magically drawn to the screen whenever the commercials started.
This attraction became most clear to me when Emma started talking about the "Olympic Winter Games on NBC." And whenever one of KSL's ads would air, she would say along with the television, "The number one Eyewitness News." (I know we at the Deseret News are "converging" with our friends at KSL, but I've got to admit, that one scared me.)
So what does all of this mean?
Maybe it means we ought to cut back on how much of the Olympics we let our kids watch in 2004. Maybe it means those advertisers really are clever enough to influence our hearts and minds, whether we want to admit it or not.
I don't know.
What I do know is I've got to go now. I hear the line over at Roots in The Gateway is dwindling (only one hour waiting time!), and I've just got to get a few of those berets. Because even though I don't remember seeing a Roots ad on TV, they had an effective marketing campaign, too.
It turns out old-fashioned word of mouth — or, in this case, word of hat — still works.
E-MAIL: gkratz@desnews.com
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