ONLY ODD TO ME?

It just hit a nerve-- I'm watching cable, and there's an ad for Samuel Adams Beer. And one of their honchos talks about what progress they've made. He says, "You have to understand-- people had never even heard of Sam Adams."

It's probably true. Or Nathan Hale. Or Patrick Henry. They've always got these surveys telling us, "68 percent of our high school kids think the American Revolution involved dinosaurs and time travel."

No special knock on Sam Adams beer ads; they beat Coors and Budweiser ads any day. As far as Coor's is concerned, it's old hat by now that football and beer are indivisible, but there was a longstanding rule that the games themselves didn't become a part of the advertising. Former players would do ads. Games would be simulated. But just to be civil, you didn't have actual football footage, or current players, endorsing beer-- just so that kids would see a little bit of daylight between the two.

No more. The new Coors ad has footage from historic Super Bowls, interwoven with "The Silver Bullet" and the O'Jay's "Love Train." Ooooh yeah. Top athletes. Alcohol. And best of all, people beating the hell out of each other to the tune of "Love Train." I guess some exec decided "Peace Train" was too controversial a choice, what with Cat Stevens and all.

But I've always loved those Budweiser, "we are America" beer ads. They've got someone from the great tradition of the Busch family, lecturing you about quality. The stuff tastes to me like liquid bread, but I'm no connoisseur. To quote the tv ads, you want a beverage that "finishes clean"? Here ya go!

And just fyi, here's the bio of the real Samuel Adams.