SC Tom:
The helplessness isn't from losing the game, it is from not having control of your player.
The recording of games should be enabled by default, I think. You should find a Demos folder within the Profiles folder of the installation folder (i.e., Program Files\Tennis Elbow\Profiles\Demos). If you want to check the recording setting, open your player's .ini file and look for a section like this:
[Record]
AutoRecord = 1
//Play = 2009-12-12.08-44 - d.pol vs CC 1-6.dmo
With settings as above, the game is recording all matches, and it isn't set to play the specified match (the .dmo file name) as there are two // preceeding the Play option. To play a recording, specify the name of the .dmo file as above and remove the two //. Then, start the game, and click to either play a match or play a warm-up session; the specified recorded match will display.