The traditional Super Bowl Party is probably the least fussy, most unpretentious party you can host all year. So, there is no point in holding anything back! Go all out and serve everyone's favorite high fat, finger-licking snack foods. After all, your television set is the focal point, not the food. Or is it?

Thinking about the traditional party food for this event- chips, sour cream or cheese dips (onion soup dip springs to mind), chili, salsa, Buffalo wings, cheese balls, pizza (the Domino's kind, thank you very much, not the goat cheese and smoked pheasant kind) - I wonder whether these items are served because they're easy to serve and eat while watching the game, or because this has become the one event where Americans can eat their favorite foods without guilt. Men take the lead at this party, and their tastes have set the tone for the snacks as well as the entertainment. Let's all eat what we enjoy and forget about the diet ramifications or culinary trends!

According to the folks at Hallmark Cards, Inc., Super Bowl parties are one of the top at-home party events of the year. Super Bowl parties have become much more than a gathering of football lovers. In fact, many people attending these parties don't love football as much as they love the excuse to get together with friends at the end of the very boring month of January.

Whether you're planning a Super Bowl party out of love for the game or just the desire to host a fun, relaxing party, here are tips for making this a super bash:

• Plan simple, portable foods. A buffet is your only option. Nobody wants to be sitting down at a table to eat when they'd rather be screaming at a television set or two.
• Set up as many televisions as you have available around the party area.

There are going to be more than 63,000 seats available for the big football game played at Ford Field on Feb. 5, but the capacity will be much more limited at those celebrity-laden parties that will dot the Detroit landscape the week before Super Bowl XL. As a result, there has been a growing problem with counterfeit tickets.

That's an interesting problem because, at many of the most prominent parties, there aren't any tickets.

"There are no tickets at all," said Lewis Kay, the publicist for the Maxim party. "People are scalping tickets and it's completely false. We don't want people to get ripped off. We're trying to get the word out there to everybody we can: Don't try to buy a ticket."

While some magazines like Sports Illustrated and Playboy started the party craze, Maxim leaped onto the scene six years ago and stole the show. Because of the high-profile celebrities and athletes -- not to mention the beautiful women -- Maxim has become one of the premier parties of the week.

"For the lack of a better term, it's a Hollywood party at the Super Bowl," Kay said.

This year, the Maxim party will be held the night before the Super Bowl at the Detroit Orchestra Hall.

"I'm going to sound like such a publicist, but it's not just free booze and loud music," Kay said. "Every party is themed. In San Diego (in 2003), we took over a warehouse and made it a mini-city. Last year (in Jacksonville), it was a huge rock wedding. This year, it's a rock opera. People like to see if we can out-do ourselves from the past years."

The Sports Illustrated party, which has been a staple of the Super Bowl for decades, is also trying to out-do itself. This will be the third consecutive year that the focus of the party will be bikinis and, unfortunately for the adoring public, it's also an invitation-only party.

"It's called `The SI Super Swimsuit Party, presented by Budweiser,' " said publicist Rick McCabe. "It's the kickoff for our swimsuit issue, which comes out 10 days after the Super Bowl."

Did you watch the games on television Sunday with renewed interest? It was fun to see signs like "Next Stop Detroit" and "Detroit Hawk City," wasn't it? Although we have been hearing about this Super Bowl for years, it took on a certain tangible reality when the network announcers bellowed: "The Steelers are going to Detroit!" or Holmgren screamed the fans "are all coming to Detroit with us!" We've heard similar sentences before, with similar inflection, but it's usually: "They're going to New Orleans!" or "We're going to Miami!"

Now it's Detroit. Nice. I know it's just a sentence, but a crown is just a crown, too. It's still the difference between looking at a king and being one.

So the guests of honor have been announced for a Motown party that has been scheduled for years. It will be original. It will be unpredictable. It will be the franchise that once gave us Terry Bradshaw, Lynn Swann, Franco Harris against the franchise that once gave us, uh, Jim Zorn.

And in a nice twist of geographic fate, the most celebrated player likely will be a beefy running back who went to Mackenzie High School and spent part of his televised news conference answering questions about our hometown -- and his.

"What's great about Detroit?" he said. "It's a great city. It's a great city, and you all will see when you get there in two weeks."

Couldn't have said it better ourselves.

Don Mischer will produce for the second year in a row, having succeeded in taking our minds off Janet Jackson's 2004 wardrobe malfunction with last year's Paul McCartney extravaganza that concluded with a sing-along of ``Hey Jude.''

Mischer says he isn't really concerned about the Stones being overexposed these days in the midst of the often sold-out ``A Bigger Bang'' tour. ``I think the fans would love to have more of the Stones. But I think the great majority of people who will be watching the halftime show will be people who have not attended a Stones concert.''

He said one way in which the 12 1/2-minute halftime show will differ from the road production is that the band's concert scenery takes four days to assemble, while some 650 halftime volunteers at Detroit's Ford Field will have to put together 56 set components in 6 1/2 minutes.

``When it comes to what could be said is the greatest rock 'n' roll band of all time, they're so strong and their repertoire is so strong, it's not an instance where you have to put two or three other performers with them,'' Mischer said.

As for warding off any potential wardrobe malfunctions (no ``Sticky Fingers'' album cover re-enactments are expected), Mischer said the Jackson breast exposure incident has inspired the NFL to be closely involved in every aspect of the show.

Courson, 50, a Super Bowl winner with Pittsburgh in 1978 and 1979, was killed at his home in Pennsylvania.

He played for the Steelers as an offensive lineman from 1978-1983 and then had two seasons with Tampa Bay.

An admitted steroid user, he testified before the US Federal Government reform committee earlier this year on the dangers of steroid use.

After retiring in 1985, Courson said steroids had caused him serious health problems, including a heart condition.

Since his retirement, Courson had lectured in schools about the dangers of steroid abuse.

In a statement, the Steelers said: "We will remember Steve for his many on-field contributions to our football club as well as for the caring person he was away from the game.

"Steve Courson will remain in our prayers and will be missed by everyone who knew him."

With the game less than four months away, advertising options include the Detroit People Mover, highway billboards and teams of representatives who hand out product samples.

More than 125,000 visitors are expected to visit the Detroit area for the Feb. 5 game and national and local marketers have been jockeying for top advertising space.

Detroit Transit Corp. officials said advertisers seek to purchase space on the outside of the People Mover's monorail cars. The spaces typically cost $30,000.

But for January and February, the DTC is auctioning off the spaces, as well as space in its 13 stations. It marks the first time advertising has been offered at the station sites.

"The potential exposure for advertisers is mind-boggling," Dennis R. Green, the DTC's marketing director, told the Detroit Free Press for a Tuesday story. He said ads on the monorail cars will give companies "unprecedented worldwide exposure."

Bids are already in but DTC officials haven't revealed how much money they expect the auction to make. They could award the space as early as this week.

Viacom Outdoor representatives won't say if the company has raised billboard rates for the weeks surrounding the Super Bowl.

The company has sold 75 percent of the space on its 2,000 Detroit area signs.

"Our bookings are way ahead of where they would normally be in the first quarter (of the year)," said Tom Carroll, vice president of Viacom Outdoor's central region. "It's been a pleasant surprise, but we still have billboards available."

The company typically charges $7,500 to $10,000 for billboards along major interstate highways.

Gateway Outdoor Advertising has booked about 500 of its 1,500 small-sized Detroit area billboards for Super Bowl time. The Hackettstown, N.J., company charges $250 to $1,000 a month and rates will stay the same in January and February.

"We've had a lot of inquiries," said Durand Walker, Gateway's vice president and regional manager. "So far, though, everyone's just exploring their options."

Mobile Marketing Group in Detroit operates ten billboard vehicles -- trucks that carry advertisements on four sides -- costing $650 to $1,500 for eight hours. The group has received inquiries from local and national marketers, said Rodney Price, Mobile Marketing's president and CEO.

No spots have been sold for Super Bowl week but the group likely will sell 12-hour spots for $2,000 to $2,500.

The company also hasn't sold any street teams -- groups of people who hand out company materials during events.

Who's in line to be crowned champion in Detroit at Super Bowl XL:

1. Indianapolis Colts: They'll flex their defensive muscles tonight against St. Louis. It'll get ugly if Peyton Manning and the offense get in gear.

2. Denver Broncos: Balanced attack beat the defending champions. Looks like Denver's offense isn't so one-dimensional after all.

3. Cincinnati Bengals: Next week's game against the Steelers will decide if they're true AFC contenders.

4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Chucky and company are making a living beating average and bad teams (see Lions). Currently, the road to the Super Bowl for NFC teams goes through Tampa.

5. Jacksonville Jaguars: "Pretty" isn't in this team's vocabulary. But they've got two overtime wins under their belt and a victory over Cincinnati.