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Red Card Roberts

Amy Roberts, Record columnist

Sundance 2012 is officially in the books, but if you thought the raucous parties, the overindulgence and the neck-snapping behavior were over, well, you should have a yellow penalty flag thrown your way.

That’s because the Super Bowl is this Sunday, and according to Hallmark, the big game is now America’s top party occasion. (I hear they’re even working on a line of sympathy cards for fans of the losing team.)

For many of us, there’s barely enough time to recover from our Sundance hangover before prepping for another big bash. And Sundance parties, it seems, are a bit easier to pull off. Really, you just wear black and insist you’re "on the list."

But parties as important as the Super Bowl have a few more rules no host wants to break. So here are a few ideas to help your party sail into the end zone, and a couple of fun facts in case you’re ever on the football version of Jeopardy.

Touchdown-worthy tips

Remember, the Super Bowl is as much about food as it is about football. In fact, Super Bowl Sunday is the second largest day of food consumption, just behind Thanksgiving. It’s estimated over one billion wings will be consumed this Sunday. (That’s a lot of wingless chickens running around.) So whatever you do, don’t run low on the chow. Serve food that will keep and enjoy the leftovers all week.

Set up the food and drinks within sight of the TV. No one wants to miss a third-and-inches play to ensure they get the last slice of pizza. If that configuration won’t work, put a TV on the food and beverage table.

Invest in a few foam "bad-call bricks" or red challenge flags for your guests to throw at the TV when they don’t agree with the ref’s call.

Set up a couple of bets (or in Utah, I think we call them "opportunity drawings") for guests to wager throughout the night. Anything from what the final score will be to how many commercials will feature the Budweiser Clydesdales.

Have prizes to give to your guests who win the bets. (Or maybe they’re called "opportunity gifts.") Either way, someone should leave with a football-shaped piñata.

And, with more than 150 million Americans expected to watch the game, it’s a wonder we haven’t declared Super Bowl Sunday a national holiday yet. Here a few fun football facts for you to post around your house and entertain your guests with.

800 million: The expected global television audience.

232: The number of countries and territories where the game will broadcast.

34: The number of languages the game is broadcast in.

1: The number of languages in which the word "football" doesn’t mean "soccer."

20 percent: The increase in antacid sales the Monday after the game.

7 million: The number of Americans who will call in sick on Monday.

28 million: Pounds of potato chips consumed.

53.5 million: Pounds of avocados consumed.

325.5 million: Gallons of beer downed by Americans on Sunday.

493: Number of Olympic-sized swimming pools that could be filled with all that beer.

$5.6 billion: Amount consumers will spend on Super Bowl-related items.

35: The percentage of ticket holders writing off the game as a business expense.

$12,500: The price Tiffany charges to produce the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

10 million: The number of man-hours spent preparing food for the Super Bowl parties. (That’s the same number of man hours spent making the movie "Avatar.")

Whether it’s Sundance or the Super Bowl, one thing is certain: Parkites know how to party. So be careful, have fun and watch out for those wingless chickens.

For more Super Bowl trivia: http://toknowinfo.hubpages.com/hub/Ways-to-Have-a-Fabulous-Super-Bowl-Party and http://www.treehugger.com .

If you have a story idea for Red Card Roberts, please e-mail her at sabordog@aol.com.

Amy Roberts is a freelance writer, public-relations guru and globe-trotting thrill seeker. In a former life she worked in TV news, both as a reporter and sports anchor. She has bagged peaks on six continents, kayaked the Zambezi and Nile rivers, swam with great white sharks in South Africa and tracked mountain gorillas in Rwanda. She was once very nearly sold for 2,000 camels while traveling through Morocco.

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