Super Bowl XLVI game plan

Super Bowl XLVI will be played at Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday Feb. 5, 2012, with kickoff scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Before you and your family and friends settle into the pregame shows and the NBC broadcast of the contest between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots, follow our game plan for making your Super Bowl gathering a winner. We've featured some related videos above, including a TV buying guide. You'll also find tips for watching the game, eating and drinking, cleaning up, and more.

Speaking of winning, don't forget that your 2012 tax return should list any financial gains you achieve through a friendly office pool or bets on the game (same goes for losses). As we previously reported, winnings are counted as income, and if you itemize deductions you'll want to list any losses too. For more details, read the Internal Revenue Service's Topic 419: Gambling Income and Losses.

Remember, a major event like the Super Bowl always brings out opportunistic scammers, so beware of bogus game tickets, poorly made knock-off team apparel, counterfeit memorabilia, and the like. Get all the details on how to avoid getting ripped off.

Get a big-screen TV. Recent price drops have been greatest on sets with larger screen sizes, and in our TV Ratings (available to subscribers) you'll find more sets with screens sizes 52 to 70 inches.

Draft a can't-miss TV. With the game just days away, you might be looking for a new big-screen TV that can do the game justice. But getting the right TV isn't as simple as just finding the right price. That's because sporting events like the Super Bowl can really bring out the best—and worst—in an HDTV by pushing it to its performance limits, revealing flaws that might go unnoticed with less-demanding types of content. Check out our roster of top TV picks.

Find your new set. If you've been frustrated by the lack of enticing offers that pop up when you search for "Super Bowl TV deals," try substituting "big game" for Super Bowl. Why? Retail ads and promotions can't legally use Super Bowl even Super Sunday unless a company has paid really big bucks to the National Football League. Read this recent news post for more details.

Choose between LCD and plasma: Our TV expert Jim Willcox explains whether LCD or plasma is best for viewing sports in general and the Super Bowl in particular. Learn about the pros and cons of each in our video.

Decide: 3D or not 3D? Super Bowl XLVI isn't being broadcast in 3D, but next year's game could be, and broadcasters are starting to add more 3D content. Even better, many 3D-capable sets are among the best tested models in our Ratings (available to subscribers), even when screening regular high-definition content.

Go for full HD. A TV with a big screen will benefit from 1080p resolution, so you can see the fine details and avoid the "screen-door effect" that comes when you sit too close to a TV. The norm in most larger-sized HDTVs is 1080p resolution, and you don't have to pay much of a premium to get it. See our TV buying guide for more details.

Consider a connected TV. More TVs can now directly access extra content from the Web, and a growing number are Smart TVs that have full Web browsers and apps markets. Sports fans can also use Web access and even dedicated apps to get updated scores or track fantasy sports teams.

Fine-tune your viewing. You don't have to be a tech guru or pay a pro a few hundred dollars for a calibration to get your set running like a star halfback for the game. Our simple tips will help you give your set a top-notch tuneup.

Don't skimp on TV sound. Ideally, TV sound should be clear but also forceful enough to convey the impact of a bone-jarring tackle. Some TVs in our Ratings have very good sound, but consider adding a sound bar or home theater in a box system to provide sound that can do justice to the picture.

Watch the commercials. As Super Bowl XLVI approaches you'll no doubt read or hear about this year's big commercials and maybe even see sneak peeks of them. (Top price for a 30-second ad is $3.5 million.) If you can't wait to see this year's ads, check out NFL.com's collection of the ads from Super Bowl XLV, and poke around online to see which companies will promote their wares on Feb. 5. (Search for "Super Bowl XLVI TV ads" or the like.)

Stream the game. For the first time, the Super Bowl will be streamed live, at NBCSports.com and NFL.com and through Verizon's NFL Mobile app. Among the extras you'll get are additional camera angles, in-game highlights, live statistics, and replays of the ads. The Verizon app is free to the carrier's customers on the Apple iOS and Android platforms.

Check out TVs for 2013. Admittedly, these state-of-the-art televisions won't be out until later this year. Still, our review of the best TVs from the recent Consumer Electronics Show will give you insight into what's coming next in the world of high-tech viewing.

Get appy: In case just watching the game on TV isn't enough for you, the mobile world offers apps that let you track your team's news, tweets, and stats, play trivia games, discover some sports history, maybe even win a new car, and a whole lot more. Check out our selection of the hottest Super Bowl apps.

Barbecue sauce. If you're planning to grill for your gathering, check out our review of barbecue sauces. The best we tested all have complex flavors.

Beer. Super Bowl and beer—a match made in a sports lovers' heaven. Our experts conducted blind taste tests of 10 top-selling regular and light beers. And the winner is Coors regular, which is well balanced with some citrus notes. See how other brews, including Name Tag (Trader Joe's), Big Flats (Walgreens), and Miller High Life, did in our taste test.

Blender. Depending on where you live, the weather might call more for hot cocoa than for cool, refreshing tropical drinks. But your party will be more festive with some frozen libations, with or without a splash or two of booze. Our buying guide to blenders will help you find a machine that can handle the work load. Also check out our review of the Margaritaville Fiji Frozen Concoction Maker DM2000.

Chicken wings. Football and chicken wings seem about as ubiquitous in the arena of sports cuisine as baseball and hot dogs. If you're not up for making your own, find out which of the seven frozen wings our experienced tasters tried scored best.

Chocolate-chip cookies. Football fans can't survive on savory snacks alone. To satisfy those with a sweet tooth, hand off some of the best chocolate-chip cookies from the 18 store-bought and fast-food treats our tasters tried.

Coffee. With the multihour pregame show, countless commercials, and extra-long halftime show, the Super Bowl runs much longer than the typical three-hour NFL game. So you and your guests might need a pick-me-up at some point during the day. Choose a brew that tastes good from among the Colombian, Ethiopian, Kenyan, and Sumatran coffees we've rated.

Dips. If you're serving chips and crudités, consider a tasty dip that won't get you a penalty for poor nutrition. Our smart choices include the 10 best when it comes to calories, fats, sodium, sugars, iron, calcium, and fiber as listed on labels.

Among the dips you might want to serve is hummus, that tasty mashup typically made with chickpeas, tahini, oil, lemon juice, salt, and garlic, not to mention seemingly as many flavors as there are players on an NFL roster. Read our review of this increasingly popular food.

Food processor. A good food processor is essential for making quick work of tasks such as making your own dips and spreads, pizza dough, and other nosh. Check out our buying guide to food processors to find the best model for your budget.

Grilling. Want to be the MVP of your party? Check out these easy, delicious grilling recipes. And if you need a new outdoor cooker, check out our reviews of gas grills.

Multigrain chips. Confused by all the chips you see in stores? "Multigrain" chips might or might not be more healthful—or is that less unhealthful?—than regular chips, but they do contain more than one kind of grain. Find a multigrain MVP in our review of eight products.

Mustard. Whether your lineup includes hot dogs or cold cuts, you'll need a good mustard. Learn which products beat the spread in our tests of regular yellow and the more boldly flavored Dijons.

Pizza. Easy to prepare and a snap to eat, pizza is a party staple. We tested 16 frozen cheese pies, and while none were excellent, several made the cut. Our pizza taste test includes overall Ratings, nutrition information, and some prep tips.

Wine. Not every adult at your party is going to be a beer drinker, so you may want to have some good wine on hand. Check out our Ratings of cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, red blends, rosé, sauvignon blanc, shiraz, and zinfandel wines. We even cover sparkling wines, ideal for a Super Bowl celebration to cap your evening. (See our advice for dealing with a hangover.)

Paper towels. Unlike Joe Namath, famous for his spot-on prediction that his upstart New York Jets would beat the mighty Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, we can't tell you who'll win the big game. But we can guarantee that you'll have messes to clean up. Our review will help you find an all-star paper towel.

Plumbing. With all the downtime during the game and an extended halftime featuring Madonna, among others, you might want to have a few trivia tidbits on hand to entertain your crowd. Here's an oldie but goodie: Can Super Bowl bathroom breaks cripple sewer systems? Read our take on this urban legend.

Postgame work. Tackle all your dirty dishes and glassware with the best dishwasher detergents and dishwashing liquids.

Vacuums. Messes are an undesired but inevitable part of any football fiesta. If your vacuum is on the fritz, check out our buying guide to canister, handheld, and upright models.

Safe winter driving. If weather turns for the worst, and you must get to a Super Bowl party or the game itself in Indianapolis, be safe. Our guide to winter driving has tips for dealing with slippery conditions, and for addressing problems with your car battery, windshield wipers, and more.

Keys to smart car packing. Whether driving to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis or just across town on game day, packing your food and drinks and other essentials carefully is important to ensure nothing is damaged en route and no one is injured. Read these tips for packing up your car.

Proper tire pressure. There will be enough pressure on Super Bowl Sunday without adding a flat-tire to the complications. A simple pressure check will ensure the tires are properly inflated, thereby aiding handling, fuel economy, and safety. If you haven't bought a tire-pressure gauge in years, you're overdue. Check out our latest Ratings.

Car commercial reality check. Car advertising will be prominent during the Super Bowl, with automakers showing off their latest vehicles and their agency's creativity. But don't believe the hype. Balance your marketing intact with a dose of reality from our road tests and New Car Preview. Also check out "Is 40 mpg the new 30? Reading between the ad lines."

Hangover. Maybe you'll overdo the imbibing to celebrate your team's victory or your own in the office Super Bowl pool. Or perhaps you'll drown a bitter defeat with booze. Either way, you don't want to start the week with a hangover. (A vote here to play the NFL's championship game on a Saturday.) Find out whether you can prevent a hangover or at least make it less painful.

Heartburn. The food or the game could give you agita. Learn how to extinguish heartburn, and find out which medication works best.

Helmets and injuries. Professional football is a violent game, but the sport can also be unsafe at levels below the top flight. Efforts are under way to make the game safer, especially when it comes to head injuries.