Article:What football game? The week in Super Bowl parties

From All on the Field sports blog: Somehow, the actual football game has become an afterthought.

With tickets to Sunday's Super Bowl reportedly in the $3,000 to $5,000 range -- and that's just for a seat in the nosebleeds, where you may need binoculars or a telescope to see whether that was Tom Brady or Eli Manning that just threw a touchdown -- many fans are flocking to Arizona just for the pregame festivities.

And we're not talking about tailgate parties here, where brats and beers are  the menu. Tonight alone there's Vice the Party, featuring Snoop Dog, Kid Rock, and LL Cool J; ESPN the Magazine Next Big Weekend 2008, featuring Ludacris; and the Friday Night Lights party, hosted by Larry Johnson and Warren Sapp, among others.

(There's also the Commissioner's Ball, but who would want to go to that unless they didn't have somewhere better, cooler to be?)

If you're in the area, keep in mind that these parties are see-and-be-seen events; just because you show up doesn't mean you're on the list to get in. But just in case they mistake you for some B-lister they kind of liked in that one movie, be sure you wear a tie.

Where's the Party? Wall Street Journal graphic showing the Scottsdale/Phoenix hotspots.