From football to fùtbol, the MLB pennant race to NASCAR, September is easily one of the most exciting months in the world of sports. Though there’ll be those days when you feel the urge to go see a game live, or to meet some friends for a viewing party at the local watering hole, the main destination for dedicated viewership has always been—and always will be—the living room.

Given that you have so many hours of fandom on the line, the first step is to make sure that the living room is a worthy viewing spot to watch your favorite players or teams bring home that ‘W’. Here are a few tips to help you create a flawless living room set-up that will make your friends proud and your rivals jealous: 

1.  Show Your Team Pride: Team pride is to fans what spirit is to cheerleaders—that is, essential. Replacing glitter pom-poms with autographed game-day jerseys, team pride is one of the most obvious and important measures of a man’s dedication to his squad. Though there are many different ways to show it, doing a little bit of themed decorating goes a long way towards showing loyalty, and there are some subtle—and not so subtle—ways to go about this.

The amount of subtlety you need to use depends on what other people in your house will allow. If you have free reign to do what you want, the possibilities are endless. Fathead wall graphics look awesome and are also a great way to show off your favorite players. For full furniture immersion, you can go all out with a Baseline team recliner. If something of that scale is too intrusive, try a poster from PosterHero or deck out all beverages with team themed coozies.

2.  Snacks On Snacks:  Though there might be a time when ordering a pizza or planning a halftime BBQ is the right call, there are going to be long stretches of time when missing a moment of the game might be considered criminal activity. Rather than allow your stomach to distract you from what’s happening on the screen, make your life easier by having a few key snacks at arm’s length at all times.

Beyond the classics such as peanuts and pretzels, there are other good options that may even be more satisfying. This Seven-Layer Taco Dip is as easy to make as it is addictive, and it might take a few friends to help finish. For something a bit more adventurous, try these Sausage Stuffed Jalapenos. Or if you want to embrace some delicious tradition of British Pub Food, nothing hits the spot like some classic Fish and Chips.

3.  Make it Surround Sound: Let’s face it, when you’re at a sporting event you don’t only hear what’s ten feet in front of you, you hear sound coming at you from all different directions. That’s why watching a game with audio emitting only from standard TV speakers sounds artificial and can never capture the full intensity of a match. You can enhance the stadium sound and feel of your own viewing domain by installing a surround sound system and saying see-ya-later to that flat, one dimensional soundscape that’s good only for watching croquet and QVC. Here you can find a great CNET guide to surround sound.

4.  A Fridge of One’s Own: Is it because the athletes on the screen are all covered in sweat? Maybe it’s the idea of being stranded under the sweltering heat in a non shaded section of the stadium? We’ll probably never know for sure; but one thing is for certain, watching sports make us thirsty, and sofas, generally speaking, are located very far away from refrigerators.

In reality, we should give ourselves some credit. It’s not that we’re too lazy to get off the couch and walk to the fridge, it’s just that we’d prefer not to. Not to mention the fact that the fridge is filled with lettuce, eggs, mayonnaise—basically a bunch of stuff that is simply crowding the space we could use for beverages. Accessible via sofa and filled with only the things you want, you can go for a more generic version or get a custom team specific NFL Portable Party Refrigerator and dial up that team pride.

5.  Cheer!: You don’t have to get off the couch, just pull out your smartphone or iPad and jump on a Twitter hashtag discussion like #NFL, #futbol, #USopen, #NASCAR or #worldcup. Fan your team’s Facebook page. Show off pics of your VIP Sports Box here on the Fan Club.

TIP: If the recliner handle starts to stick, give that lever a shot of WD-40® to keep your lounge sessions running smooth.