Librarian Doesn't Fry as Supreme Couch Potato

How did Stan Friedman, senior research librarian, Condé Nast Publications, New York, sit in a recliner for more than 29 hours and watch endless sports on large-screen television to win the ESPN Zone Ultimate Couch Potato Competition January 2? He credits “savvy bladder management” and the experience of conducting 14,000 online searches in 12 years. While Friedman and three other competitors could order unlimited food and drink at the ESPN Zone restaurant in New York's Times Square, they were allowed bathroom breaks only every eight hours, brief chances to stretch, and no sleeping.

Friedman's $5000 prize package includes a recliner, a trophy, and an oversize TV. Given that he lives in a 350 square foot apartment, “I'm contemplating letting [the TV] live at a friend's house, as long as I'm permitted visitation privileges,” he told LJ. Though he is a reader, Friedman confessed, “Most weekday evenings I'm sprawled out with the remote.”