STEVE INSKEEP, host:
The end of the College Bowl season means that some fans can finally stop watching three games at once on three separate televisions. They can finally get up off the couch - unless, of course they're trying for TV greatness. NPR's Tom Bullock has the story.
TOM BULLOCK: The quest for the ultimate couch potato. The search for the one with the guts and grit to best all others in comfortably doing not much at all. Finally, a contest you could be advised to try at home - that is, until someone at ESPN turned it into a sport. Applications flooded in. The handpicked finalists arrived on New Year's Day to the ESPN Zone's sports bars in New York, Chicago, and here in Baltimore. This year's competition came complete with a referee and a rule book.
Ms. LEE FRIEDMAN (Officiator, Couch Potato Contest): The official rules are that you must sit in your seat, and you must be watching sports on TV the whole time. You can't fall asleep, and you can't get out of your seat. Those are deal-breakers. You're out if you do either of those things.
BULLOCK: That's Lee Friedman(ph). She's officiating the ultimate couch potato contest.
Ms. FRIEDMAN: We see that you have to be sitting. And fortunately, I haven't had to really define sitting.
BULLOCK: And they take their sitting here very seriously. After all, this is to crown the new king of the couch. Each contestant must remain in their faux leather recliner, complete with cup holder and airline-style tray table. Sound easy? Think about your last long plane flight.
Ms. FRIEDMAN: Three, two, one, you can stand up and stretch.
BULLOCK: Each hour on the hour, the finalists have five minutes to get up and stretch to make sure nothing went permanently numb. They got all the food and drink they wanted free of charge, but they could only use the restroom once every eight hours. No exceptions. And this is what clearly separates the competitive couch potatoes from the amateurs. Well, that, and a consumption strategy. Here's 23-year-old finalist Alex Pizik(ph).
Mr. ALEX PIZIK (Finalist, Couch Potato Contest): I've been sticking to the carrot cake, you know, when I need a quick burst of something sugar, and green beans and salads.
BULLOCK: Eat just enough to keep going, not enough to have to go. Twenty-six-year-old Jessica Mosley even trained for that.
Ms. JESSICA MOSLEY (Competitor, Couch Potato Contest): I did. I actually practiced not going to the bathroom for eight hours. Like, weird as that sounds. I practiced that to make sure it was feasible.
BULLOCK: For some, it wasn't. One finalist here didn't make it past the first night, felled by a salmon dinner that didn't sit quite right. For those who survived, the nights were the real challenge. Remember, no sleeping allowed. And contestants were forced to watch the sports equivalent of infomercials. Finalist Craig McGarry(ph)
Mr. CRAIG MCGARRY (Finalist, Couch Potato Contest): We watched a rugby match, we watched a little cage fighting, and we watched, I think, wrestling from 1990 on ESPN Classic.
BULLOCK: So which city can claim to be home to the latest legend of lounging? Chicago declared its winner after 39 hours. New York, they threw in the towel just 18 hours in. So much for the city that never sleeps.
Mr. PIZIK: I wish I lived in New York to enter that contest.
BULLOCK: But Alex Pizik and the Baltimore finalists kept sitting and watching and waiting to see who would be the new A-Rod of recliners, the Secretariat of the sofa. And just who did win?
Ms. MOSLEY: I did. The girl kicked their butts.
BULLOCK: That's right. After 70 hours and 22 seconds, Jessica Mosley out-sat them all, shattering the current Guinness Book couch potato world record. Who knew? Tom Bullock, NPR News.