Man Watches Sports for 18 Hours to Win ESPN Zone Couch Potato Crown
At 5:48 a.m. this morning, while you were no doubt sleeping your life away, 47-year-old research librarian Stan Friedman was seizing the garland of immortal glory by winning his second straight Ultimate Couch Potato competition. This year's contest/publicity stunt pitted four contenders against each other in a competition at the Times Square ESPN Zone to see who could watch sports longest without falling asleep. Going into the competition yesterday morning, cocky Queens contestant John Scheer sneered, "Stan is a librarian. I own lots of books—I own him." And after just five hours, Scheer was the first to drop out. Last year it took Friedman 29 hours to best his competitors; this year he coasted—er, idled—to victory in just 18 hours, 48 minutes and 17 seconds. Speaking to the Daily News, he explained the secret to his mastery of sitting and watching TV: "My mind wanders a lot. I can leave here mentally."
