If anyone knows sports, it’s ESPN Zone. With a restaurant, bar, arcade games and screening room featuring 13 televisions airing sporting events, it is the obvious destination for a die-hard sports fan’s night out in Chicago, Baltimore, New York, Las Vegas, Washington, D.C, and California.
Therefore, it comes as no surprise that ESPN Zone is also home to the annual Ultimate Couch Potato contest, in which four participants compete to see who can sit and watch televised sports for the longest period of time. The contests are held in Chicago, Baltimore and New York.
In Chicago, a good friend of UltimateSportsDecor, Jeff Miller has earned the title for three consecutive years. Combined, his three titled represent more than 151 hours of sports…We’re thrilled to call him a friend and we couldn’t be more proud.
No one can question that Miller is a sports fan. He plays flag football, basketball and sand volleyball, and cheers on the NFL’s Chicago Bears, MLB’s Chicago Cubs, NBA’s Chicago Bulls and a bevy of collegiate basketball teams, including the University of Wisconsin (where he went to school) and the University of Iowa (his native state).
“I’m pretty up-to-date with what’s going on. I can always talk sports with people. When I’m working, I’m generally listening to sports radio,” said Miller, who owns real estate and web-developing businesses.
He is particularly enthusiastic about NFL games and NCAA’s March Madness tournament.
However, when he entered his first ESPN Zone Ultimate Couch Potato contest in 2008, it was not to prove his passion for sports or take a break from his active lifestyle. Instead, he did so with one goal in mind: he wanted to win the prize package, which included a new television.
“We had just bought a new place and my girlfriend said, ‘We need a bigger TV. Why don’t you enter this competition?’” Miller recalled.
He won the Chicago competition by watching sports for more than 40 consecutive hours, and in 2009 couldn’t resist the invitation to defend his title. His second victory required just 39 hours of couch time.
Then came 2010.
Geared up for another win, Miller settled into his seat, alongside three competitors, at 10 a.m. Jan. 1. One opponent lasted less than 24 hours; the second made it less than 48. Miller’s final opponent proved a little tougher to beat.
Forty hours passed. Then 50. And 60.
“This was the first year I’ve ever considered giving up,” he said.
But he persevered.
Miller’s strategy to stay awake — those who fall asleep are eliminated — includes getting into whatever game is playing, whether it’s a live event or a replay of a game from the 1980s.
When the NFL’s New York Jets played the Cincinnati Bengals the evening of Jan. 3 — about 60 hours after the Couch Potato competition began — “I just rooted for the Jets,” Miller said. “I’ve never been a Jets fan, but I had to get behind someone to stay awake.”
The competition is grueling. Contestants get a 15-minute bathroom break once every eight hours, and a five-minute stretch break each hour. Otherwise, they are restricted to sitting and watching televised sports.
Participants also have unlimited access to food and beverages.
Miller said he chose healthier foods, opting for salads over pizza, to help him stay awake as the contest progressed.
Though some might be tempted to fuel up with caffeine, Miller said he made a point to avoid it. “I actually stay away from caffeine so there’s no ‘come down,’” he said. “I mostly drank just water and an occasional Diet Coke.”
His strategy paid off. Miller noticed his final opponent begin to nod off in the early hours of Jan. 4. “I made sure the judges saw it, too,” he said. When he finally fell asleep at 4:21 a.m., Miller declared victory. “There was definitely a sigh of relief,” he said.
But while he could have called it quits then, Miller opted to keep going. Without an opponent beside him, “it was much more difficult to focus,” Miller said. Still, he stayed seated, with both eyes on sports, until 10 a.m. Jan. 4 — a full 72 hours after the competition began — setting a new ESPN Zone record (previously held by a contestant in Baltimore, who sat for 70 hours) and an unofficial Guiness World Record.
As Chicago’s Ultimate Couch Potato, Miller is guaranteed a spot in the 2011 competition. Think you have what it takes to beat him? Other contestants are selected based on short essays based on their “passion for sports, competitive spirit and overall creativity,” and their responses during a taped interview, according to an ESPN Zone press release.
Watch for details later this year at http://www.espnzone.com/ultimatecouchpotato/.