Calling All Couch Potatoes!

Thanksgiving is over and we can all turn our attention to more important things in life... like the orgy of sports and sports-related programming that will air over the next couple months.

Let's face it, we're in a glorious time of year for sports fans. The NFL is in full swing with half the games each week ripe with playoff implications. NBA and college hoops are underway, the NHL has had a couple months to get revved up, and the college football bowl season is coming up fast. On top of that, there's a Winter Olympics just around the corner, with more curling, skiing, bobsledding and, oh yeah, more hockey than you can shake a stick at!

What better way to celebrate this almost unprecedented tsunami of sporting events than by determining who really is the world's greatest couch potato?

On January 1, 2010, the ESPN Zone in New York, Chicago and right here in Baltimore will match sports fanatics against one another in a battle to determine who really has a butt of steel. Four contestants will compete at each site, hand-picked from essayists who submit their entry by December 9. Only one winner from each location will be able to claim the title of Ultimate Couch Potato.

Last year's winner Jessica Mosley will be back to defend her crown (70 hours and 45 minutes). Contestants will be able to order unlimited food and drink (excluding alcohol) from the ESPN Zone menu and bathroom breaks will be allowed once every eight hours. No peanut bladders need apply!

Winners at each location will receive a grand prize package worth more than $4000.00 including a recliner, Best Buy gift card for their own HD TV, ESPN Zone gift cards, and free cable or satellite service for a year.

Get those entries in now. I would weep with pride if a reader of The Hungover Gourmet was named The Ultimate Couch Potato!