{"id":852400,"date":"2026-04-04T01:32:40","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T01:32:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/852400\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T01:32:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T01:32:40","slug":"dan-orlovsky-cries-on-air-as-autistic-son-brightens-espn-broadcast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/852400\/","title":{"rendered":"Dan Orlovsky cries on air as autistic son brightens ESPN broadcast"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dan Orlovsky was brought to tears Thursday on ESPN\u2019s \u201cNFL Live,\u201d where he was joined on-air by his 14-year-old autistic son, Madden, as the program recognized World Autism Awareness Day. <\/p>\n<p>The studio show spotlighted Madden\u2019s drawings and his passion for the Eagles, with the teen breaking out the Birds\u2019 fight song, \u201cFly Eagles Fly,\u201d in what was an emotional moment for Orlovsky, a former NFL quarterback.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGood job, bud,\u201d Orlovsky said while holding back tears.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Madden Orlovsky had a heartfelt message for his family and friends in honor of World Autism Awareness Day \ud83e\udd79<\/p>\n<p>This was a special moment for all of us at ESPN. Thanks, Madden and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/danorlovsky7?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@danorlovsky7<\/a>  \u2764\ufe0f <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/BnWu7cSXmV\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/BnWu7cSXmV<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SportsCenter\/status\/2039819469111849435?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">April 2, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>When Madden asked, \u201cAre you crying?\u201d his proud father replied, \u201cYeah, because I love you. Good job.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Madden, one of Orlovsky\u2019s four children with wife Tiffany, then gave a heartfelt shoutout to his family as the ESPN personality, 42, looked on.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMom, I love you,\u201d Madden began. \u201cHunter, you\u2019re my favorite twin. Noah, I do like you, and Lennon, you\u2019re a good sister.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>As Madden spoke into the camera, Orlovsky wiped tears away from his face before warmly embracing his son.<\/p>\n<p>It was a special day for Madden, who also received a personal video message and swag bag from star Eagles receiver DeVonta Smith.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.80918728;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38981946\" width=\"1024\" height=\"566\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/orlovsky-2.jpg\" alt=\"Madden Orlovsky's drawings were spotlighted during &quot;NFL Live&quot; on April 2, 2026.\" class=\"wp-image-38981946\"  \/>Madden Orlovsky\u2019s drawings were spotlighted during \u201cNFL Live\u201d on April 2, 2026. X\/SportsCenter<\/p>\n<p>Orlovsky\u2019s wife, Tiffany, later praised her husband\u2019s colleagues, Laura Rutledge and Field Yates, for their support of Madden.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI honestly have no words for how wonderful you two are. Thank you!\u201d she gushed in an Instagram Story. \u201cYou both hold a special place in my heart \u2026 and I\u2019m sure Madden\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t the first time Madden and Orlovsky <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reels\/DH9hpnjhMkg\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">have shared a heartfelt on-air moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>During World Autism Awareness Day last year, Madden sang Randy Newman\u2019s song, \u201cYou\u2019ve Got a Friend in Me,\u201d while holding up a drawing of Woody from the \u201cToy Story\u201d franchise.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:0.6015625;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38981915\" width=\"355\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/orlovsky-1.jpg\" alt=\"Dan Orlovsky with son Madden and the &quot;NFL Live&quot; crew on April 2, 2026.\" class=\"wp-image-38981915\"  \/>Dan Orlovsky with son Madden and the \u201cNFL Live\u201d crew on April 2, 2026. Tiffany Orlovsky\/Instagram<\/p>\n<p>A teary-eyed Orlovsky beamed during Madden\u2019s performance. <\/p>\n<p>Orlovsky has been at ESPN since 2018 after spending 12 years in the league largely as a backup quarterback.<\/p>\n<p>His stops included the Lions, Texans, Colts, Buccaneers and Rams. <\/p>\n<p>World Autism Awareness Day has been recognized on April 2 every year since being desginated by the United National General Assembly in 2007. <\/p>\n<p>April is Autism Acceptance Month.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dan Orlovsky was brought to tears Thursday on ESPN\u2019s \u201cNFL Live,\u201d where he was joined on-air by his&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":852401,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[31374,1774,12,7,6,9,10,203],"class_list":{"0":"post-852400","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-autism","9":"tag-dan-orlovsky","10":"tag-espn","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-sports-entertainment","15":"tag-sports-media"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116343865415414431","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=852400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/852401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}