{"id":206403,"date":"2026-04-04T02:27:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T02:27:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/espn-analysts-son-brings-studio-to-tears-on-world-autism-awareness-day-today-com\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T02:27:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T02:27:29","slug":"espn-analysts-son-brings-studio-to-tears-on-world-autism-awareness-day-today-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/espn-analysts-son-brings-studio-to-tears-on-world-autism-awareness-day-today-com\/","title":{"rendered":"ESPN Analyst's Son Brings Studio to Tears on World Autism Awareness Day – today.com"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jenna Surprises Deserving Book Club With an Epic Getaway<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Rachel Paula Abrahamson
Inside the Bristol, Connecticut, studios of ESPN, the set of NFL Live was filled with artwork by Madden, the 14-year-old son of analyst Dan Orlovsky, in a broadcast marking World Autism Awareness Day.
Leading up to the segment, Madden created a series of football-themed illustrations, sketching N.F.L. team logos, the NFL Draft logo, and other graphics that would appear on air.
\u201cHe draws all the time,\u201d Orlovsky tells TODAY.com<\/a>.
Before the segment began, Orlovsky, a former quarterback for the Detroit Lions, said, \u201cI\u2019ll try not to get emotional,\u201d a remark that nodded to his emotional reaction during Madden\u2019s appearance last year.
He didn\u2019t quite succeed.
Orlovsky grew visibly emotional more than once during the broadcast. First as Madden, a die-hard fan of the Philadelphia Eagles, broke into the team\u2019s fight song, and again moments later when he delivered an unscripted message to his family.
Madden, one of 14-year-old triplets and an identical twin to his brother Hunter, is one of four children Orlovsky shares with his wife, Tiffany. The couple are also parents to Noah and a 10-year-old daughter, Lennon.
\u201cI want to tell this to Hunter, Noah, Lennon and Mom, if they\u2019re watching this,\u201d Madden said, looking directly into the camera. \u201cMom, I love you. Hunter, you\u2019re my favorite twin. Noah, I do like you. And Lennon, you\u2019re a good sister.\u201d
The eighth-grader also proudly described his interests, saying he has \u201cgreat artwork, great coloring, great handwriting,\u201d and sharing some of his favorite things, including video games and foods like pizza, cheeseburgers and chocolate ice cream.
After ESPN shared footage of the moment on Instagram, it quickly went viral, drawing an outpouring of emotional responses.
For Orlovsky, the moment showed how far Madden has come, a journey he credits in large part to his wife\u2019s relentless advocacy.
\u201cThere\u2019s just a lot of emotion to watch his journey,\u201d he tells TODAY. \u201cI would have never imagined him being capable of doing that.\u201d
He pointed to years of work behind the scenes, adding that Tiffany \u201chas searched up and down, inside and out for this therapist and that help,\u201d emphasizing the role she and many teachers and aides have played in supporting Madden along the way.
To the proud dad, who describes himself as \u201cunapologetically a jock,\u201d watching it unfold carried the weight of a big game, only this time, it belonged to Madden.
\u201cWhen my kids have success in sports, it gives them this confidence,\u201d Orlovsky. \u201cThis is his moment.\u201d
Rachel Paula Abrahamson is an entertainment journalist-turned-lifestyle reporter living in Boston. She covers parenting, pop culture, and news for\u00a0TODAY.com<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 and fancies herself an expert on all things twin-related! In 2024, Rachel received an NBC Gem Award (Going the Extra Mile) for her contributions to NBC.\u00a0Rachel lives in the Boston area with her husband, their two daughters, and labrodaughter Asti. Follow her on Instagram<\/a>.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLCApple\u00ae, Apple logo\u00ae and App Store\u00ae are registered trademarks of Apple Inc.<\/span><\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jenna Surprises Deserving Book Club With an Epic Getaway Rachel Paula Abrahamson Inside the Bristol, Connecticut, studios of ESPN, the set of NFL Live was filled with artwork by Madden, the 14-year-old son of analyst Dan Orlovsky, in a broadcast marking World Autism Awareness Day.Leading up to the segment, Madden created a series of football-themed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":206404,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-206403","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}