The cafeteria at the ESPN campus in Bristol, Connecticut, is a monument to distraction. I\u2019m confronted by three preposterous flat-screen TVs on the far wall. Look up. A parade of smaller screens offers a high-definition plea not to engage with your lunch companion.<\/p>\n
Into this boulevard of broken attention spans enters Dan Orlovsky \u201917 (BGS), ESPN\u2019s NFL analyst, 20 years removed from a storied career as the UConn quarterback who propelled the football program into national prominence. He absolutely looks the part, dressed in a slim-fit suit that straddles the line between blueberry and robin\u2019s egg. There\u2019s no tie but a sharp blue-gridded white dress shirt and stylish salt-and-pepper stubble. His hair is perfect.<\/p>\n
Aside from developing a reputation as a great football analyst, Orlovsky has become known for his pile of oddities, which he embraces. (\u201cI told you I\u2019m weird,\u201d he reminds me during our conversation.) Food is a big one. Today, he arrives with what looks like a chicken avocado salad. But because there is no lettuce present, his lunch resembles an entr\u00e9e from the apocalypse, a hillock of (seasoned?) browns and beiges specked with green. There was his memorable admission on Twitter that he uses a bath towel around 30 times before it\u2019s removed from the rotation \u2014 presumably with tongs into a hazmat bag.<\/p>\n
At work, Orlovsky has a \u201cmaniacal desire to be the best,\u201d says Laura Rutledge, the host of \u201cNFL Live,\u201d his main gig. \u201cHe preps like no one I\u2019ve ever seen in my entire life for anything that he does.\u201d<\/p>\n
Orlovsky, 41, does not do these things to perpetuate an image. Everything has a reason, even the bizarro food choices. Why introduce something new and possibly disruptive? Then he can\u2019t spend time with his family or do his job. That\u2019s not how to win the day. When you help resurrect a college football program and get drafted by a National Football League team, that credo isn\u2019t ridiculous. It\u2019s required. Lack the drive to excel while reducing the game\u2019s din and violence to its necessities and you\u2019ll be prowling LinkedIn by your 25th birthday. Orlovsky spent 12 years in the NFL; the average career lasts a hair over three.<\/p>\n
Why, he wonders, can\u2019t the principles that made him a millionaire in the NFL work away from the football field?<\/p>\n
Every day Dan Orlovsky tries to answer that question.<\/p>\n