To say Dan Orlovsky was not happy is an understatement.
The ESPN NFL analyst confirmed he was “furious” after losing the “Outstanding Personality/Studio Analyst” Sports Emmys award to Charles Barkley, believing he should have won.
“Of course I was,” Orlovsky told Sports Illustrated’s Jimmy Traina after originally telling Dan Patrick he was “furious” to have lost to the NBA Hall of Famer.
“In analyst (category), I was like, ‘Man, I really believe that I’ve had a strong run here. I really believe that I’ve separated myself.’ I take pride in that. I know who I was going up against, greats of the great. So, I was like, I feel very confident about analyst. I really did.”
But alas, that confidence went for naught.
Barkley, who shines for TNT’s “Inside the NBA” earned the honor over Orlovsky, who provides analysis across the ABC network of properties, including ESPN’s “NFL Live.”
Orlovsky revealed he reached out to Barkley after falling short.
“I texted him and I said something along the lines of, ‘Will you stop winning?’ And he responded back with a laughing emoji face (and), ‘You know it’s a team effort.’ So, that one bothered me.”
Orlovsky, the former Lions quarterback, said he originally did not want to attend the event fearing a potential 0-for-3, but his wife and ESPN persuaded him to attend the Los Angeles honors.
He received two nominations as part of a collective “NFL Live” unit, one for a technical achievement and another for “Outstanding Studio Show – Daily.”
The show did not win the technical honor and he then lost in the analyst category, leaving him with one last shot to come away with an Emmy.
The best daily studio show honor is one of the hardest categories, though, competing against “Pardon The Interruption,” “Good Morning Football” and “The Dan Patrick Show,” among others.
“I’m immediately like going to my wife like a child, ‘I want to go home, this is why I didn’t want to come,’” Orlovsky said of losing in the first two categories.
Orlovsky was not very confident that his show was going to win especially after “College GameDay” won the weekly studio show award in the penultimate spot.
He didn’t expect ESPN would win the two last awards consecutively.
But to his shock, “NFL Live” emerged victorious.
“And then we win, and I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ Orlovsky said. “I was thoroughly shocked when the show actually won because of the way it went.
“But analyst I thought I would have a chance at, yeah, and I turned into a baby.”
Orlovsky later admitted that losing to Barkley isn’t a big deal.
“What business do I have about losing to Charles Barkley and then texting him in the moment about losing?” Orlovsky said with a smile.
“I’m a competitive human, I just am. I’m a wildly intense and wildly competitive human.
While Orlovsky revealed the despair he felt during the crushing loss, he had good news to celebrate this week with ESPN re-signing him to a multi-year deal this week.
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