ESPN Analyst’s Bold Prayer for Damar Hamlin Goes Viral with 13 Million Views
A prominent ESPN analyst drew applause from the sports world Tuesday when he bowed and prayed for Buffalo’s Damar Hamlin during a live broadcast of NFL Live.
Dan Orlovsky, a former NFL quarterback and a current football analyst on NFL Live, told colleagues Marcus Spears and Laura Rutledge that he felt led to pray for Hamlin, who suffered a cardiac arrest during Monday night’s game against Cincinnati and remains in critical condition.
“I’ve heard the Buffalo Bills organization say that we believe in prayer,” Orlovsky said. “And maybe this is not the right thing to do, but it is just on my heart that I want to pray for Damar Hamlin right now. I’m going to do it out loud. I’m going to close my eyes, and I am going to bow my head, and I’m just going to pray for him.”
Orlovsky then bowed and prayed as Rutledge and Spears also bowed.
“God, we come to you in these moments that we don’t understand, that are hard, because we believe that You’re God and coming to You and praying to You has impact. We’re sad, we’re angry. And we want answers, but some things are unanswerable,” Orlovsky prayed. “We just want to pray, truly come to you, and pray for strength for Damar, for healing for Damar, for comfort for Damar. Be with his family, give them peace. If we didn’t believe that prayer didn’t work, we wouldn’t ask this of You, God. I believe in prayer. We believe in prayer. We lift up Damar Hamlin’s name in Your name. Amen.”
Rutledge and Spears each added, “Amen.”
“That was beautiful,” Rutledge said.
A Sports Spectrum video of Orlovsky praying has been viewed 13 million times on Twitter.
ESPN’s @danorlovsky7 praying for Damar Hamlin on NFL LIVE. Beautiful words of empathy, hope and love.#PrayForDamarHamlin pic.twitter.com/aQ54x3WwLm
— Sports Spectrum (@Sports_Spectrum) January 3, 2023
The prayer drew applause from colleagues and others in the sports world.
“This is amazing, I teared up watching this in my living room today,” ESPN’s Ashley Brewer tweeted. “Proud to call you my teammate & brother in Christ.”
This is amazing, I teared up watching this in my living room today. Proud to call you my teammate & brother in Christ 👊🏼 @danorlovsky7
— Ashley Brewer (@ESPNAshley) January 4, 2023
“Amen!” tweeted Pro Football Hall of Famer Jack Youngblood.
Amen!
— Jack Youngblood (@theblood85) January 4, 2023
“Amen! God bless!” tweeted Victor Rojas, a baseball executive and the former television play-by-play voice for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Amen! God bless!
— Victor Rojas (@VictorRojas) January 4, 2023
Orlovsky wrote on Twitter, “Matthew 18:20. Let’s live out our faith right now for Damar.”
Let’s live out our faith right now for Damar ❤️🙏
— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) January 3, 2023
Related:
NFL World Turns to Prayer after Damar Hamlin Collapses: ‘Jesus, Be with Our Guy’
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Timothy T Ludwig/Stringer
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
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