Charger set to benefit from Parker's release.

The news that the San Diego Superchargers (as they shalt forever be known on this site henceforth) has got PFT worked up.


One factor in all of this that seems to have flown under most people's radar, is backup WR Kassim Osgood. Osgood has been named to two straight pro-bowls as a special teams player, but was unhappy this offseason regarding the Chargers' plans for him as part of the offence.

“There is no reason to come to the (offseason coaching sessions) and run routes all day and run my body down and not be a receiver
”
- Kassim Osgood, March 2008

Osgood has a modest 32 receptions, but a 19.7yd average over his career. He was also quoted in 2006 as saying he would '...be a great receiver - just probably not in San Diego' The fifth year veteran has certainly shown a willingness to throw his body on the line as part of his special teams role, but has never seriously had a shot at competing for a job on offence. With Parker out of the mix, Chris Chambers, Vincent Jackson, and Craig Davis all figure to be ahead of Osgood on the depth chart. If he can edge out Malcolm Floyd and newly signed return man Mark Jones, Osgood might finally have a chance to get some serious playing time.

In the meantime, he can concentrate on that acting career.

UK TV Coverage

With the 2008 NFL Season only months away, information on the UK coverage has started to appear.

Of particular interest to those without access to Sky Television will be the news from The Associated Press that the October Regular Season game from Wembley will be aired, live, on the BBC. According to the report, coverage will start on BBC2 and after two hours switch to BBC3.

The BBC also have the rights to air Super Bowl XLIII live from Tampa, Florida and recently announced a permanent interactive sports service on digital TVs (believed to be part of "MySportNow" which, according to a speech back in November by the BBC's Director of Sport, Roger Mosey, will be "one of the BBC's biggest investments in the next five or six years"), a service which could, foreseeably, be used to cover NFL News.

Away from the BBC, this little snippet from OFCOM, updated on the 17th June, seems to indicate the NFL Network already have a license for a "cable and satellite channel". NFL Network coming soon to the UK?

Channel Five seem to still have live Sunday and Monday night football (as they did for the 2007 season), and Sky will presumably still show all the games it can via Red Buttons everywhere.

LaDainian joins the BBC's NFL love in.

While Reggie Bush has been in almost every news outlet during the last few days here, LaDainian Tomlinson (You know, the guy who justifies his contract?) has also been interviewed by the BBC's Tim Love

Getting past the usual schtick about looking forward to experiencing the London nightlife, LT does reveal one difference between the Chargers and the two teams who played last year. 'I can tell you now we'll be here from Monday Morning', Tomlinson told Love. Compared to the Giants and Dolphins, who both appeared on the Friday of game week, this perhaps shows one of the lessons learned by the two east coast teams regarding acclimatising to the British weather.

One other factor could be that both teams have road trips that make it simpler to catch a direct flight to London. Certainly for the Chargers (who are in Buffalo) it couldn't be any further from home, so going home to San Diego would be a ridiculous trek. The Saints are in Carolina, and even without any explicit confirmation, we'd expect the team to go straight to London.

More from Reggie...

Reggie Bush must be exhausted. Fresh from his interviews with Radio 1 and Talksport radio, he has been on BBC TV apparently singing David Beckham's praises regarding a potential NFL career. Bush and Beckham filmed an advert for Adidas together last year.

'He was er... fast!' Reggie points out regarding Beckham's physical skills. Some of us may not remember his speed as his greatest attribute, but fair enough. His kicking? 'He nailed a 60yd field goal... I told him if his soccer career doesn't work out he can come and play kicker for us' says Reggie, a budding General Manager.

He also describes some Saints fans as 'disappointed' with the team losing a home game at the expense of the Wembley adventure. We can understand where they're coming from, even if (for purely selfish reasons) we're glad they've decided to.

We'll have something from LT, who is also over here promoting the game, soon.

Steve Foley's trial begins

Steve Foley, the former San Diego Charger, appeared in court this morning for the first day of his Civil lawsuit against the officer who ended his career

One interesting point not made in the article is that the officer in question, Aaron Mansker, was rewarded in 2007 for Making 57 Drunk-Driving related arrests.

We're not sure why there is an award for 'Oustanding DUI Officer of the year', but fair play to the young officer involved - he doesn't discriminate between people who are drunk, and people who are drunk and could very easily kick the crap out of him.