His fiancee was a regular on a reality TV show and his famous uncle’s college antics were worthy of one, but the only fame Kyle Bosworth wants is on the football field.
The Giants’ newly signed linebacker doesn’t want to be known as “The Boz,” isn’t looking for an acting career (at least not now) and has no plans to come to practice in a helicopter like his uncle Brian Bosworth did during his 1980s heyday.
At this stage in his budding NFL career, all Kyle Bosworth wants from Big Blue is a spot in the lineup.
“As long as I don’t get my head too caught up in other stuff outside of football, I’ll have an opportunity to play here — and that sounds great to me,” Bosworth said yesterday after his first practice as a Giant after signing a day earlier.
Not only is his uncle much more famous, but even Bosworth’s fiancee outshines him in that department. Kara Keough, daughter of former Oakland A’s pitcher Matt Keough, spent five seasons on Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of Orange County” with her mother, former Playboy Playmate Jeana Keough.
Reality TV was responsible for Bosworth’s only other trip to New York City before signing with the Giants. He spent a week here with his fiancee last fall while she filmed a segment for TLC’s “Say Yes to the Dress.”
“That was fun,” Bosworth said. “Nice place.”
Bosworth is hoping to make the area home, at least for a few years, now that he has landed with the linebacker-desperate Giants after three seasons as backup with the Jaguars.
Although there is a lot of competition, which makes his chances of sticking this fall iffy, there is also plenty of opportunity at one of the thinnest and weakest spots in the Giants’ defense. And Bosworth’s ability to play all three linebacker positions as well as special teams will give him a leg up.
“We felt like he would make a nice fit as a linebacker and a special-teamer,” Tom Coughlin said of Bosworth yesterday.
What won’t make one bit of difference, on the other hand, is his last name. And how Bosworth came about that name is, well, complicated.
In fact, he wasn’t even known as Kyle Bosworth until he and twin brother, Korey, signed with UCLA out of suburban Dallas in 2005. They were both recruited with the last name Miller, then changed to Bosworth — their mother Roberta’s maiden name — after an ugly falling out with their father.
How ugly?
“I call him my sperm donor, but if you want to call him my father, that’s fine,” Bosworth said tersely yesterday.
Bosworth made it sound as if his relationship with Brian Bosworth isn’t much better, at least since he made the Jaguars’ roster as an undrafted free agent in 2010.
Kyle Bosworth said that’s the last time he spoke to his uncle, who had a checkered NFL career with the Seahawks that was cut short by injury before he became an action-movie star and, lately, a successful real estate agent.
“It sucks, man,” Kyle Bosworth said of his lack of communication with Brian Bosworth. “I really wish he had [been there]. He’s a great linebacker and knows a lot, and there’s a lot to learn, but he hasn’t been there.
“But that’s OK. I’ve got my head held high, and I’m not sulking because my uncle’s not [in contact]. I know he’s got personal stuff he’s got to deal with, so I know it’s not in the forefront of his things to do to talk to his nephew in the NFL. He’s a busy man.”
Another potential bit of awkwardness: Bosworth grew up in Dallas as a Cowboys fan. But he insists that’s behind him now that he’s a member of their NFC East rival.
“I loved the Cowboys,” Bosworth said, “but now I’d just love to beat them.”