The Redskins Blog

Friday, September 18: Mike Sellers Inspires Fear In Malcolm Kelly

http://p.castfire.com/Zorhx/video/160077/redskins_2009-09-18-090324.flv

Mike Sellers is a big dude, bigger even than his listed 6-foot-3, 273 pounds. Part of this is because, well, he’s enormous; another part is probably his elaborate goatee; and the final part is his outsized personality. Which, in fact, is often misunderstood.

In his tongue-in-cheek guide to football fandom, author Michael Tunison classifies Sellers using words like snarling, intimidating, naturally terrifying, and oozing quiet intensity [while] coated in an enemy’s blood, and all of that — with the possible exception of the blood coating — is an easy conclusion to reach. That’s why Sellers now has his own segment on NBC-4′s Inside The Redskins show Saturday mornings: not to intimidate and terrify, but, Sellers explains, “For me to be me. I get to let people know who I am and how I am and the type of dude I am on this team.” Read more »

The Mikes Talk Piggyback Rides And Nicknames

I’ve done what I could to make this picture a little clearer, but it was a split-second shot and didn’t turn out as perfectly as I might’ve hoped. The whiteish blob on the right is the new, svelte version of Chris Samuels, helmet tucked under his arm as he walks back from the practice fields.

On the left, the whiteish blob is fullback Mike Sellers, perched on the back of the blackish blob, offensive tackle Mike Williams.

“The amazing thing,” Sellers told me today, “is that I ran up behind him and jumped on his back, and he didn’t even break stride. Just kept going like he didn’t even notice.”

Read more »

Mike Sellers Apologizes For American Flag Mistake

I was on the sidelines during player introductions last night; I saw Mike Sellers run out with the flag, but what happened next was lost in a mass of players and cheerleaders and cameramen and all the other visual clutter you get from that vantage point. So here’s the description from ESPN.com:

An unsightly breach of patriotic etiquette: Redskins FB Mike Sellers, carrying the American flag onto the field during pregame introductions, flung the Stars and Stripes onto the ground near the 50-yard line. After a few seconds, LB Robert Hanson walked over and rescued the flag off the turf.

Moments ago, a visibly chagrined Sellers addressed the media about the incident. “It’s been brought to my attention,” he said, “carrying the flag out yesterday that I didn’t put it in the proper spot after carrying it out. I meant no disrepect. My father retired [after] thirty-something years, almost; I grew up as an army brat. I know the conduct when it comes to the flag, and I made a mistake by setting it down the way I did, and I’d like to apologize if I offended anybody out there.

“I was asked to bring it out last-minute, didn’t know who to give it to, got hyped up, and put the flag down. Like I said, if I offended anyone I apologize. That is not me. I grew up in a military background. I know what it is to respect the flag, and I apologize. It was in the heat of the moment.”

For the record: it was clear from hearing Sellers describe the incident, both before and during his speech, that he legitimately meant no offense, and his apology seemed heartfelt. Read more »

Thursday, August 20: More About The Goalpost Tapings

The recent spate of rookie hazing prompted a little more concern from people than I thought it would. I was actually excited to see the hazing in the same way that I was a little pleased to see Marko Mitchell’s fights earlier in camp: these are things that show some spark, some fire, some liveliness beyond the basic nose-to-the-grind work ethic of training camp. I like them from a blogging perspective, yeah, but I’m also of the opinion that they’re good for team chemistry, too.

But it’s not my opinion that really matters.

“Absolutely it builds camaraderie,” London Fletcher told me, “because, you know, you’re in training camp. You’re out here working so hard, grinding, and it’s just a part of the whole experience, the training camp ritual that you pass down from year to year.”

Casey Rabach agreed. “It’s part of training camp, you know? Everybody kinda pays their dues, and that’s just one of ‘em.”

Mike Sellers feels the same way, but also raised the larger question: “You know, Coach Zorn doesn’t believe in that stuff, and I don’t know how those guys got away with it. He made sure last year that the hazing stopped.” Which, obviously, has changed. Read more »

Portis On Mike Sellers In Hawaii and "The Worst Coach In America"

After his relatively quiet radio show yesterday, newly-minted Pro Bowler Clinton Portis came to the media session at Redskins Park today a little bit jauntier, a little more ready to banter, and with two football cards taped to his chest. The media, no pack of dummies, immediately focused in on the cards, one of which featured Eric Dickerson, the other Barry Sanders.

“Me and [Chris] Cooley was just playing Pack Wars,” Portis said, “and I won these two cards off of him. So I figured I fall somewhere in between these two guys. And if I don’t, these are the two guys I’m shooting to fall between, so … I think it’s pretty nice company.”

(I’m told that more on this epic pack wars contest will show up on Cooley’s blog in the not-too-distant future.)

First-time Pro Bowler Mike Sellers came down the steps behind Portis and said, “They all had good fullbacks, too.”

Portis initially tried to ignore Sellers and finish the joke he had set up, but had to interrupt himself. “And the reason I fall in betw-Barry Sanders didn’t even have a fullback!” Read more »