After playing two seasons as simply the Washington Football Team after dropping the “Redskins” nickname ahead of the 2020 season, the team finally settled on the nickname “Commanders” ahead of the 2022 season. But it would appear that the team is still struggling with its identity a little bit.
Ahead of the team’s 2022-23 season-opening game against the Philadelphia Eagles, NFL reporter Pete Hailey of NBC shared a photo of a mug currently being sold in the team shop. While the mug does indeed feature the new team logo, it also includes an outline of the state of Washington.
Elsewhere at the stadium: I’m being told there are mugs with outlines of the state Washington for sale pic.twitter.com/1fzp4RrdNV
— Pete Hailey (@PeteHaileyNBCS) September 11, 2022
The obvious problem is that the Washington Commanders are not actually located in the state of Washington, they are located in Washington D.C. – all the way on the other side of the country. Technically, the Commanders actually play in Summerfield, Maryland, which is about five miles east of Washington, D.C. But the point still stands.
It’s an embarrassing blunder for a team to sell a product like this in their very own stadium, and the NFL had plenty of thoughts on the hilarious product.
https://twitter.com/lukezim/status/1568985708961882112?s=20&t=B11Znyk_ZCfiSwg17GrD4A
Embarrassing but on brand https://t.co/e9U693WAo4
— Michael Bohlin (@MBohlinCBS) September 11, 2022
I bought this five years ago! Still sits on my desk! Glad to know they're still in circulation https://t.co/5MN9poVckj pic.twitter.com/tbHaWtsR0u
— Dan Steinberg (@dcsportsbog) September 11, 2022
It's not even noon and the Commanders are selling mugs that feature the STATE of Washington to their fans. https://t.co/trezzWWE8A
— Zachary Krueger (@ZK_FFB) September 11, 2022
The ability of the Washington Football Program to embarrass themselves on a constant basis is incredible https://t.co/uKTmB2SB1m
— lindsey ok (@lindseyyok) September 11, 2022
The Football team is down bad…I don't care what the score is. https://t.co/tBf76FlRI5
— Al Smizzle (@AlZeidenfeld) September 11, 2022
This is hysterical lol. https://t.co/mONPgGj5cJ
— Joe Fann (@Joe_Fann) September 11, 2022
The Commanders got off to a strong start in their season-opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars, taking a 14-3 lead into the half. Perhaps that will help ease the pain of getting blasted online.
