And in the latest edition of “C’mon man!” in sports, one local department store dropped the ball by some apparel that recently hit their shelves.
A T.J. Maxx department store in Chesterfield Township was caught red-handed (credit to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press) selling shirts that labeled the Detroit Lions as the champions of the NFC North division from the 2016 NFL season.
The problem? Well nothing really… aside from the fact that the Lions haven’t won a division title of any kind since 1993.
Your NFC North champions in 2016? According to this T-shirt for sale, it was the Lions https://t.co/EnNDX6bHao via @freep
— Dave Birkett (@davebirkett) July 25, 2017
Now it isn’t totally out of the ordinary to have this type of apparel produced. When sports teams are on the brink of reaching a substantial accomplishment, like winning a title of any kind, all sorts of purchasable attire is made available and eventually made public when said accomplishment is reached.
The Lions were in line to win their first division title in 23 years last season when they were sitting at 9-4 through 14 weeks. However, they proceeded to lose their final three games of the regular season, including the season finale at home against the Green Bay Packers. That loss to Green Bay handed the Packers their fifth division crown in six years and 13th overall since Detroit sat atop the NFC North in 1993.
Typically when debunked apparel such as these shirts, which were being sold for $4.99 at only this Chesterfield Township location, they are either destroyed or donated to charity. An NFL spokesperson said that shirts and other articles of commemorative clothing are “printed in advance for a variety of clubs,” and that they have since then “been in contact with the manufacturer to ensure these shirts are pulled.”
A member of the T.J. Maxx corporate company had this to say regarding the issue:
“As you know, it is a fairly common practice that vendors print team sports t-shirts in advance of an important game anticipating a winning outcome,” Doreen Thompson, vice president of global communication for the TJX Companies, wrote in an e-mail. “In this instance, we believe that one of our vendors may have inadvertently included the Detroit Lions t-shirt in with other goods intended for our local area stores. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused and invite our TJ Maxx customers to contact customer service should they wish to return this item by calling 1-800-926-2699.”
Despite missing out on the division title — or so we still think — the Lions reached the playoffs for the third time in the last six seasons, before going one-and-done against the Seattle Seahawks in the Wild Card round.
The store will reportedly be offering refunds to anyone who may have purchased the shirts by accident.
