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NFL Shop Apparently Believes Redskins Play In Washington State

By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston

BOSTON (CBS) -- The state of Washington is reserved for "the 12s," folks who dedicate their lives to three things: raising flags emblazoned with the number 12, hooting, and hollering.

That state of Washington is not reserved for the Redskins.

This is all, apparently, news to NFL's official store.

As pointed out by Dan Steinberg of The Washington Post, the "State Pride" Redskins license plate on NFLShop.com features the well-known Redskins logo plastered on top of the state of Washington, as opposed to the District of Columbia.

Washington Redskins License Plate
Washington Redskins "State Pride" License Plate (NFLShop.com)

Frankly, it's rather wild that nobody from the NFL nixed the idea of the Redskins even getting a "State Pride" license plate, on account of the Redskins not technically being named after a state. They're based in Ashburn, Virginia, and they play their games in Landover, Maryland. And they get their city name from Washington D.C., though the D.C. is of course not part of the official team name.

Basically, it's a big ol' mess. But if the NFL really wanted to push a "State Pride" Redskins license plate, maybe it could look like this?

Redskins License Plate
Potential Redskins license plate

(Who does West Virginia root for?)

Anyway, that would be a pretty convoluted license plate. Maybe the Redskins can just sit out "State Pride" merchandise from now on. And maybe we can all pitch in and send an atlas or two over to the NFL's merchandising wing to help sort things out for the fine designers who created the historic piece of memorabilia.

How that item passed through multiple steps of the process, (presumably) getting seen by several people, and then still being sent to production will go down as a great mystery of our time. Or at least this week. There's not much else happening.

One thing, though, is for sure: This will not sit well with the 12s. NFL Shop can expect some very loud noise sent in their direction for this unforgivable gaffe.

You can email Michael Hurley or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.

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