The folks at Old Navy are selling cool new T-shirts this fall. Including this one…
…which, unfortunately, turns out to be a bit of a brain-warp due to a number of factual errors. Let’s see if we can recite them all…
- The shirt declares the Texans were “1961 AFC Champions.” The AFC didn’t exist in 1961. The American Football League — the AFL — started play in 1960 and then was converted into the American Football Conference in 1970, when it merged with the NFL.
- The Houston Texans did not win the 1961 AFL championship. The 1961 AFL champions were the Houston Oilers. You know them today as the Tennessee Titans.
- The Texans did indeed win the 1962 AFL championship. However, it was the Dallas Texans — not the Houston Texans — that won that title. You know the Dallas Texans today as the Kansas City Chiefs.
- The Houston Texans did not begin play until 2002.
- And they’ve never won an AFC championship.
David Barron of the Houston Chronicle reported this weekend:
There were other problems with the NFL T-shirt line, which is available in local Old Navy stores and on the company’s website. The Cleveland Browns shirt proclaimed the Browns as 1964 AFC champions; the Browns, who now play in the AFC, won the NFL title that year.
Also, shirts for the New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs proclaimed them as NFL champions for the 1968 and 1969 seasons. Both won Super Bowls that year, but they did so as members of the AFL.
The Texans shirt was still listed on the Old Navy website Monday afternoon but was not available to be ordered. The Browns shirt also was removed, as was a shirt identifying the Detroit Lions as winners of the 1957 NFC title. The Lions won the 1957 NFL title before the post-merger creation of the NFC.
What a mess. And it all could have been caught if Old Navy had just hired a sports copy editor.
This is the second time Old Navy has appeared on our wall of shame. Last fall, the retailer was compelled to reprint thousands of T-shirts that were missing apostrophes.
Thanks to Jay Carr of the Chronicle for the tip.
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And while we’re on the topic of retailers needing copy editors, here’s a bonus item for you: James Molnar of the Toledo Free Press tells us via Twitter today:
Looks like Kohl’s needs a copy editor…
The girl’s… what? The girl’s pictures? The girl’s picture frame? The girl’s poor use of a possessive apostrophe?
Evidently, James took that picture himself while out shopping.
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You know who else needs a copy editor?
Local TV news operations. Chicago’s WMAQ-TV in particular. And WLS-TV, also of Chicago. And Harrisburg’s Fox43 TV news. And WDAY-TV 6 News in Fargo, N.D. And Local 15 News in Mobile, Ala. And WMAR-TV in Baltimore. And WBAL-TV in Baltimore. And Fox 4 KDFW in Dallas. And KTLA channel 5 in Los Angeles. And KNBC channel 4 in Los Angeles. And Charlotte’s WBTV. And KXAN-TV of Austin. And KOKI-TV, Fox 23 in Tulsa. And Huntsville’s WAFF-TV. And Miami’s WSVN channel 7. And KUSA 9 News in Denver, Colo. And KCRG of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. And local Fox affiliates. And other local TV news operations. And CBS local media. And CBS/DC in Washington. And the web operation for DC101 radio. And the Huffington Post. And the Huffington Post again. And CNN (and CNN again)(and yet again)(and yet again)(and a huge one here) and CNN Money and CNN mobile and Fox News (and Fox News again)(and Fox News yet again)(and again!)(and again!)(and yet again!)(and yet again)(and yet again) and Fox Business and MSNBC and MSNBC again and ABC News and NBC news and NBC News again and the Weather Channel and the Weather Channel again and the BBC and German news channel N24. And Fairfax media of New Zealand. And Dagsrevyen, the evening news broadcast of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corp. And Martha Stewart’s TV operation. And the Disney Channel. And AOL. And creators of mobile apps. And Yahoo News. And Yahoo News again. And the fictional TMI! web site on the Newsroom TV show. And Google News’ bots. And baseball jersey manufacturers. And football jersey manufacturers. And sports ticket counterfeiters. And the NCAA. And the Big 12 Conference. And Georgetown University. And Kansas State University. And the University of Iowa. And the University of North Carolina. And the University of Texas. And Nebraska Wesleyan University. And high school diploma printers. And the New York Jets, the Minnesota Vikings, the Minnesota Twins the St. Louis Cardinals, the Seattle Mariners and the Washington Nationals (boy, do they need a copy editor). And Manchester United. And the National Hockey League (and the NHL again). And the NHL Network. And ESPN (and ESPN again)(and yet again)(and yet again)(and three more times!)(and yet again)(and yet again)(and yet again) and Fox Sports (and Fox Sports again)(and Fox Sports one more time)(and Fox Sports yet again). And NBC Sports. And NBC Sports again. And CBS Sportsline. And Sports Illustrated (and again). And college athletic department ticket offices. And the NCAA. And Leaf trading card company. And the Virginia general assembly. And college alumni magazines. And pharmacies. And the makers of Sudafed. And Borders bookstore. And the U.S. Postal Service. And government agencies and political candidates. And Tea Party candidates. And the Newt Gingrich campaign. And the Mitt Romney campaign. And the Mitt Romney campaign again. And the White House. And the Vice President. And the President himself. And city and county Boards of Elections. Both the state of Pennsylvania and its department of transportation. And Costa Cruises. And Pittsburgh skywriters. And road paving contractors in Durham, N.C. and in New York City. And the city of Norfolk, Va. And the Ohio Dept. of Transportation. And the Maryland Dept. of Transportation. And the West Palm Beach, Fla., police dept. And Lakewood High School in St. Petersburg, Fla. And Sunrise-McMillan Elementary School in Fort Worth, Texas. And Canadian school districts. And South African traffic cops. And the Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico. And gas stations. And billboard companies. And bumper sticker manufacturers. And sign painters. And Home Depot and manufacturers of “hoodies.“ And T-shirt designers. And more T-shirt designers. And Old Navy. And Adidas. And Mazda. And rubber stamp designers. And glass etchers. And hotels. And manufacturers of custom-printed hotel accessories. And Starbucks. And Wendy’s. And Applebee‘s. And DaVanni’s Pizza. And restaurants, breakfast joints, Chinese restaurants and cake decorators. And more cake decorators. And drive-in movie theater managers. And auto dealers. And auto body shops. And romance novelists. And Capcom, the makers of Resident Evil video games. And the Ku Klux Klan. And American Idol. And book cover designers. And editorial cartoonists. And business page editors. And South Africa’s New Age and Sunday Independent newspapers. And City Press of Johannesburg. And Dublin’s Sunday Business Post. And the Echo of Gloucestershire, England. And the London Daily Mail. And the National Post of Toronto, Canada. And the South China Morning Post. And the Air Force Times. And the Washington Post (Hey! Another repeat offender!), the Post’s Express tab (Hey! Yet another repeat offender!), the Washington Examiner, Boston’s Metro, the New York Times (Wow! Yet another repeat offender!)(Hey! A third offense!)(Hey! A fourth offense!), A.M. New York, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Post, the New York Post again, Wall Street Journal Europe, Newsday, USA Today, the Chicago Sun-Times (And yet another!), the Daily Herald of Arlington Heights, Ill., the Rochester, N.Y., Democrat & Chronicle, the Daily Mail of London, the Echo of Liverpool, England, the Seattle Times, the weekly Manila Mail of San Francisco, the Miami Herald (and again!), the Portland Oregonian, the Durham, N.C., Herald-Sun, the News & Observer of Raleigh, N.C., the News & Observer again, the Chapel Hill, N.C., News, the Tampa Bay Times, the Missoula, Mont., Missoulian, the Duluth, Minn., News Tribune, the Springfield (Mass.) Republican, the Bangor (Maine) Daily News, the Advocate of Stamford, Conn., the Times-Record of Denton, Md., the News-Herald of Willoughby, Ohio, the Reporter of Lansdale, Pa., the Times-News of Erie, Pa., the Tribune-Review of Pittsburgh, Pa., the Wilmington, Del., News Journal, the Dispatch of Casa Grande, Ariz., the Amarillo (Texas) Globe News, the Laredo Morning Times, the El Paso Times, the Daily Telegram of Temple, Texas, the Independent of Rayne, La., the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Waynesboro News Virginian, the Virginian-Pilot (and the Virginian-Pilot again), the Des Moines (Iowa) Register, the Coon Rapids (Iowa) Enterprise, the Green Bay Press-Gazette, Gannett’s N.Y. Central Media hub, the Greenville (S.C.) News, the Daily Herald of Provo, Utah, the Deseret News of Salt Lake City, the Salt Lake Tribune, the Fort Collins Coloradoan, the Denver Post, the Olympian of Olympia, Wash., the Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News, the Carbondale, Ill., Southern Illinoisian, the Lakeland (Fla.) Ledger (Hey! Yet another repeat offender!) and the Canarsie Courier of New York City. And Politico. And the Associated Press. And the Associated Press again. And the Associated Press again. And the Associated Press again. And the Associated Press yet again. And the Associated Press yet again. And Mann’s Jeweler’s Accent magazine. And New Scientist magazine. And Investment News magazine. And Time magazine (and Time magazine again). And Editor & Publisher.
And, of course, I need a copy editor myself.
I’ve always needed a copy editor. Which is why you’ll see me fight so hard for them.
