Disappointing Spelling Mistake in Times Op-Ed

Vol.CLVIII...No. 54,592 or the February 20, 2009 edition of The New York Times contains a spelling error in an Op-Ed column by recently-retired N.F.L. head coach Tony Dungy. The mistake was published in both the online version of the article and the printed version in the newspaper.

In the second line of the second paragraph of an article titled "Diversity Everywhere but the Sidelines," the word disappointing is misspelled "disapointing," lacking one of the two Ps in the word, as you can see in the below screen shot.

Also, if you have the print edition of the paper, turn to page A31 and you can see the mistake in the article which appears at the bottom of the page. Or direct your attention to the highlighted picture below.

The New York Times Op-Ed page is consistently a veritable marketplace of interesting and usually well-expressed ideas, which is why it's disappointing when these types of minor errors sneak by editors. And, while Tony Dungy was a great N.F.L. coach during his career, he has much room for improvement as an Op-Ed writer, the spelling mistake notwithstanding, because that was the fault of several people. Perhaps he shouldn't have quit his day job. Typically, the Times publishes better-written, better-thought-out Op-Ed columns. This one was subpar on two levels.