Baron Davis Has a Herniated WHAT?

A typo by the Charlotte Observer noted that injured New York Knicks point guard Baron Davis was suffering from a herniated dick instead of his actual herniated disc injury.

Romenesko first pointed out the hilarious mistake by the well-meaning newspaper on Wednesday. The paragraph read as, Ex-Charlotte Hornet Baron Davis signed with the Knicks after being cut by Cleveland under the amnesty clause. Davis is recovering from a herniated dick.

How exactly did that mistake make its way into the newspaper?

Observer executive sports editor Mike Persinger explained in a blog post that it was simply a typo by an experienced editor.

Observer reporter Rick Bonnell wrote the preview box, and in it he wrote that Davis, a former Charlotte Hornet, is recovering from a herniated disc in his back. The box was edited by an experienced copy editor, the reporter's first line of defense, and moved along in the production process as written.

The next stop was a final read by a second editor, another experienced employee who recognized that herniated disc doesn't conform to the newspaper's style for that type of injury, and that it should be herniated disk. That editor tried to type in the correction, but ended up with an unfortunate typo.

Because part of that second editor's job is to send stories to the typesetter, the typo was moved along without another set of eyes to catch the error, and that led to what you saw in today's paper. And no doubt to a lot of snickering.

Baron, get well soon.

Davis has been out since the beginning of the season with the lower back injury. He is expected to return in the next two to four weeks for the Knicks. Without Davis, who has a strong chance to play meaningful minutes once he returns to the action, the Knicks have struggled to a 2-3 record.