Big 12 expansion, like much of
the realignment situation, is awkward. Awkward for the Big 12 which,
though in the driver's seat, probably has to expand or eventually die.
And certainly awkward for the universities that prostrate themselves
before the Big 12 in efforts to secure an invitation.
USF may have raised the awkwardness to a new level. Its Big 12 promotional submission "case statement" includes an egregious spelling error. Naturally, it comes in a section which touts USF's academics:
"Reasearch." In the second
sentence. Immediately following a sentence with "research" spelled
correctly. The message: ‘Of course I know how to do it right, but I
stopped paying attention while proofreading.' Ouch.
The Bulls seem to have a
problem with these things from time to time. Their football media guide
notes USF's status as an "ermerging" preeminent research university:
That puts other schools' sometimes criticized pitches into perspective, doesn't it?
To be fair to USF, these Big 12 promotional materials were provided in response to a public records request and it's not immediately clear
that the error-plagued version has been actually sent to the Big 12.
And these are the kind of errors that just sneak through some times. I'm
reminded of when UF put a crocodile on its media guide instead of an alligator back in 2003.
Obviously, the Big 12's
expansion choices are not going to hinge on typos. And plenty of
expansion candidates have warts. BYU, for example, has been correctly
criticized for its institutionalized discrimination against LGBT individuals. That's a real problem.
All the same, I'm sure USF
would rather the first reaction to its (frankly quite good) submission
focus on something other than spelling errors.
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