In the Internet age, subscribers need not wait overnight for the latest news to reach their doorsteps. As news can be delivered online just seconds after an event, journalists prepare their stories even before the event themselves. In April, online news organizations had their "Royal Wedding" stories ready before the wedding itself, in order to promptly send feeds to readers as soon as pictures of the newly wed Britain's Prince William and Kate Middleton arrive.

However, amidst their focus to deliver their stories ahead of each other, online news sources are often criticized for their cheap, unverified, and sensationalistic content. The traditional newspapers, on the other hand, pride themselves of being able to high quality, well edited, and original content, as their news are only delivered mostly once a day.

One of the reputable traditional newspapers is The Miami Herald, founded in 1903, a recipient of 20 Pulitzer Prizes, and with a hardworking staff of 450 in its newsroom. However, nobody, including the McClatchy Co.-owned newspaper, is perfect after all.

The Miami Heat basketball team in the NBA was the early favorite to win the NBA title against the Dallas Mavericks. Statistically, the Heat had a 50% chance of winning it all. The Macy's department store in Miami, hoping to bag on merchandise sales after a championship by the Heat, readied an ad on the Heat's victory.

However, fate was not in favor of Miami fans. The Heat, despite being led by superstars LeBron James and Dwayne Wade, lost in six games, notwithstanding a 2-1 early series lead.

The Miami Herald the next day ran a story about the Heat's disappointing loss. However, to the surprise of everyone, a full-page ad by Macy's under the story reads "Congratulations Miami" next to photos of Heat championship T-shirts and hats on sale from the store. A T-shirt on the ad says "Heat 2011 NBA Finals Champions". The Heat's logo on a hat has the words "NBA Champions."

The Miami Herald has apologized for the erratum. A Macy's spokeswoman also apologized for the misprint to Heat fans.

This is the second time Macy's has made a boo-boo on congratulating the wrong team. In 2009, the department store placed ads in the Philadelphia Inquirer congratulating the Phillies baseball team on their World Series title -- a series won by the other team, New York Yankees.