As if reading the sports section didn't suck enough for Heat fans this morning, Miami Herald readers opened the paper to find a nearly full-page ad reading, "Congratulations Miami!" next to photos of Heat championship T-shirts and hats sold at Macy's. ("Raise Another Banner" -- ughhhhh.)

Maybe Mark Cuban took out this ad as an extra-special Monday-morning foot-to-the-balls for Heat fans? He's devious. We won't put it past him.



Just for added effect, the ad runs directly under a banner headline about how badly the Heat's point guards sucked and an all-caps header proclaiming, "DALLAS WINS BEST-OF-7 SERIES 4-2."

Thanks, Miami Herald. You are the fourth-quarter LeBron James of local sports coverage:

Update: The Herald has posted a brief correction about the ad. Here it is:

A Macy's advertisement featuring Miami HEAT merchandise was mistakenly published on page 11D of the June 13th edition of The Miami Herald. We regret the error and apologize for any inconvenience.



We've also emailed Herald editor Aminda Marques to see if she wants to talk more about how this ad ended up in the morning paper. We'll update if we hear back.

Update 2: Elissa Vanaver, the Herald's vice president for human resources, said in a phone interview that the mistake was a "production error."

The advertising staff had produced a number of ads in case the Heat pulled out the series, she says, and the wrong one was placed in the layout after the Mavs took the title.

"We weren't going to sit and wait around for Game 7 to decide how to advertise something like this," she says. "That ad was in the system for the eventuality that the Heat ended up winning the title."

"We're apologizing to readers and advertisers about the mistake," she says. "I'm not sure what else there is to say about it."

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