Has the Blood-Horse purchased USA Today?

Perhaps I'm an old fogey and The Blood-Horse is actually cutting-edge.

I poked fun at that horse racing industry standard back in July when it reacted to the scratch of the late Barbaro's brother, Nicanor, from the Virginia Derby by headlining a blog post with the common text-messaging exclamation OMG!

But today, I look like a putz.

Why? Because that bastion of U.S. newspapers, with its roots anchored in the fertile soil of American journalism history as deep as 1982 -- USA Today -- has jumped on board the Blood-Horse train.

McNewspaper's McWebsite posted a news brief about the cancellation of the Kanye West/Lady Gaga "Fame Kills" tour with the headline, "Kanye and Lady Gaga's Tour Canceled ... OMG!"

And, just as before, I'm effing serious.

Now, USA Today has a minor excuse. It was just trying to drive traffic to its Web site in any way it can by co-opting headlines and copy from other sources. This particular "story" is actually an abbreviation of a "17 Buzz" item posted at seventeen.com; half-regurgitated by USA Today, right down to the headline.

Obviously all, including The Blood-Horse, are trying to reach a youthful audience by attempting to speak "their language," rather than realizing that, yes, even 13- to 17-year-old girls can (and probaby will) read actual English, provided the content is interesting.

Today's revelation further proves two truths of journalism as we near the second decade of the 21st Century:

1. There is little or no worthwhile online reporting that could be done well with your own paid staff that isn't better done (that is, cheaper and more profitably) by passing along someone else's work, with a small credit to them and surrounded by your ads.

2. There are few standards of journalistic professionalism that can't be turned into dusty relics by a teenage girl, her two thumbs and a cell phone keyboard.