We have certainly run into instances of American journalism where their knowledge of Canada isn't up to speed. But when a Canadian writer gets involved, well, that is news.
Chris Jones is Canadian, but also grew up in Australia, and writes for ESPN magazine, based in the United States. Jones wrote a column about Jeffrey Loria, current owner of the Miami Marlins (nee Florida) and loathed former owner of the Montréal Expos.
Jones' column was warning fans of the Marlins that Loria would repeat himself and the Marlins would eventually be without a team. While the sentiment of the column was something we would applaud, this wasn't the most well-researched column and there are a number of holes, a la fromage Suisse.
The column in itself isn't why Jones got into trouble; he referred to what would happen in Miami as "Montréal Massacre, Part II." What Jones said he didn't know, and what the ESPN copy editors should have caught is that "Montréal Massacre" in non-sports terms refers to the Ecole Polytechnique shootings in 1989, when gunman Marc Lepine targeted women and killed 14 female students before turning the gun onto himself. The reference is more disturbing since the anniversary was in early December, and the Stephen Harper government is getting rid of the long-gun registration, which was originally inspired by the Montréal Massacre.
Once Jones realized what happen, he said he tried to fix the situation as best he could. While the online version was changed, the printed version contains the horrible phrasing.
Jones said he was living in Australia in 1989 when the shooting happened, and didn't associate the term with the shooting. For now, we can accept that explanation.
As someone who is a journalist, writer, and editor, writers have a requirement to stretch the language. Editors are paid to recognize when something can be disturbing or offensive. Even if the U.S.-based copy editors don't know of a Montréal Massacre, they should have taken out the violent element of the phrasing. An editor isn't always the popular one, but a good editor knows that being right is more important than being cool.
When writing about a culture that you aren't familiar with, you do have to go overboard to make sure what you are saying isn't taken badly because of circumstances that they know and you don't.
In the United States, a mass shooting involving 15 people is almost a ho-hum moment. In Quebec and Canada, the Ecole Polytechnique shootings were a big deal for the gender targeting and that 14 innocent people were murdered in the prime of their lives. It was, and still is, a big deal 22 years later.
Sports is sports, and real life is real life. Sports writers and editors (and I have been one) don't always get the difference. The folks at ESPN didn't set out to upset the people of Montréal and Quebec and Canada, but they should have been paying more attention to their copy. Normally, having a Canadian writer means Canada won't get as slighted as sometimes happens in American journalism. But journalism means double and triple checking, even when things are obvious.

