U.S. television program reminds us that Canadian geography is hard

Just because you design graphics for a TV show that’s aired across North America, that doesn’t mean you’re an expert when it comes to geography. But in fairness, finding people with the rare double major in graphic communication and geography has become more and more difficult over the last few years.

On Monday’s edition of ‘The Jump,’ an American basketball show on ESPN, this was apparent. While host Rachel Nichols was chatting about the Toronto Raptors recent victory over the struggling Los Angeles Lakers, the fateful graphic appeared over her right shoulder.

“While everyone from Hamilton to Oshawa knows it won’t mean anything until the Raptors succeed in the playoffs, it’s still worth saying that on another night of drama … the Raptors showed themselves to be the biggest stars,” she said while the incorrect map was on display.

Unfortunately, this only feeds the narrative that the United States doesn’t know or care very much about its neighbour to the north.

ESPN is a popular sports networks, but it’s the fact that ‘The Jump’ is also broadcast on the Canadian network TSN that caused this error to be called out by so many.

After the mistake began to gain some traction on social media, Canadians dealt with the situation as they usually do: Politely, and extremely passive-aggressive.

A personal favourite response was the work done by Chris Walder, an NBA news editor in Toronto. To him, displaying an incorrect map of only Southern Ontario wasn’t enough. He decided to show his version of the entire country based on the logic presented on ‘The Jump’:

Sportsnet’s daytime talk program ‘Tim and Sid’ pointed out the mistake on Twitter and received a reply from Nichols:

Mmmmmmm… There’s nothing that a Canadian loves more than a good apology. There’s a reason that the word ‘sorry’ is a favourite among the country’s residents and for that, you are forgiven, Rachel.

More NHL coverage on Yahoo Sports Canada: