Factual error: The restaurant Joe opens and his apartment at 1 Charles are actually less than a city block apart, so there is no need to drive across Boston to get there.
Factual error: In the opening day clips, they show 49, Tim Wakefield, starting. The starting pitcher that day was 38 Curt Schilling (Wakefield never played that day). Furthermore, the clips show them playing against the Texas Rangers; opening day 2004 was against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Suggested correction: Not Curt Schilling, Bronson Arroyo started the home opener against Toronto in 2004.
Factual error: The duel between the lead three cars on the last lap of the race covers a section of the cicuit twice: it is the section past Arnage, Maison Blanche and the Ford Chicane.
Factual error: When he bats, Jake uses a helmet with no earflap. In 1983, it was instituted that players must wear a helmet with at least one flap; however, it's possible that Jake is exempt from this rule under Major League Baseball's "grandfather clause," which allows any player who played before 1983 to continue using the flapless helmet. (01:34:40)
Factual error: When the second round of the tournament is starting and Bagger Vance is telling Rannulph Junuh about 'the field', just after Bobby Jones has taken his tee-shot, Bagger hands Junuh a ball and tee. The tee is a red plastic 'castle' style tee. Apart from being illegal in tournament play, I'm pretty sure they weren't around in the 1920's.
Factual error: When the team goes to the game to watch the Cubs and Sammi Sosa, Conner evidently drives 4 hours to the east. The ballpark shown in the movie is Tiger Stadium in Detroit.
Factual error: Cruise is breaking and if you watch the eight ball after the break it's following the 5 into a pocket at the end of the table closest to Tom. Now the 8 ball didn't necessarily go in because they focus on the one ball, but in the next frame shot, there's no way it could be at the opposite end of the table like they show. (00:29:20)
Factual error: The race held at Texas Motor Speedway has signs showing that it is the Dickies 500. That race is held in November and ends after dark. The race is finished in the daylight.
Factual error: Soccer officials are supposed to wear a color that is different than the teams he is officiating. The ref wears a blue shirt when officiating the tigers (who are blue) and then a black shirt when officiating the Gladiators (who are in black). The referee would have worn either his primary yellow for these or red, but never blue or black.
Factual error: In the scene when the opposing team's players interrupt the party on the bayou and the knife is pulled, the patches on the sheriff's uniform say County Sheriff. Louisiana has parishes not counties.
Factual error: Karl Wolfschtagg's Olympic uniform should have read 'DDR' (Deutsche Demokratische Republik, the German name) rather than 'GDR', the English name for East Germany. Olympic country names are customarily rendered in their native language.
Factual error: In the awards scene, it's awards for 1971. Just prior to that scene "Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress" by The Hollies was playing. That record wasn't released until Feb. 1, 1972.
Factual error: In the first match between Fast Eddie and Minnesota Fats towards the beginning of the film, Eddie, right after declaring he would start to win after losing thus far, shoots the one ball into the side pocket by shooting the cue into a striped ball. Sharp eyes will notice that he actually hits THROUGH the cue and strikes the stripe into the one with his stick. While a nice trick, this is an incredibly illegal shot and would never have been allowed.
Factual error: When we meet Nana and Demon's pups, Nana is a border collie, and Demon is a Siberian Husky, therefore, the pups should be mixed breeds. But it is easy to tell that these puppies are purebred huskies, not mixed breeds.
Factual error: When the upset boyfriend ends up driving off the cliff, his car explodes into flames magically and the fire doesn't even start at the engine. The entire interior of the car is consumed and when the car crashes, its explosion is on par with a missile. The character, when seen next, doesn't have a burn on him at all ignoring the fact that there was no humanely possible way to survive that fall and explosion.
Factual error: The stadium in the opening scene was not around in 1995. The first game played in that stadium was 2001.
Factual error: Under the rules of Major League Baseball, a team owner cannot also serve as the team's manager; it constitutes a conflict of interest.
Factual error: All UK driving test instructors must wear a yellow reflective waistcoat or jacket while instructing someone during their driving test. This was still true in 2002 when the film was shot.
Factual error: On 26th May 1989, the Liverpool v Arsenal game kicked off at 8pm, which meant it would be 9:50 at the earliest before the end of the game. Sunset was at 8.59 that day (I checked!) so why is it still light when they're celebrating?
Factual error: During the competition scenes between the Clovers and Toros, you can see a basket-toss stunt being thrown in the background: the girl is doing a full twisting flip... in a high school competition, this stunt is very illegal, and both teams would be disqualified for trying it.