Factual error: Special Olympics tryouts for the Nationals take place at least a year before the Games, not a few days before as portrayed in the film.
Factual error: The movie takes place during the year 1919. Yet before one of the World Series games the stadium announcer requests that everyone stand up to sing "the national anthem". The US did not have a national anthem until the 1930's when Frankin D. Rosevelt signed into law the Star Spangled Banner as the nation anthem.
Suggested correction: According to Ken Burn's "Baseball", Burns and Ward verify that "The Star Spangled Banner" was sung at a baseball game in 1918 to support the efforts of American Troops in WWI- in which players like Ty Cobb, George Sistler, and Christy Mathewson all fought.
The mistake is saying the announcer called it the national anthem, not that they sung "The Star Spangled Banner."
Factual error: It is said Maggie can't breathe on her own after her injury. If this was the case she wouldn't be able to speak, since she can't push air out of her lungs to generate sound.
Factual error: The scenes set at Wrestlemania XXX (2014) were filmed at a RAW show in 2018 - fans are visible in the background wearing wrestling merchandise more recent than 2014.
Factual error: There are Velcro straps holding the pads on the blocking sled, and there is an end zone goal post with one base. Both of these items did not exist until the late 60s.
Factual error: During the Mike Webster autopsy, Dr Omalu asks Gracie for Mike's CT Scan of the brain again, but what she holds up is a MRI film, not CT. Then after interpreting the displayed MRI Dr. Omalu tells Gracie that this brain should be a mess, but it looks completely normal. Whereas the MRI shown by Gracie reveals several abnormalities like brain atrophy and degeneration due to complications of previous disease process. (00:27:45 - 00:28:30)
Factual error: After Miyagi and the kid have the conversation with the military man they drive off and round a corner. A scene is shown of the sea and very visible is a shot of "Chinaman's Hat" Island. A feature that if you have ever been to Oahu, Hawaii near Kualoa Point you would know is on the island of Oahu and not in Okinawa where the movie is supposed to take place. See Chinaman's hat at this site: http://www.hawaiiweb.com/oahu/sites_to_see/chinamans_hat.htm.
Factual error: In the second skydiving scene Patrick Swayze tells the pilot to fly the plane at 4000 feet, which he does as this can been seen on an altimeter. When skydiving from 4000 feet it would take 25 seconds before you hit the ground but the skydive in this scene lasts 1 minute 51 seconds.
Factual error: Throughout the entire Varsity/JV game, the Varsity team makes at least 20 penalties that aren't called. They also refer to a tripping call as hooking, even though the Varsity player obviously goes for the JV players ankles.
Factual error: The movie takes place during a single NFL season. In the beginning of the movie, when Brandon is still in Las Vegas, the paper he is using to pick games shows Seattle playing New Orleans. Later in the movie, still the regular season, Seattle and New Orleans are playing again. They would not play each other twice during the regular season.
Factual error: The very last thing we see before the camera fades to the credits is a waving American Flag. You will notice that the flag is that of the 48 states, not the 50. The stars printed are not in the correct sequence.
Factual error: In an early scene, a character suggests that a man might be awarded an OBE honor if he wins the 1913 US Open. The OBE wasn't established until 1917.
Factual error: In the scene at the Miami hydroplane race, Mike McCormick spies a long haired boat pilot and naively asks one of the locals, "Is that Grizzly Adams?", to which he is answered facetiously, "Yeah, that's Dan Haggerty." The story takes place circa 1971, but actor Dan Haggerty didn't play Grizzly Adams 'til 1974.
Factual error: Lou Erding qualifies his car (42) in third, yet prior to engine startup, the famous "position pole" shows 42 as starting in 20th.
Factual error: On the England shirt, you can see the badge where the three lions logo should be. But it is not there. It is the badge the England Cricket team wear on the sleeves on their shirts. [I'm assuming that the FA didn't give permission for the three lions logo to be used, but it is still a mistake].
Factual error: When Ralph is shooting the final two free throws of the championship game, his feet cross the free throw line before the ball hits the rim. This is a lane violation in the National Federation of High Schools which governs middle and high school sports. The correct call would have nullified both shots and the points they scored.
Factual error: When Jimmy hot-wires the Lotus for the last time, he touches a red wire to a black one, the starter engages and the engine starts. Then he twists the two wires together. This would result in the starter running constantly, overheating it, and burning it out. A competent car thief would know never to do that.
Factual error: According to the novel on which the movie was based, the "40" in the title refers to the number of players on a football team. But by the time the movie was made, football teams had 45 players. The coach even says Nick Nolte was just one of 45 players. So the title of the movie really makes no sense.
Factual error: The basketball rims used in the movie are of the modern basketball era with "breakaway" rims. Such a rim was not used until after 1979, when Darryl Dawkins broke his first backboard in a game against the Kansas City Kings in November 1979.
Factual error: During the period in which Apollo is trying to bait Rocky into a rematch, Rocky puts the TV on and sees a sports report in which Brent Musburger announces that the Los Angeles Rams defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on a late field goal by Frank Corral. The movie takes late 1976-ish. The Rams did not play the Buccaneers in 1976, and Frank Corral did not join the Rams until 1978. The game in question occurred during the 1978 season.