Factual error: At the beginning of the movie when all the guys are in the barber shop, a man is wearing a John Deere hat with the modern logo, not the one from 1976.
Factual error: About fifteen minutes into the film, Ed Harris is in his home watching film from the previous game. In the background, but purposely featured to make comparisons between Harris' character and former Alabama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, is a commemorative Bear Bryant Coca-Cola bottle. The bottle commemorates the Bear's then-record 315th career victory as a head coach - a feat accomplished in 1981, five years AFTER the movie's 1976 setting.
Factual error: The movie is set in 1976 but the truck that the coach is driving is a 1979. The only year that body style of Ford truck had Square headlights.
Factual error: When Coach Jones goes into the bank after he talks with the guy from the board, we can see a new VW Beetle on the street. Obviously way past the time the movie was set in.
Factual error: In the beginning of the movie, Radio rests his shopping cart against the guard rail. The end of the rail is a Slotted Rail Terminal (SRT), a recent design that replaced the old hazardous Breakaway Cable Terminal (BCT).
Factual error: On the play where the ball is intercepted, the players knee touches the ground. National High School football rules state that when any ball-carrier's knee touches the ground, the play is dead at that spot. The player should not have been able to return the ball for a touchdown. It was either a referee's mistake, or a mistake filming the play, allowing the knee to touch the ground. (00:31:25)
Factual error: Towards the beginning of the movie, when Radio is pushing his cart past the pre-season workouts, the Nike football cleats the team is wearing have the '90's style trim and slim "swoosh" even though the film is set in 1976. The shoe style is very modern. At the time of the movie, Nike used a bulkier shoe with a very large and noticeable "swoosh". At the films setting, Nike was a young company mainly selling in the Northwest U.S. and it's very unlike a school from the South would be able to equip their entire team.
Factual error: In the scenes where Radio is setting the Christmas presents on the front porches of different people of the town you notice that the trees still have green leaves and that the grass is green. During this time of the year in South Carolina the trees and grass are dormant.
Factual error: After Coach Jones takes Radio home for the first time Radio goes into his room and begins taking apart the desk radio that Coach Honeycutt gave him. He takes the back cover off which separates the AC terminals of the radio from the case. This is not a battery powered radio, yet Radio is able to turn it on and we hear the radio operating and the stations changing as he adjusts the dial. If you look closely at the back of the radio in one scene you can even see the AC terminals.
Factual error: Radio is based in the upstate of South Carolina. When Cuba is taken home by the coach, you can see Spanish moss in the trees. Spanish moss is only on trees in the lower part of South Carolina.
Factual error: The basketballs have modern Spalding letters on them, wrong for the year of the film.
Factual error: All the footballs have gold Spalding logos, not used until the 1990's.
Answer: The players (and their fathers) were jealous of Radio because Coach Jones began spending a lot of time with him. The players believed Coach Jones was neglecting them. The players immediately disliked Radio from the start for two reasons: his refusal to return the lost ball in the beginning irritated them and his mental disability was a source of ridicule.
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