History Main / ArtisticLicenseSports

* ''Film/DaysOfThunder'': Despite the official cooperation of UsefulNotes/{{NASCAR}} and several race teams (primarily Hendrick Motorsports), the movie still gets a lot wrong about NASCAR. UsefulNotes/RichardPetty once said there are only two things the movie has in common with real NASCAR: "The cars have numbers on them, and they go fast. That's about it."

** In "The Ski Trip," Bolt, Mittens, and Rhino would not be able to ski down a mountainside on a single pair of skis.

** Oddly enough, this was {{Averted|Trope}} in ''Series/{{House}}'', hand-shaking and all. Of course, the Patient Of The Week was one of the contestants, and his first showing symptom was that he leaped over the table and beat his opponent to a pulp with the clock, but that's neither here nor there.

* ''Film/DaysOfThunder'': Despite the official cooperation of NASCAR and several race teams (primarily Hendrick Motorsports), the movie still gets a lot wrong about NASCAR. Richard Petty once said there are only two things the movie has in common with real NASCAR: "The cars have numbers on them, and they go fast. That's about it."
** A UsefulNotes/{{NASCAR}} team needs more than one car. This is not just a question of repairing damage and having a backup car ready, but of suitability because different cars are designed for different tracks (you have your superspeedway cars, short track cars, road course cars, etc.). Basically, there is no way that a NASCAR team could get away with using only one car on every track.

** The Texas Motor Speedway race is signed as the Dickie's 500 (now the AAA Texas 500), but there are a few glaring inaccuracies to any NASCAR fan: one, the race ends in the day time, when both Texas races (spring and fall) end under the lights (the spring one is a Saturday night race; the fall race starts in the late afternoon and ends just past sunset). Also, the NASCAR on FOX crew is shown commentating for the race, when at the time of filming, and in the present day, it would have been the NASCAR on NBC team (or, from 2007 to 2014, the NASCAR on ESPN[=/=]ABC team) who would be covering the race. FOX covers the spring Texas race.

** At the end, Nuke is called up to the majors from the A-ball Durham Bulls, having never gone through the AA or AAA levels. This is not unheard-of--Minnesota Twins shortstop Jorge Polanco made his major league debut as a single-A call-up--but it ''is'' incredibly rare. More likely he would have been moved up during the season if he'd been dominating A ball. You can't use the Majors' expanded September roster as a reason since the Bulls' season wasn't over. Minor Leagues that are affiliated with Major League teams end their season in August ''because'' of the 40-man Major League rosters that were in use before 2020.[[note]]It's not unheard of for players to get called all the way up from A-ball.[[note]]Teams are still allowed to have 40 players signed to major-league contracts, but their September active rosters are now restricted to exactly 28 players. During the last few years of the 40-man active roster rule, some teams expanded their rosters to the full 40, while others called up far fewer players.[[/note]] This plot point would actually make sense nowadays because the Bulls became a Triple-A team in 1998, which ironically was in large part due to their brand recognition from this movie making them arguably the best-known minor league team in the country.

* Paintball as depicted in ''Series/{{Community}}'' would invite injury, pain and destruction of property. Obviously a lot of that was necessary for RuleOfFunny and RuleOfCool (although Troy's crotch protection and Chang's sunglasses are those ''and'' sensible safety wear), as well as it not being ideal to have the characters' faces obscured for most of the episodes.

** In “The Ski Trip,” Bolt, Mittens, and Rhino would not be able to ski down a mountainside on a single pair of skis.
** Usually averted in “The Baseball Game,” but played straight when honorary [[{{Mascot}} mascot]] Bolt enters the game as an active player. No baseball league allows this type of substitution.

* One ''Kirk'' bowling episode, "The Spare", has so many faults that even casual bowlers are screaming at the television. For instance, mistaking a 6-pin for a 10-pin; all four members of a team bowling one game together (usually they bowl games separately); one team is leading by one pin before the ninth, and all of a sudden in the 10th that team needs three strikes to win, even when the other team got two gutter balls in the ninth. Perhaps this example would've been shorter if we had listed the stuff about bowling they got ''right''.

* In the 1994 movie ''Film/LittleBigLeague'', a 12-year-old boy inherits ownership of a major league baseball team, and appoints himself manager. Even if the age issue could be overlooked (the team would probably be held in trust until he comes of age), while it once was common for major league managers like Connie Mack be owners as well, Major League Baseball has forbidden it since Ted Turner tried to appoint himself manager of the Atlanta Braves in 1977. The kid and his assistants are well aware of the rule but they manage to convince the Commissioner of Baseball to allow him to take the manager job anyway (partly because they can't find a grown man who wants to work for a kid).

** Rocky takes horrible beatings in most of his fights, which is part of his [[TheDeterminator style]]. In real life, the referee will step and stop a fight when he feels the fighter is essentially out on his feet or has simply taken too much punishment. Not to mention Rocky and his opponents usually have massively swollen eyes or are badly cut and pouring buckets of blood by the end of a fight, which are past the point of even a lenient ringside doctor's allowance.

** The Ducks' win over the Huskies in the final game of the regular season gave them a playoff spot, the 8th and final seed, which should have meant facing the top-seeded Hawks in the first round - the most likely case given that there are 10 teams in the league (going by the chalkboard standings and district map in Hans' shop), it's stated all but two make the playoffs (one of these are the Panthers, who forfeited their season due to measles), and the overall poor record of the Ducks at 1 win, 12 losses, and 1 tie[[note]]they were 0-11-1 after their tie with the Cardinals and the only Ducks games shown after it were the forfeit to the Flames after the team revolts over Banks and the win over the Huskies[[/note]]; the Cubs and Tigers were the next two teams in the standings but both are 4-7-1, which the Ducks couldn't possibly match with two games left.

** In the final shootout to decide the tournament winner of D2, neither Fulton's nor Gunnar Stahl's penalty shots should have counted as they both clearly come to a complete stop and then shoot. During a shootout or penalty shot, the puck must always move forward.

** The climax of the film has the two teams tied at 0-0 in the bottom of the 9th inning, with a runner on second base and less than 2 outs. [[spoiler:The protagonist chooses to bunt to advance the runner. The runner does not stop at third, but continues to home. The fielding team chooses to throw the hitter out at first rather than ensure the runner does not score the walk-off run and end the game. It is completely nonsensical for a team to sacrifice the game in order to make an out.]]
* The 2005 film ''Film/FeverPitch'' gets pretty much everything wrong in its climactic scene: No one would've been scalping tickets in the eighth inning (and virtually every stadium closes off attendance after the first several innings), Lindsey survives a feet-first 30 foot fall well enough from Fenway's "Triangle" wall to be shown on TV running on the field (TV broadcasts are mandated not to show fans running on the field, in order to discourage that type of behavior), and is allowed to carry a conversation lasting more than one full minute with Ben before being taken away by security (apparently, TalkingIsAFreeAction at Fenway Park).

* Granted, the Disney Channel movie ''Film/HEDoubleHockeySticks'' already takes creative liberties by featuring two fictitious NHL teams in the Delaware Demons and Annapolis Angels. Still, assuming the movie refers to Annapolis, Maryland, those teams would not face each other for the Stanley Cup since they would both be in the NHL's Eastern Conference (and most likely the same division) due to their geographic proximity. Then again, [[RealityIsUnrealistic a variant of this has happened in real life.]] [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece In the 1970s and early 1980s,]] intraconference (like 1978's Bruins/Canadiens matchup) and even intradivision Stanley Cup Finals (like 1980's Flyers/Islanders matchup) were allowed in order to make the Cup Final more competitive while the NHL sorted out their interconference parity problem.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': Quidditch is a fictional sport that has its own set of rules [[note]] Including the infamous & extremely broken GoldenSnitch Rule [[/note]], but (as pointed out by ''Rempton Games'' in his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X6fjZh-B_M video discussing it]]) there are several aspects of the game that do not follow even the most basic, universal rules & practices of any team-based sport:
** Each team has only seven players, ''no more & no less''. In real life, team sports tend to have additional players on the bench during the game in order to serve as backup in case if any players get injured, exhausted, or otherwise are unable to play, which is a regular occurrence. And generally in youth/school-based sports all members of the team are rotated regularly during a game. If a team did not have any backup players when a replacement is needed, they'd either have to forfeit a game or play with a smaller roster at a major disadvantage against the opposing team. Since Quidditch is such a dangerous sport [[note]] considering it has players fly dozens or even hundreds of feet in the air on broomsticks, cannonball-like bludgers that fly around to hit players, and injuries are a common occurrence [[/note]] it’s incredibly odd that ''any team'' would not have additional members for their roster.
** Quidditch Teams, or at least the teams that play at Hogwarts, do not have any coaches. Most practices and strategizing is organized by the Team Captain. Coaches in real life are a neccesity in sports in order to have the players practice properly, to work well together, to learn the best ways to effectively use the team's players, motivate them properly, organize the team's & its members various schedules, etc. Plus, during games they examine, motivate, & strategize their players from the sidelines to have the team play well. Having a fellow player essentially serve the coaching position is very impractical and inefficient, as s/he would be performing double-duties during a game & practice that would be near impossible for any normal person to do effectively, much less in a game as dangerous as Quidditch. And that's without mentioning the fact that said captain [[AChildShallLeadThem would be a fellow student]]. Adult Coaches in schools would be vital since the students who join the team would need further guidance to learn more about the game & how to play well enough to be on the team, along the years of expertise they’d have with the sport is beneficial for any player, something that no student, no matter how skilled with the sport, could provide. And finally, the aforementioned lack-of-backup-players means losing the team captain would be extremely detrimental in any game.
** Even if one were to ignore the GoldenSnitch Rule and its excessive value, the mere fact that having players chase the Snitch at all is one as well. It means that the game is essentially two separate and largely unrelated games are happening simultaneously, one where the players try to score points and the other where two seekers race to catch the snitch. It goes without saying, but there has never been a sport in real life where such a practice exists; it would make the sport difficult to follow, and audiences would only choose to follow one of the two simultaneous games [[note]] Likely the Snitch chase since it's typically what wins the game [[/note]].

*** Even though punters replace the backup QB as the holder on field goal/PAT attempts sometime in the mid-2000s[[note]]Partly due to not wanting to waste the backup QB on special teams plays and partly because the punter is already working with all the special teams guys anyway, and already has experience handling long snaps[[/note]] in the real NFL the game still insists on having the backup QB as your holder, though you can change this on your depth chart. This is likely intentional, as having a QB as your holder makes those fun trick plays a lot easier to pull off.
*** While on the subject of special teams, there's no designated long snapper position in the game, even though most teams set aside a roster spot for a player [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin that does nothing but snap the ball on punts and field goals]], showing how valuable the skill is in real life. Because of this most teams will have a player (usually a tight end) that has a rating in the 30s or ''worse'' (on a 1-100 scale) that's probably the first guy cut in franchise mode unless you ''really'' know your favorite team's roster and already know why he's there.

*** While on the subject of special teams, there's no designated long snapper position in the game, even though most teams set aside a roster spot for a player that does nothing but snap the ball on punts and field goals, showing how valuable the skill is in real life. Because of this most teams will have a player (usually a tight end) that has a rating in the 30s or ''worse'' (on a 1-100 scale) that's probably the first guy cut in franchise mode unless you ''really'' know your favorite team's roster and already know why he's there.

** EA's ''VideoGame/NCAAFootball'' series (the college-aged sister game of ''Madden'') mistakenly had a hard roster limit, like the NFL. While the NCAA does have limits on both the number of scholarships you can give out and the number of players you can dress for games, the actual limit is greater than the 70-player limit given by EA. However, the series in its modern form dates back to the UsefulNotes/PlayStation, so the limit may have been a technical restriction rather than a deliberate design decision.

*** Given that the game is licensed by the NFL and intended in every way to be a simulation of real-life football, it generally does a good job of avoiding this trope, at least for the football games themselves. Franchise mode, however, deviates significantly from real-life NFL rules. Listing every example would require its own page, but some particularly notable ones include: a 53-man roster limit at all times (NFL teams have a 90 man roster limit in the offseason), no practice squads (a 10 man group of players who can practice with the team but is barred from participating in the games unless called up to the active roster first), no customization of player or coach contracts (all contracts are back-loaded, guaranteed money is evenly spread throughout, there are no incentives, etc.), the coaching staff is generally limited to the head coach and coordinators only, etc. etc.

*** Daniel being given a free pass to the final rounds due to winning the previous year's tournament would not happen in any legitimate tournament, and clearly was done so the writers could skip over a tournament montage[[note]]It's also thought to be a result of the film's TroubledProduction, which saw filming halted for several weeks due to Ralph Macchio's oak poisoning and Sean Kanan's OnSetInjury which required emergency surgery[[/note]]. The writers for ''Cobra Kai'', like everyone else, [[AuthorsSavingThrow clearly noticed this was bullshit]], and so the rules from the first film are used instead. As a result, in the season 1 finale, the previous year's champion, Xander Stone, is shown fighting his way to the finals, so Miguel Diaz eliminating him in the semifinals is [[TheWorfEffect even more impressive]]. And in season 4, as defending champion, Miguel has to once again fight his way to the top, with the added benefit of proving himself capable of fighting cleanly and with honor despite still recovering from back injuries he sustained in the school brawl at the end of season 2.

** During the present-day portion of the first leg in Daisy Stanton's OriginStory "The Sequence" a group of Rainbow Angels, which included Daisy, Octavia Ember, Claire Farron, Shantae, and led by Jet, attend a Mets game. It starts out with back-to-back home runs in the first by David Wright and Yoenis Cespedes (because each different multiverse has different timelines the game is circa. 2016 despite the meta-timeline being several centuries past that); when it goes back to present-day as Wright comes up with the bases loaded with the Mets up 18 to nothing it's now the eighth inning. Shantae's presence (and the sentient ponytail, a 2481 addition to the purple-haired Delta's ability pool) leads to the announcer team quipping that Jet's brother Storm had gone to the Red Sox game at Fenway Park while a friend of Jet's is in Seattle for a Yankees road game. Storm then says after the two East-coast games end and the two groups have returned to their base that he and his wife Rochelle had tickets for seats atop Fenway's famed Green Monster, admitting to catching three home runs before they reached Lansdowne Street.

* Parodied in ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'' with beach volleyball. Hayate is worried because he doesn't know how to play, but Nagi tells him it's okay because the author has no idea either. So [[WidgetSeries obviously]], it ends with killer robots.

* ''ComicStrip/JumpStart'': Marcy's stepbrother, Marcus Glover, [[https://www.gocomics.com/jumpstart/2021/6/14 is a former Heisman Trophy winner.]] While defensive players like Marcus routinely rank highly in Heisman voting[[note]]given out every year to college football players who exhibit "Outstanding performance which best exhibits the pursuit of excellence with integrity. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard work."[[/note]], no defense-only player has won the Heisman, and only three have even been runner up[[note]]Alex Karras (yes ''that'' [[Film/BlazingSaddles Alex]] [[Series/{{Webster}}]])of Iowa in 1957, Hugh Green of Pittsburgh in 1980 and Manti Te'o of Notre Dame in 2012[[/note]]. Michigan's Charles Woodson won in 1997 as a defensive back, but he also played major time as a receiver and kick returner.

* ''ComicStrip/JumpStart'': Marcy's stepbrother, Marcus Glover, [[https://www.gocomics.com/jumpstart/2021/6/14 is a former Heisman Trophy winner.]] While defensive players like Marcus routinely rank highly in Heisman voting[[note]]given out every year to college football players who exhibit "Outstanding performance which best exhibits the pursuit of excellence with integrity. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard work."[[/note]], no defense-only player has won the Heisman, and only three have even been runner up[[note]]Alex Karras of Iowa in 1957, Hugh Green of Pittsburgh in 1980 and Manti Te'o of Notre Dame in 2012[[/note]]. Michigan's Charles Woodson won in 1997 as a defensive back, but he also played major time as a receiver and kick returner.

* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' was guilty of this in a 2013 sketch featuring host Melissa [=McCarthy=] as Sheila Kelly, the aggressively abusive women's basketball coach at fictional NCAA Division III school Middle Delaware State (parodying former Rutgers men's coach Mike Rice). In an interview clip, the school's athletic director tries to defend her behavior by pointing out that the players are receiving a free education via athletic scholarships. Division III institutions are prohibited from giving out athletic scholarships; in fact, that's the main distinction between Division III and the other two divisions.
* In the original series ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E3TheCurseOfFenric "The Curse of Fenric"]], the Doctor has perplexed EldritchAbomination Fenric with a chess puzzle the being cannot solve. The solution is accidentally provided by the Doctor's companion Ace, the black and white pawns must work together! This is presented as a solution that Fenric, [[EvilCannotComprehendGood by his nature]], could not comprehend. In reality, it's a solution that nobody who understands chess could comprehend. [[note]]There are a few smart-alecs who have written chess-puzzles with the phrase: "Move one to mate" having the solution be "promote pawn to enemy's whatever, using said piece to mate me". This may or may not be legal in an actual game, and in either case, is not used here.[[/note]]

* A critical plot development in the second season of ''Series/TheNewsroom'' takes place during an interview with a subject who is obsessed with March Madness, college basketball's post-season tournament. A character even uses the game clock later to figure out that the interview tape was edited. However, the actual game being played on the background TV is a 2011 regular-season game between Kentucky and Florida (perhaps as a nod to Florida alum Stephen Root, who played the character being interviewed). The game was played at Kentucky, while March Madness games take place at neutral sites.

* In the episode "Minefield" of ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'', Archer tries to have a chat with Malcolm over breakfast and tells him that England made it to the finals in the World Cup. Barring a change to the schedule thanks to World War III, 2152 is not a World Cup year, though it would have the UEFA Euro and the Summer Olympics.
* In ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'', Sabrina takes up martial arts for an episode and enters a tournament where she uses her magic to defeat a professional fighter, but later her conscience gets the better of her and she challenges '''him''' to a fair rematch. Real life martial arts tournaments are strictly divided by sex.

** Aisha Robinson and Bert's participation in the All-Valley in season 1 establishes that the tournament does not have the gender or weight divisions that would be expected of a combat sport, [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality largely so that]] [[RuleOfDrama all of the main characters can fight in the same tournament]]. This is changed in season 4, where the All-Valley Committee re-format the tournament to include gender divisions.
* The premise of ''Series/TedLasso'' involves the titular collegiate American Football coach being hired to lead an English Premier League team despite his lack of knowledge of the sport. In real life, managers and coaches at the professional level are required by the Football Association to have an accredited coaching certification that involves proving their experience and knowledge with the sport. It would be impossible for someone like Ted Lasso to become a Premier Coach in reality for that reason.

* A constantly perpetuated error when referencing professional wrestling is calling a move a "piledriver" (often with the out of place modifier of "flying" or "atomic" piledriver) which never used for the actual wrestling move of that name (where you hold someone upside down and drop them on their head). In ''Film/GeorgeOfTheJungle'', one character announces a move as an "atomic piledriver" when it's clearly an elbow drop.

** The ending, which has [[spoiler:Lightning McQueen stop short of the finish line, and driving back to Strip Weathers to push him over the finish line]], would break most racing leagues' strict rules against driving in the wrong direction.

** At the end, Nuke is called up to the majors from the A-ball Durham Bulls, having never gone through the AA or AAA levels. This is extremely improbable as he probably would have been moved up during the season if he'd been dominating A ball. You can't use the Majors' expanded September roster as a reason since the Bulls' season wasn't over. Minor Leagues that are affiliated with Major League teams end their season in August ''because'' of the 40-man Major League rosters that were in use before 2020.[[note]]It's not unheard of for players to get called all the way up from A-ball - Minnesota Twins shortstop Jorge Polanco made his major league debut as a single-A call-up - but it is incredibly rare.[[/note]][[labelnote:note 2]]Teams are still allowed to have 40 players signed to major-league contracts, but their September active rosters are now restricted to exactly 28 players. During the last few years of the 40-man active roster rule, some teams expanded their rosters to the full 40, while others called up far fewer players.[[/labelnote]]

** Probably not intentional, but it ''is'' an AlternateUniverse.

* Bullfighting is really toned down in ''WesternAnimation/TheBookOfLife''. In real life, the bull is weakened by picadors who jab spears into his neck to weaken him so that the matador can further weaken him with the capote, with the goal of tiring him so much that he's forced to expose his lungs for the killing blow; here, the bull and the matador enter together.

** At one point the protagonist is forced to play against his love interest, with the loser being slated for death. Both players are unwilling to win, so they end up deliberately hitting the ball directly at each others bats to force returns. In real life it would be effortless to lose on purpose by hitting the ball sideways, turning your back or even repeatedly flubbing serves.