- Ben Stiller broke three cameras in succession filming one scene, and even hit his wife Christine Taylor in the face once.
- Adult dodgeball leagues began to spring up across the country around the time of the film's release. Cast member Gary Cole was even invited to a tournament in Chicago.
- The climatic final battle is between Average Joe's and the Globo Gym Purple Cobras, or in other words "Joes vs. Cobras." This is a reference to the '80s toys and cartoon "G.I. Joe" (1985), which featured an ongoing battle between the heroic G.I. Joe team and the evil terrorist organization Cobra. The Globo Gym Purple Cobras logo is of a similar design to that of the evil Cobra organization (though it's purple, not red).
- Rawson Marshall Thurber thought Justin Long was so funny in Galaxy Quest (1999) that he wrote the part of Justin just for him.
- Peter La Fleur's line "You had me at blood and semen" is a reference to Jerry Maguire (1996) where Dorothy says, "You had me at 'hello'."
- Brigitte Nielsen was briefly considered for the role of Fran.
- After the credit, when the extremely obese White does a little dance to 'Kelis'' Milkshake song, it's a reference to viral video clip that circulated on the internet of an extremely large black woman doing the same dance.
- In the US, the film is promoted with the tagline "Grab life by the ball". In foreign markets such as the UK and Australia, this is changed to the more risqué "Grab life by the balls".
- EASTER EGG: On the Special Features section on the DVD, if you click on the Globogym logo at the bottom, you will see a short video with White Goodman talking about easter eggs on the DVD. He tells you that if you press enter every time he snaps his fingers you'll see an easter egg. These "Easter Eggs" are deleted scenes not included with those in the Special Features. There are 4 White Goodman finger snaps in the movie. The first comes as he gets into the tanning bed, the next when he sends the lawyer out of his office, the next as he motions for Me'shell to pick him up from Kate's porch, and the last when He motions Me'shell to give him the contract for Peter to sign at the hotel room in Vegas.
- There is another finger snap by Ben Stiller as the Cobras leave the Dirty Sanchez.
- Another easter egg/finger snap is after the scene in White Goodman's office where he asks Kate out. He snaps for Me'shell. When you press enter, it cuts to a clip of the dodgeball game and then a fat 'Ben Stiller says, "You found it."
- Gary Cole and Jason Bateman had to keep redoing their voice recordings for the dodgeball matches because everyone kept changing stuff in the script during the shoots.
- Justin Long's eyebrow was actually cut open by the first wrench thrown at him. All the wrenches thrown were made of rubber, but the first was harder than all the others.
- Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor had an 18-month-old baby at home while shooting this film. Taylor was so exhausted from taking care of the baby that she often dozed off in between takes.
- According to the director's commentary on the DVD, Rawson Marshall Thurber wrote the parts of Peter La Fleur, White Goodman, and Justin with Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller, and Justin Long respectively in mind.
- The entire cast practiced playing dodgeball about a month before filming began.
- According to many cast members, the hardest part of filming the dodgeball scenes was not flinching when they knew they were about to be hit by a ball.
- Director Cameo: [Rawson Marshall Thurber] the guy who throws the drink at Steve the Pirate on the Vegas strip.
- Many studios including Dreamworks and MGM passed on this film. Fox finally agreed when Ben Stiller reduced his salary to well under $1 million. As of March 2005, the film has grossed over $124 million when it only cost $23 millions to make.
- Norm MacDonald can be seen in some of the Globo Gym scenes. One is in the Globo Gym commercial. He is in the background working out. At one point he is talking to some girl who is working out and it looks like he's hitting on her.
- Calling ESPN 8 "The Ocho" is a reference to the fact that when ESPN 2 was still a relatively young network, at least one of the announcers referred to it as "The Deuce".
- In the climactic scene of the final Dodgeball match TV announcer Cotton McKnight uses the term "Down goes Goodman! Down goes Goodman!" This is a reference to Howard Cosell's famous call from the Heavyweight 1973 championship fight between George Foreman and Joe Frazier in which he yelled, "Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!"
- When the Average Joes are in the locker room waiting for their teammates before the final match, all the players are wearing pants except Christine Taylor who is wearing shorts. Listening to the DVD commentary you hear that she had pants but refused to wear them because she thought they were too ugly and unflattering.
- The DVD contains a fake commentary where the director and two main actors do nothing but fight, and claim to hate each other, before storming out 40 minutes on. The commentary is then replaced with the commentary for 'There's Something About Mary.' The real commentary is on the DVD as an easter egg.
- The name of the Bar where the confrontation between White Goodman's team and Average Joe's occurs "The Dirty Sanchez" refers to a deviant sexual practice.
- In the end of the movie, ESPN 8 announcer Cotton McKnight says "Do you believe in improbabilities? Yes!" This comment is a play on the famous exclamation by Al Michaels when the USA beat Russia in hockey at the 1980 Olympics, "Do you believe in miracles? Yes!".
- In the original ending, the Average Joes lose the final game at the end. This was changed because test audiences wanted a happy ending. This is also the reason why a fat White Goodman complains about the cliché happy ending after the end credits.
- When Troop 417 first appears, the music heard is the old theme music for WWE/ECW wrestler Bob Holly.
- The original title was simply ‘Underdog’.
- In the scene where Peter walks into his hotel room and White and Me'chelle are there waiting for him, White says "¿Donde esta la bibloteca?" - translated means "Where is the library?"
- Patches O'Houlihan says, "It's like watching a bunch of retards trying to fuck a doorknob." - a play on "It's like watching a monkey trying to hump a football.", something 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Coach Herb Brooks said to his team when they were preparing for the 1980 Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, NY, which was also said by Tim Daland (Randy Quaid's character) in Days of Thunder (1990).
- Patton Oswalt did the Foley work (voice) for the scene where Ben Stiller is having his 'private time'. "...with sour cream on top..."
- Actress Missi Pyle (who played Fran) can be seen arm in arm with Owen without makeup looking as she does in real life towards the end when Peter LaFluer is doing the commercial.
>>> WARNING: Here Be Spoilers <<<
Trivia items below here contain information that may give away important plot points. You may not want to read any further if you've not already seen this title.
- SPOILER: The words "Deus Ex Machina" are printed on the side of the treasure chest at the end of the movie. "Deus Ex Machina" is a Latin phrase meaning "god from the machine," and is derived from a plot device in ancient Greek drama by which a "god" was lowered to the stage by a crane ("machine") to solve a problem which the human characters could not. It's used to describe an improbable event bringing a solution to a seemingly impossible problem. The "deus ex machina" in this film takes place when Peter bets on Average Joe's to win the final tournament by using the bribe money White paid him, then using the tournament prize money to buy the majority stocks of Globo-Gym, thereby becoming the owner of both Average Joe's and Globo-Gym.
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