History Film / SemiPro

* TheAlcoholic: Lou Redwood. Also Ed Monix, apparently - during the infamous JiveTurkey scene, he's mentioned as hardly ever being sober. This seems to be something of an InformedFlaw as Monix seems completely professional during games, and while he's found at a bar a few times in the film, he seems more pensive than inebriated. It's possible Monix's problem used to be worse and he's cleaning up a bit as part of his CharacterDevelopment.

* ArtifactTitle: Presumably the Flint Tropics started out in Florida before relocating to Michigan (this also counts as a HistoricalInJoke, as many actual ABA and NBA teams switched cities during their existence and kept their names even if they made little sense, such as the Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers and New Orleans/Utah Jazz).

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The Tropics don't get accepted into the NBA for business reasons. However, they still finish fourth and take satisfaction in what they accomplished, Withers gets to play in the league with the Spurs, and Jackie gets a marketing job with the league's front office.]]
* BrickJoke: [[spoiler:Dewie The Bear, who gets out of the cage during his "fight" with Jackie. He randomly attacks Bobby while he's out for a walk later in the movie, and then attacks the ABA commissioner out of nowhere right at the end of the film, making it a RunningGag too.]]

* DarkReprise: Jackie earned all his money that he bought the Tropics with using royalties from his song "Love Me Sexy." He later goes through a HeroicBSOD of sorts, and sings a variation of that song while lying in a dumpster. Yes, it's sad and drunken.

* FailedASpotCheck: Monix is stunned when he sees Moon shoot his free-throws "Granny-style" during the last game against the Spurs, suggesting that Monix has somehow gone the entire season - no, his entire career - without seeing Moon ever shoot a free throw before.

* SmallNameBigEgo: Jackie Moon, who clearly thinks quite highly of himself despite the fact that he's coasting on the fame of a single hit song [[spoiler:that he stole from his own mother]] and owning a rather bad basketball team with few fans. To be fair, he's probably a modest deal in Flint, but [[spoiler:the merger meeting puts both his power and the standing of the Tropics into harsh perspective.]] Also Clarence Withers, who is genuinely talented but more concerned about looking cool and branding himself than actually playing effective team basketball. [[spoiler:They each get a strong enough dose of BreakTheHaughty to get them to come around.]]

* TeamPet: Averted with the opossum that apparently haunts the locker room.

* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Ultimately averted with both Moon and Monix, depending on which one you feel is the film's true protagonist. Moon is certainly an egotist and a terrible basketball coach, but he genuinely loves his team and his guys. [[spoiler:He even lashes out at the merger meeting when being told he'll be getting a big buyout, stating he'd rather have his team instead, and while he does pout a bit he lets Monix take over as coach when he realizes it's the right thing to do.]] He's also willing to put himself at incredible (and admittedly idiotic) risk to try and drum up business. As for Monix, he starts out quite bitter and contentious but [[spoiler:eventually takes over as coach to great success, and becomes a mentor to Withers to prepare him for his future in the NBA.]]

* {{Guyliner}}: Jackie has the guys wear eyeliner during a Game Of The Week so they'll look better on television. It works briefly to confuse their opponents, but RealityEnsues and the inevitable sweating leads to the make-up getting into their eyes and causing considerable pain.

* ((Foreshadowing)): Jackie introduces Monix as an "old warrior," leading to Clarence cracking a joke about him just being old. Jackie wasn't lying, though; despite his knee and age, Monix fights like an animal during the brawl with the Amigos.

* Foreshadowing: Jackie introduces Monix as an "old warrior," leading to Clarence cracking a joke about him just being old. Jackie wasn't lying, though; despite his knee and age, Monix fights like an animal during the brawl with the Amigos.

* ArtisticLicenseSports: [[spoiler:Yeah, there's no way in hell a player can just decide to play for the other team in the middle of a game because he feels like it. Fun moment, though.]]