As long as we're quoting platitudes, I'd say that the flip sides are that "desperate times call for desperate measures", or as Titus Livius said, "In difficult

As long as we're quoting platitudes, I'd say that the flip sides are that "desperate times call for desperate measures", or as Titus Livius said, "In difficult and desperate cases, the boldest counsels are the safest". Desperation changes the entire game theory. Yes, in many cases people will give the desperate a wide berth. Sometimes, that is just the opening they need. During John Elway's heyday, I saw the Denver Broncos reach the Super Bowl three times. He was an unbelievable talent. I saw "the drive" of NFL lore from my living room and I saw the Broncos lose in the Super Bowl to larger city teams all three times. And then, years later when both he and the team had been in decline, I saw the most desperate thing. After his career should have been over, when he was pushing 40, Elway and the Broncos made it back to the Super Bowl. He played the game of his life. And I'll be damned if there wasn't a steely look of desperation in him. At long last, they won. And the next year, they did it again. In his final game, with the clock of not only the game, but of his life ticking down, he did something insane. As a comparatively fragile quarterback hellbent on securing his legacy, he ran it in for a touchdown against heavily muscled men who had a 100 pounds in him. And it was just desperate enough that they didn't see it coming until it was too late to stop him. That's something that younger, less desperate quarterbacks just wouldn't do. In many cases, the result is ruin. But sometimes desperate actions prevail. It's called a Hail Mary. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzzfbflCGwg&t=4m25s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzzfbflCGwg&t=4m25s