I've been involved in two efforts in my life involving committee-like structures where it seemed as if victory, success, whatever... was so remote, so unlikely, that it seemed best to talk to the priest and have the last cigarette... i.e., there was no hope.
Yet, somehow, and through very little of my own influence, the most unlikely outcome was realized. The first was when I was on a jury in Philadelphia and we convicted the defendant on all three accounts. That was so unlikely. The second was much more recent and involved the USOF logo. How did that happen? Amazing.