In layman's terms: if there's a million to one chance against something of vital importance happening, then it's that one time rather than the other 999,999 times. This is Truth in Television to a certain degree that it becomes likely that an extremely improbable event will occur to someone, and it's his story that's told. This comes up most frequently when characters say Never Tell Me the Odds, and occasionally when someone makes a few calculations. It is still played straight, but it is also widely parodied. A corollary of the Theory of Narrative Causality.