Browsing around some of the forums I keep coming across an argument that looks something like this:

I just read in the paper where an 80 year old man fought off his attacker, and he didn't have any fancy training so why should I take a class?

The reason the anecdotes about senior citizens beating the thugs are always sound good is because they are rare. Usually it is the criminals that do the beating.

In the cases where someone without training, physical superiority, or tools manages to emerge victorious from the encounter is simply a case of having an under motivated assailant. I don't want to take anything away from the people who won their self-defense encounters, or diminish their accomplishments in any way, but self defense is pretty easy if your attacker is an idiot.

Crack addicted purse snatchers are not the same thing as gangs, strong arm robbers, stalkers, or terrorists. The better prepared and dedicated he is, the better you have to be to win.

Look at the famous North Hollywood bank robbery. Two body builders wearing body armor and armed with fully automatic weapons. In the end it took a whole lot of police officers to bring that shoot-out to a close, and the after-action reviews decided that police officers need to be trained and equipped with patrol rifles.

We don't get to schedule our emergencies, and we don't get to pick our assailants. Training is preparation for the contingencies.