This was not a last-gasp effort to save jobs.
The timing was bad, too - as it usually is for last-gasp efforts.
Perhaps this is why they're hyping this up - a last-gasp effort to buck a downward trend from here on into the new year?
But in a last-gasp effort to save entertaining from its ultimate demise, nostalgia for parties of the past might be the only hope left.
The fuzz was knocked off Burnitz in 2002 when he joined the Mets as part of Steve Phillips's last-gasp effort to buy a pennant.
But he provided insufficient backup to Sampras today in what turned out to be a triumphant last-gasp effort by Australia to prolong this much-anticipated semifinal.
Little Rock's schools were closed in a last-gasp effort to stop integration, its kids dispersed to schools in nearby towns.
Atlanta added to San Francisco's poor season by winning 17-14 with a last-gasp effort.
Railroads began collapsing and Federal subsidies kicked in, a last-gasp effort to keep commuter lines alive.
Van Gundy's barrage against Jackson yesterday was a valiant last-gasp effort to keep New York from being skewered in Chicago today.