While I am in no way trying to discredit the good Dr. Morgus, I would like to point out to everyone that the examples he has given are incredible outliers, statistical improbabilities. And thats the trick here, overall its a numbers game. No single aspect of your application, nor an entire application good or bad can guarantee you anything when it comes to the match. Any given criteria can only enhance or diminish your chances. This means of course that given a large enough pool there will be times when people "defy the odds". And while what happened to Dr. Morgus and Co. seems to be impossible, it is merely very improbable. But still, with thousands of medical students graduating every year, at some point what happened to his friends and he was bound to happen. And so it did.
The point is that what happened to Morgus is unlikely to happen to any of you, but it it COULD happen (as he said). So don't give up hope, or don't give up in general. The only way to guarantee that you don't get a residency is to not apply for it because you think you are under qualified. Always try for what you want, but be prepared to get something else just in case. That was Morgus' mistake, something he admitted to.
Now from the experience of my friends I would say that board scores do matter. There are national averages, cut off points, and all sorts of things that prove this to be so. But the bottom line is that wherever it is that you are trying to get to, you are going to have to go through people to get there. And while numbers can impress, if they just "don't like you", you're screwed. Or if they really like you, you've got it made. Numbers be damned. The Doc's that make the call on residents, and thats what it is... Doc's sitting at a table... are real people, and like real people they are going to like you or hate you. And whether you like it or not they get to judge you, subjectively, and decide your fate depending on the impression you've made. Banking on any one aspect of your resume or personality to make the impression you want is likely to totally screw you. Best come with a complete package. So be nice, be on time, dress well, fly under the radar, kiss some ass when it needs to be kissed, and study for your tests.
Tiger