He did actually, even after losing whomever the greeks were fighting (Persians?), they send some boats up river to Athens, presumably to tell the city they won and extort whatever they could. So it was important that the Athenians knew the battle was won before the boats arrived.

Source: an ancient history podcast I listened to like two years ago. (So I am vague of the details)

Maybe in the story, the following narrators left out that he said, "I nearly died" around the bar table and didn't actually die.