There seems to be a great arithmetic deficiency in CTF players; hurling themselves at the enemy flag with reckless abandon.
Dave's Law of Flag Loss tells us that this is, in fact, a poor choice. Taking "f" to be the flag and "s" to be one's self, and considering enemy points to be negative values, we see that:
f loss = f pickup - f return - s death
This meaning that points received for a flag loss include the one point for picking up the flag, subtracting five points for the flag return, and subtracting another point for your death.
Therefore attempting to take the flag when one is not able to escape results in a net loss of five points. Doing this four times would be enough to negate the twenty points of a flag capture.
In conclusion, the next time you want to be a hero, assess your ability of escaping the enemy base with the flag. If you feel that you cannot do this, go read a book.