“Without error there can be no brilliancy.”
Emanuel Lasker
Madness and genius are one step apart.
Great risks are required for great rewards.
The quotidian is rarely remarkable for the very reason that it is expected. The unexpected, the unusual and unforeseen radically transform the game both physically and psychologically.
Without the huge potential for failure and disaster we do not get the bold and brave brilliance like Hannibal crossing the Alps or Washington crossing the Delaware. We do not get the bunker shots or Laettner sinking the game winner. Without falls there is no redemption, no epic comeback without the decline and destruction beforehand.
You can’t get up again if you’re not first knocked down and it is the contrast of positions that is remembered.