when failure is an important option...

great advice from one of my childhood heroes, maury wills, in today's la times in the midst of an article about the dodgers' speedy shortstop dee gordon, whom wills is mentoring. what made me exceedingly happy is that wills' words are very much aligned with what i consistently preach to students in relation to trying to move beyond what you know - regardless of whether you are stealing bases or making a painting, you have to be willing to fail:

"when i teach baserunning, i encourage players to make mistakes. you have to make mistakes to learn. a man who doesn't make any mistakes is a man who isn't doing anything."