“Keep your head up, Tommy!” shouted Coach Hulen. His shortstop may have been quick enough to cover a lot of ground and competitive enough to always give his best, but routine ground balls too often turned into an adventure of bobbles and errant throws. This display of ineptitude both frustrated and disgusted me. Failure became my highlight reel that I would play over and over in self-torture, so by the time I was a sophomore in high school, I began nursing a well-deserved ulcer. But in contradistinction, no matter what mistake I might make on the field, I always heard those  reassuring words “Keep your head up, Tommy!”