Some perfectly good reasons to ponder perfection in sports

Practice makes perfect.

Strive for perfection.

He or she is a perfectionist.

We hear these lines all the time in sports.

And then a team or individual is on the cusp of achieving perfection and people start whispering if an imperfection or two may not be such a bad thing.

Does trying to maintain a perfect record become more of a burden than it's worth?

This is the time of the year in high school sports where you may start to wonder with sports such as bowling, gymnastics and wrestling heading into their postseasons and basketball and swimming heading into the home stretch of their seasons.

Here's a perfect example, or not so perfect anymore, from Wednesday night.

San Diego State's men's basketball team, the fourth-ranked team in the country, suffered its first loss in 21 games 71-58 at ninth-ranked Brigham Young.

The response could be considered perfectly predictable.

"I think this will be good for us," San Diego State forward Malcolm Thomas told the San Diego Union-Tribune. "There was a lot of pressure being undefeated. I don't think it got to us, but I think it will motivate us to work harder."

There is no question everyone wants to be the team or individual to leave the first blemish on someone's beautiful season.

Or the everlasting one. Larry Owings became famous in wrestling circles for handing the legendary Dan Gable his only loss in high school or college in Gable's final collegiate match for Iowa State.

Does complacency subtly seep in with win after win? Avoiding it might be the ultimate challenge for coaches and athletes.

The Simeon and Benet boys basketball teams could be headed for the perfect showdown on Feb. 19 when they'll meet in the City-Suburban Showdown at the UIC Pavilion.

Both teams seem to be thriving rather than just trying to survive under the microscope of keeping their perfect records intact.

Benet just dismantled a strong Glenbard East team by 24 points on Saturday at the Sears Centre. A night earlier it had its closest call so far in a 3-point victory but it would be tough to classify it as a letdown with Northwestern-bound point guard David Sobolewski sidelined with back trouble for a road game against a good Marist team.

Would it have helped Larry Bird's magical 1979 Indiana State team to have a loss before it reached the NCAA final? Probably not since Magic Johnson and Michigan State were simply better.

So, those in pursuit of perfection should embrace it and use it to keep working even harder to sustain the highest level of excellence.

Because what could be better than to go out saying you were part of a perfect ending.

mmaciaszek@dailyherald.com