Set a Purpose

Find out what Lubar’s first football game suggests about his future in sports.

Inauspicious. Isn’t that a great word? Let it roll off the tongue: in-awespish-us. I love words, which—as you’ll soon see—is a very good thing. There are all sorts of definitions for this particular word. If you check the dictionary, you’ll learn it means “suggesting that the future is unpromising.” So, an inauspicious event is a disaster that points toward a whole lot more disasters down the road. Think of it as a bad start. Better yet, let’s define it by example. My first encounter with organized sports was definitely “inauspicious.”

I’m not even sure what grade I was in when I decided to join the after-school football program. Second grade sounds about right. I don’t remember the gym teacher’s name, either. So let’s just call him Mr. Growler. The first fact about sports that caught my attention as I wandered toward the field behind the school was that everyone else seemed to have been born knowing not only the rules to the game, but also exactly what to do.

I followed my teammates to one end of the field. “Lubar!” Mr. Growler shouted at me.

Lubar (left) with his older brother Jon