Santa Barbara is often painted with the broad strokes of glamor and fame associated with its affluent, celebrity-studded populace. Yet, beneath this glossy surface lies a city that does not — and should not — bow to the cult of celebrity.
The events that surrounded my son’s under-7-year-old soccer championship at Girsch Park unveiled an uncomfortable truth about how privilege can sour pure community joy and competition, urging a communal reflection and a return to genuine values.
Our local Friday Night Lights soccer championship game should have been an event that epitomized innocence and the love of sport especially for kids that young, but celebrity influence unduly tipped the scales. The game started out the way it should have. One of the parents let me know that the other team was being coached by the husband of a famous actor and that their youngest son was on the team. I didn’t pay it much attention because it honestly had nothing to do with the game at hand … until it did.