As I was driving home about midnight last night after doing the late news I saw a group of young adults hanging out of a car window. They weren't acting overly crazy but I was pretty sure that they had been to the bars in downtown Norfolk. As I came up to the left turn light where I normally turn I could see them coming up behind me in one of the turn lanes. Because of some past incidents where drunks have pulled up alongside me, I almost went straight, and took the next left, but I decided to take my normal turn.

As I sat there I started hearing shouting. I didn't react at first until I heard the words "news guy" and "weather" and knew that they were talking to me. I turned and saw a couple of young ladies in the front seat who were all excited and waving and yelling what fans they were. What's not to like about that right :-)

Well, sitting in the backseat were a couple of young guys. I assume they were the 2 boyfriends but I don't know for sure. Anyway, I gave a nice smile, waved and mouthed the words "hi", and "thank you" and turned back around.

Next thing I know I hear their horn blast and more yelling, so I turn back around and see the young woman in the passenger seat holding a camera and yelling "roll down your window". Obviously she wanted a picture without the glare of the flash off the window, so I rolled it down. She took her shot and said "thanks". I said "no problem", and then said "it looks like you guys have been out having fun tonight". Right then I saw a flash out of the corner of my eye and felt something hit me in the face. The light turned green right at that instant and the car took off as I heard one of the girls ask the guys "'what did you do ?. Did you thrown something?"

I looked down and saw a piece of pizza lying there next to me. Needless to say, I was stunned.

So, next time you think about how nice it would be to be well known, remember that not all encounters with fans are good, and when things do go wrong, as a public figure you can't really react like most normal people probably would.