Star struck?

Yesterday the wife and I took my 2 year old to Six Flags for the first time. Despite some huge concert for teen girls (Kesha and Jason Derulo), since the weather was kind of shitty the crowds weren't too bad and we managed our time well between the kiddie rides and the grown up rides. Six Flags has a "kid swap" program where one parent waits in line, while the other parent waits at the exit for the first to get on the ride. After the first parent's ride is done, they swap the kid and the other parent gets to go on the ride.

My wife was in line for the Batman ride and I was hanging out at the exit, waiting for her to board. While waiting a few park managers and security people passed me while a group of four guys in their early 20's waited behind me. I told them I was waiting for my wife and they could go ahead of me. When they passed me, one guy with red hair, sunglasses, and a hoodie said "what's up little man?" to my son. Park management and security were forming a physical blockade between these guys and everyone else - I've worked security detail for celebrities before, and that is exactly the type of treatment these guys were getting.

As the redhead removed his hoodie and glasses, a number of teenagers in line got very excited and tried to approach him. Through the security blockade he gave a few hugs and was very cordial. I looked again and realized why all the excitement:

Shaun fucking White. Olympic gold medalist and video game star.

A Six Flags photographer took a bunch of pictures as he boarded the ride, and after the ride was done, he photographed the group coming back to the platform. Shaun White got back off the ride and, while more teenagers "OMG'd" he put his sunglasses and hoodie back on. I pulled back out of the way so the group could exit, and while they were leaving Shaun tried to give my son a high five. My son is very shy and didn't respond, so I made a joke about stranger danger. The group laughed and went on their merry way, security and park management in tow.

Maybe my son was just star struck?

On a day where I figured the only celebrities in the park were a couple pop musicians who I've never heard of, I ended up with a slightly interesting story about somebody with real talent.