KSTP-TV sports anchor Joe Schmit had an unfortunate encounter with a shoe that apparently belonged to former Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak.

Schmit was headed north on I-35W around 6:45 a.m. Tuesday on his way to a Dunkers meeting. "I get about 2 miles from downtown and all of a sudden something hits my car and it kind of looks like a shoe or something," Schmit said.

"It was just bizarre that something flew up and hit the bumper of my car. I was a little concerned because I'm going 50 mph and wondering if it damaged my car. I pull off on 11th Street to check and get to the stoplight. It's red. R.T. Rybak gets out of his car, looks at the top of his roof, and grabs one tennis shoe. The other tennis shoe was the shoe that hit my car. When I parked the car, I went and looked and sure enough, there is a [shoe] imprint on the bumper of my car.

"If I was a CSI guy, we'd have him nailed; this guy's [shoe] print is right on the bumper of my car. So R.T. knows he lost a shoe on his way wherever he was going, but he had no idea that shoe hit my car."

"Obviously what R.T. did is, he was getting ready to leave and he put his shoes on top of the car and must have forgotten they were there. He made it almost all the way to downtown Minneapolis when it flew off his car," said Schmit.

Schmit suggested that I tweet Rybak that I'd heard a rumor he was missing a shoe. I did that, and Rybak made that tweet a favorite.

Custom fit Duluth Pack boss Tom Sega says twists were added for Maroon 5.

However, when I tweeted for confirmation and sought to find out what kind of shoe it was — in two different tweets; one with a typo one not — I got no response.

Six packs for Maroon 5

Six of Duluth Pack's most popular everyday bags have been custom designed for Maroon 5.

"That's the bag that the Xcel Energy Center really liked," Duluth Pack president Tom Sega told me Wednesday. St. Paul's X always gives visiting celebrities, such as Maroon 5, whose show is Monday, special gifts with a strong Minnesota connection.

"We made bags a couple years ago for Mumford & Sons … It's a very popular bag, the Scout Pack, one of our staples people just love. It's an everyday bag, [made in] our Great Lakes color scheme — black cotton canvas with nickel hardware. People carry it whether in their leisure time or whether they are going to work. We put a couple of little twists on it. On the inside of the flap we embroidered the Maroon 5 logo, Xcel Energy Center and the date of the concert. Then we took the Duluth Pack logo and moved it so it lined up with the Maroon 5 logo."

Sega said he's not yet seen a celebrity selling one of the specially designed bags online. "We hope they fall in love with the bag and start carrying it every day as our loyal customers do."

There are six bags, even though there are only five band members, but not because Sega had one made for himself. They decided the band's manager will get a Duluth Pack, too.

C.J. can be reached at cj@startribune.com and seen on Fox 9's "Buzz." E-mailers, please state a subject; "Hello" does not count. Attachments are not opened