Carter Fox may be well on his way to breaking the in-season world record for home run hits, but when it comes to his fans, the “star” batter just struck out big time. In an incident that some may find amusing, others may find offensive, but everyone can agree was a major league foul, Carter found himself confronted with someone who may not be a Sluggers fan for long.

Attendees at the Sluggers-Rockies game on July 23rd may remember Jordan Douglas as the face that launched a thousand punches—or at least a few dozen. Douglas was the woman lucky enough to catch Carter Fox’s 30th home run ball, but perhaps she was not so lucky after all. A brawl ensued, as a few of Carter Fox’s fans brutally attacked the defenseless woman in an attempt to steal the ball from her. After the game, evidence of the savage attack was still visible on Ms. Douglas’s face in the form of a large bruise on her chin.

Undaunted by her experience, Jordan Douglas remained focused on her ultimate goal: get Carter Fox to sign the ball for her beloved younger cousin, Ben Douglas, who was unable to obtain the signature himself. Ben is a 12-year-old boy who, earlier this year suffered the heart-wrenching experience of being hit by a drunk driver, leaving him in a full leg cast and thus unable to vie for the home run ball himself. Anyone lucky enough to meet the plucky, young Sluggers fan, would be relieved to learn that Ben was waiting patiently inside the stadium due to his condition. The alternative would have had this minor exposed to Carter Fox’s borderline obscene language as he first, offered to pay Ms. Douglas $50,000 for his ball, right before happily inquiring about a ménage a trois with Jordan and her cousin, all in front of a large crowd of Sluggers’ fans.

In all fairness to Fox, he had no way of knowing that Ben Douglas was merely a child. Still, one has to wonder:

Is Carter Fox the sort of role model we want for our children?

Ms. Douglas pretty much summed it up in her statement regarding the Sluggers’ home run star: “All I wanted was [his] damn signature on [his] damn ball, and for my cousin to meet his idol,” she proclaimed, struggling to keep her emotions in check. “But obviously, the amazing Carter Fox is too much of a womanizing perv to bother meeting his true fans, unless, of course, they come packaged with the right amount of T & A for his personal enjoyment.”

Her words certainly provide concerned parents of Houston’s Sluggers fans a healthy serving of food for thought.

* * *

Jordan sat in her office and stared at the screen. This was probably the 50th time she had read the article by Lucas Grabow, if you could even call it an article. It looked more like a hatchet job. If she had known the man was nothing more than a blogger hoping for fodder for this sleazy piece, she would have put a complete nix on the “interview.”

Everything on the screen in front of her was completely twisted to make her seem like some whimpering damsel in distress and then some sort of prudish harpy. She certainly hadn’t “struggled to keep her emotions in check.” That was a laugh. It would take a tougher man than Carter Fox to break her.

Grabow hadn’t been very generous to the Sluggers’ player either. There was a definite personal bias going on there. Jordan almost felt sorry for Carter Fox…almost. It wasn’t his fault that the jerk in the stands had attacked her. In her more generous moments, she was also willing to concede that Carter certainly didn’t know that her cousin wasn’t “as sexy as she was.”

“Don’t tell me you’re reading that thing again,” Tiffany Pittman said from the other side of the office.

Jordan spun around in her chair to find her officemate already looking in her direction. The two of them had been thrown together to share an office since they both focused on corporate law. As spoiled as summer associates were at Morris & Gibson, the generosity seemed to end at giving them each their own office.

Both of them being ambitious females, and working in the same environment for extended hours, they had developed a sort of affinity toward one another. It was nice to have someone to commiserate with, even in areas outside of law. Of course, her friend didn’t seem to be doing much commiserating these days.

“What?” Tiffany shrugged in response to Jordan’s expression. “You always make this sighing noise when you read it.”

Jordan frowned as Tiffany began her mock imitation of her, one hand going up to her forehead in an overly dramatic fashion.

“Ugh, it totally sucks that I caught Carter Fox’s home run ball.

“Ugh, I can’t believe he offered me $50,000….Worst day ever!

“Ugh, my life is so awful because the hottest guy on the Houston Sluggers wants to screw me.”

She laughed as she brought her face down to look at Jordan, who wasn’t at all amused.

“Seriously Jordan, if Carter Fox offered me $50,000 and the opportunity to have sex him, you wouldn’t find me complaining. He’s so damn hot.”

“Well, feel free,” Jordan said. “You’re probably just his type.”

Tiffany was tall, blonde, and had the body of a runway model. She was pretty much a carbon copy of every woman Jordan had seen pictures of Carter Fox with. She had all the associates here—and a few partners—going gaga. Jordan was more than happy to let her steal the limelight. Especially in light of recent events, she had zero desire to be the center of attention.

It had been bad enough this first week back at the firm. It was either embarrassed looks or amused smirks from other associates. The worst had been the female partner who had taken Jordan aside to give her a “wee bit of advice”: It’s hard enough being a female—a black female—trying to make partner one day, don’t shoot yourself in the foot by making ill-advised comments in front of the press.

Duly noted.

The article—blog—had just been the start of it all. YouTube had several videos of her confrontation with Carter, which only fanned the flames. Jordan and Roy and Pat, Ben’s parents, had been hounded non-stop this week by the media. Ben’s mom had curtailed it on their end, and Jordan had refused all offers for an interview on hers. That hadn’t stopped the media from figuring out everything about her: where she went to law school; where she was working this summer; where she was staying with her parents. Someone had even published her class rank at UT! How did these people get this stuff?

It was terrifying, mostly because a lot of perfect strangers seemed to have an opinion on the matter. Unfortunately, a good portion of it wasn’t very favorable to Jordan. The internet being what it was, the comments ranged from mean-spirited to just plain vile:

This is what happens when girls try to catch the ball, leave it to the men, ladies…

Maybe if she hadn’t been showing so much T & A herself, then…

If Carter Fox gets traded out because of some dumb…

She can hold on to my balls any day! In fact, I’d let her…

Jordan decided then and there to stop indulging any and all forms of media related to Carter Fox. She just hoped Ben was doing the same.

She kept thinking back to that day and how it would have been completely different if one tiny thing had been altered. Maybe if she’d stayed down at the bottom of the stands with the rest of the crowd. Maybe if she’d held her glove a little bit lower and missed catching it. Maybe if she’d just let it hit her in the damn head; she would probably have less of a headache right now.

Jordan closed out the page on LoneStarStateBaseball.com and pulled up the case she was supposed to be researching. It was better than torturing herself any further with that damn blog.