Baseball wins this skirmish

America's Passion (football) and America's Pastime (baseball) collided again over the weekend.

Baseball came out relatively unscathed.

However, Bears safety Mike Brown broke down in tears Sunday in anticipation of his knee injury being season-ending and maybe career-ending.

Yet even worse was Bills special-teams player Kevin Everett suffered a cervical spine injury.

How's that for openers?

Then there's the ongoing issue of concussions. "Football dementia" has emerged as a medical term. It's a lot more serious than "baseball dementia," which refers merely to a Cubs fan's irrational devotion.

No wonder the White Sox' Darrin Erstad talked whimsically in spring training about the day he realized football wasn't his calling.

Baseball made more sense after Erstad, a Nebraska punter, tackled a UCLA kick returner and was "dragged about 15 yards out of bounds."

The Sox and Cubs organizations are sprinkled with athletes who chose baseball over football.

Included are Sox outfielder-third baseman Josh Fields (Oklahoma State quarterback), Cubs minor-league pitcher Jeff Samardzija (Notre Dame wide receiver) and even Sox general manager Kenny Williams (Stanford receiver/cornerback).

It says here that all made the intelligent decision. I mean, why jeopardize your body by playing football if baseball is an option?

Heck, you would have to be insane to play football instead of droning along as an accountant, plumber, widget salesman, garbage collector or sports writer.

Football comes with a warning label: This sport can be harmful to your health.

"I'm trying to tell that to my son," said Williams, whose son has played both sports for Arizona State. Yet, he added, "I should have played football (instead of signing with the Sox in the mid-1980s). I was better at it."

Of course, Williams realizes how different life would be today: He wouldn't be the Sox' GM and likely would walk with a limp.

Yet football still nags at him. Apparently his Neanderthal gene can't be extinguished or explained.

"You go wherever your passions are," Williams said. "What might not make sense to you or me makes perfect sense to someone else."

All the aforementioned athletes who chose baseball said they did so for love of the game, not because of football's violence.

"I didn't let that come into play," Samardzija said. "If that's what you're worried about in any sport, you're in it for the wrong reason."

So, no, it didn't matter that Bo Jackson tried both sports at the highest level, was severely injured while playing for the Raiders and wound up having to hit home runs for the Sox on an artificial hip.

Fields said, "I was lucky I never had a problem in college as far as being hurt. You don't think about when you're older you can't go out and run with your son."

Fields believes that while football injuries can be more severe, baseball also takes its toll. But few baseball players are paralyzed while sliding into second base.

Football is the violent, brutal game and baseball the kinder, gentler game. Yet running out of the tunnel in front of 80,000 screaming fans is addictive.

Also, said Erstad, known now for crashing into outfield fences, "There's just something about hitting somebody that's fun."

Not if you wind up like Kevin Everett and Mike Brown it isn't.