Courtesy Winnipeg Free Press:

I’m going to admit, this definitely wasn’t the best of times or circumstance for me to read an opinion that in my estimation showcases an elite level of ignorance.

There I was, eight days into training camp, a walking collection of bumps, bruises and muscle soreness that is inevitable after the succession of some 14 consecutive practices at a professional tempo, and I stumble upon the following excerpt from Winnipeg Goldeyes manager Rick Forney to which he exclaimed: “I think baseball is more dangerous than football.”

Now this isn’t some machismo contest where my dad can beat up your dad and so on and so forth. There is no prize or testosterone achievement award for playing the most dangerous professional sport and none of us aspire to walk around thumping our chests proudly boasting that we are primordial gladiators in the world’s most dangerous game. In fact, the loser of such a comparison is probably the best off and most likely to transition to life after sport without a series of calamities and ailments suffered during his career.

And to be fair, this is a highly charged time for baseball enthusiasts as a Goldeye player had his skull fractured by a baseball bat only two weeks ago, so I understand the emotion and drama behind these sentiments.

But to suggest that of the four major sports in North America — hockey, basketball, football, and baseball — that baseball is the most dangerous of the lot could be one of the most absurd and ridiculous things I have ever seen in print. Certainly there are elements to the game that are hazardous. A small hard, ball is thrown at a high velocity and, as we have all learned, when a bat fractures on impact with that ball it becomes a lethal projectile — lethal enough to end a career.

I suppose even when a catcher blocks the plate on a baserunner advancing from third or a runner is trying to break up a double play attempt at second, those situations could also be construed as dangerous.

But ladies and gentlemen, irrespective of my opinion on football being the most dangerous or Forney’s contention that baseball is the most hazardous professional sport, we need only look at the facts in order to settle this absurdly ludicrous disagreement.

Major League Baseball teams play 162 games a year in the regular season. The only two professional football leagues in the world — the CFL and the NFL — play a maximum of 18 games a year in the regular season. Even though the average professional football game is shorter than the average pro baseball game that is still 144 games played fewer every year.

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