ORD LCL CTLR CLEARS A DEP ON RWY 27L WITH AN ARRIVAL ROLLING OUT ON INTERSECTING RWY 14R.

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I WAS WORKING S LCL. CONFIGURATION: LNDG RWY 14R AND DEPARTING RWY 27L AND 22L. THREE HVY (OVERSEAS) DEPS AT RWY 14R WAITING FOR TKOF. I COORDINATED WITH NORTH/3RD LCL FOR THE RELEASE OF TWO OF THE DEPS AHEAD OF ACR X. I SAW ACR Y APCHING RWY 27L ON TXWY M AND TOLD HIM; 'POSITION AND HOLD; TFC LNDG AND DEPARTING CROSSING RWY.' HE ADVISED THAT HE WASN'T READY; WOULD NEED ABOUT TWO MINUTES; AND WOULD WAIT ON THE RWY IF THAT WAS OK. I TOLD HIM TO ADVISE READY. I CLRED THE FIRST HVY B777 FOR TKOF ON RWY 14R AND DECIDED THAT THERE WAS NOT QUITE ENOUGH ROOM TO CLR THE SECOND HVY; B747; AHEAD OF ACR X AND BEHIND THE B777. I ADVISED NORTH/3RD LCL THAT I WAS ONLY GOING WITH ONE HVY AND THAT I'D RE-COORDINATE THE OTHER TWO HEAVIES. I WAS STUDYING NORTH/3RD LCL'S TFC TO FIGURE OUT THE BEST TIME TO COORDINATE THE RELEASE OF THE OTHER RWY 14R DEPS. AT ABOUT THIS TIME ACR Y TOLD ME HE WAS READY FOR DEP. I CHKED THE RWY 14R FINAL AND SAW NOTHING. I CHKED THE BRITE TO CHK THE RANGE ON THE B777 THE PREVIOUS RWY 14R DEP; TO BE SURE THERE WAS ENOUGH 'WAKE TURB' SEPARATION; AND I CLRED ACR Y FOR TKOF ON RWY 27L. I WAS ABOUT TO ASK NORTH/3RD LCL FOR RELEASE OF THE RWY 14R DEPS THAT WERE WAITING WHEN SOMEONE IN THE TWR NEAR ME SAID SOMETHING LIKE; 'LOOK OUT.' I SAW ACR X MOVING ONTO RWY 27L WITH ACR Y APCHING THE TXWY F AT NEAR TKOF SPD. I XMITTED; 'STOP STOP STOP.' ACR Y SAID; 'WE'VE GOT IT;' AND CLBED ABOVE ACR X; MISSING HIM BY ABOUT 300 FT. ACR Y ASKED; 'WHY DIDN'T YOU HOLD SHORT?' ACR X SAID; 'BECAUSE WE WEREN'T TOLD TO.' MY BIGGEST MISTAKE WAS LETTING MYSELF LOSE SIGHT OF THE BASIC ATC PRINCIPLE: PREVENT COLLISIONS. IN THE LAST HALF HOUR; ARRIVAL TFC HAD GONE FROM MODERATE TO LIGHT. ACR X WAS THE LAST ARR VISIBLE ON MY RADAR SCOPE AND MY THOUGHTS CHANGED FROM SEPARATING ARRS FROM DEPS TO SEPARATING DEPS FROM DEPS. THE LAST ARR WAS STILL ACTIVE; ON RWY 14R; BUT I FORGOT ABOUT HIM. OTHER FACTORS: MY DECISION TO NOT GO WITH THE SECOND HVY OFF RWY 14R LET ME TAKE MY FOCUS OFF ACR X MUCH EARLIER THAN OTHERWISE AND GAVE ME OTHER COORDINATION CHORES TO TAKE CARE OF. THE LOCATION OF INBOUND GND BLOCKS THE VIEW OF RWY 14R AT THE APPROX LOCATION OF WHERE ACR X WAS WHEN I CLRED ACFT TWO FOR TKOF. I USUALLY WORK LCL CTL STANDING UP AND WALKING AROUND; BUT I DIDN'T WALK OVER TO LOOK AT ALL OF RWY 14R BECAUSE I'D FORGOTTEN ABOUT ACR X. THE RULES ABOUT ARRS ON RWY 14R AND DEPS ON RWY 27L HAVE CHANGED A COUPLE TIMES SINCE I BEGAN WORKING AT ORD. WHEN LAND AND HOLD SHORT OPS (LAHSO) ON RWY 14R WITH RWY 27L DEPS WAS NO LONGER AUTHORIZED; IT BECAME NORMAL FOR PLTS AND CTLRS TO CLR ACFT FOR TKOF ON RWY 27L WITH ACFT ON LNDG ROLL ON RWY 14R. ALSO; THE RWY 14R REDUCED SEPARATION WAIVER (ARR MORE THAN 5000 FT FROM RWY 27L WHEN THE DEP PASSES) MAKES IT NORMAL FOR ACFT ROLLING OUT ON RWY 14R TO SEE DEPS ROLLING ON RWY 27L AND VICE VERSA. IF THIS WERE NOT A NORMAL OPERATION THEN IT WOULD BE MORE LIKELY FOR A PLT OR ANOTHER CTLR TO SPEAK UP AND SAY; 'THIS DOESN'T LOOK RIGHT.' AT THE TIME I CAUSED THE NEAR COLLISION I DIDN'T FEEL FATIGUED OR SLEEPY. I HAD WORKED THREE HOURS OF LCL CTL THAT DAY; AND THIS WAS THE SECOND DAY OF A SECOND SIX DAY WORK WEEK. THE PREVIOUS WEEK HAD BEEN DIFFICULT BECAUSE OF TSTMS. I WAS PROBABLY MORE TIRED THAN I KNEW. I WOULD LIKE TO SEE THE FAA TRAIN CTLRS IN SIMULATORS; WITH REFRESHER TRAINING PERHAPS ONCE A YEAR. I WOULD LIKE THIS TRAINING TO INCLUDE A CTL TWR VERSION OF 'COCKPIT RESOURCE MANAGEMENT.' AS I DESCRIBED; I LET MYSELF FOCUS ON THE INTERESTING PUZZLE OF SEQUENCING DEPS TO THE EXTENT THAT I WAS UNAWARE THAT I WAS CAUSING A BASIC ATC ERROR. THIS HAPPENED EVEN THOUGH I WAS CONCENTRATING 100% ON THE TASK AT HAND AND WAS NOT DISTRACTED BY OUTSIDE FACTORS.SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 703941: LAST LEG OF A 4 DAY TRIP; NORMAL SINGLE ENG TAXI OUT TO RWY 27L. AWAITING WTS; WE STARTED THE NUMBER ONE ENG ON TXWY M. APCHING RWY 27L; TWR CLRED US INTO POSITION. WE RESPONDED THAT WE WERE WAITING ON WTS. WE WERE AGAIN CLRED INTO POSITION ON RWY 27L WITH THE INSTRUCTION TO LET THEM KNOW WHEN WE WERE READY. WE RECEIVED OUR WTS AND RAN THE BEFORE TKOF CHKLIST WHILE IN POSITION. I FELT WE RAN OUR CHKLIST IN A RELAXED AND UNHURRIED MANNER. WITH THE CHKLIST COMPLETE; WE TOLD TWR WE WERE READY AND RECEIVED OUR TKOF CLRNC. THE TKOF ROLL WAS COMPLETELY NORMAL UNTIL APPROX 110 KTS; WHEN I NOTICED ACR X APCHING OUR RWY ON WHAT APPEARED TO BE RWY 14R OR TXWY T. I COMMENTED THAT IT DIDN'T LOOK LIKE HE WAS GOING TO STOP. I WOULD ESTIMATE THE ACR X WAS TRAVELING AT 20 KTS. AT THAT POINT; I DID NOT FEEL WE WOULD BE ABLE TO ABORT AND STOP PRIOR TO THOSE INTXNS (AROUND 110-120 KTS); SO I DECIDED TO CONTINUE ACCELERATING AND IF HE CONTINUED ENCROACHING; ATTEMPT TO ROTATE OVER HIM. THE OTHER OPTION WAS AN ABORT AND A R STEER BEHIND ACR X TO THE N OF RWY 27L. KNOWING THERE ARE SUBSTANTIAL OBSTACLES R OF RWY 27L; I FELT THAT OPTION WOULD GUARANTEE SIGNIFICANT AIRFRAME DAMAGE AND PROBABLY LOSS OF LIFE. ACR CONTINUED ENCROACHING ON OUR RWY; IT BECAME CLR THAT I WOULD HAVE TO ROTATE EARLY TO CLR IT. BY THE TIME I ROTATED; ACR X WAS FULLY ON OUR RWY. VR AT OUR WT WAS 143 KTS; AND I ESTIMATE I BEGAN THE ROTATION 10 KTS PRIOR TO VR. THE FO CALLED V1 SHORTLY AFTER I STARTED ROTATING. I FLEW A SMOOTH ROTATION UNTIL WE WERE AIRBORNE FOR FEAR OF DRAGGING THE TAIL AND DELAYING FURTHER ROTATION. ONCE AIRBORNE; I ROTATED BRISKLY TO APPROX 23 TO 25 DEGS OF PITCH TO MAXIMIZE ALT GAIN. WITHOUT A FRAME OF REFERENCE I HESITATE TO ESTIMATE OUR CLRNC HEIGHT ABOVE ACR X; BUT ALL THREE PLTS IN THE COCKPIT (INCLUDING THE OFFLINE JUMPSEATER) FELT THAT IT WAS VERY; VERY CLOSE. AT APPROX 400 FT TO 500 FT; I REMEMBERED TO RAISE THE LNDG GEAR. FROM THAT POINT FORWARD; WE RE-ESTABLISHED A STANDARD TKOF PROFILE AND CONTINUED. WE HAD A BRIEF DISCUSSION WITH TWR BEFORE CHANGING FREQS; AND RECEIVED A PHONE NUMBER TO CALL ON THE GND. AS A PRECAUTION I SPOKE WITH ALL THREE FLT ATTENDANTS TO ASCERTAIN WHETHER THE PAX HAD HEARD OR WERE PARTY TO THE EVENT; AND WHETHER THEY HAD HEARD ANY NOISES THAT WOULD INDICATE WE STRUCK THE TAIL DURING ROTATION. THE FLT ATTENDANTS RESPONDED THAT THEY HAD HEARD NO UNUSUAL NOISES; VIBRATIONS; OR IMPACTS DURING TKOF; SO WE DEDUCED THAT WE HADN'T STRUCK THE TAIL OR DONE ANY DAMAGE TO THE AIRFRAME. THIS WAS CONFIRMED UPON INSPECTION AFTER LNDG.SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 704174: LNDG CLRNC WAS RECEIVED AT APPROX 9 DME FOR ILS RWY 14R WITH NO RESTRICTIONS. DURING LNDG ROLL; WE OBSERVED AN ACFT ROTATING FROM RWY 27L AND PASSING OVERHEAD AT APPROX BETWEEN 200 FT AND 300 FT.