The US Open risks losing a generation of fans by going head-to-head with the NFL

The men's final is shifting its start time, putting it in a fight for eyeballs with the media behemoth and stripping away a unique moment on the tennis calendar

Of all sports, baseball has claimed - somewhat arrogantly - the literary mantle with so many scribes waxing rhapsodically about the inherent beauty of the game, engendering wistful reflections upon a season's end. One thinks of the late MLB commissioner Bart Giamatti's quote about baseball being designed to break your heart" as it commences each year in spring with hope and then ends in October, leaving the fans to face the cold and chill of autumn alone.

But at least baseball fans have the advantage of having their sport carry over into the middle of autumn, making the transition away from summer that much more gradual and easier. And anyway, baseball lovers shouldn't be the only inhabitants of our parallel sports universe to be granted an emotional sick day and wallow in their post post-season blues.