Apparently Repoz at Baseball Think Factory found his way here and linked up my recent Newsday post. It has sparked an interesting discussion over there and I urge you to check it out.

First off, as commenter NaOH pointed out both there and here, I probably missed a big aspect of the reasoning behind the decision. He writes:

Cablevision owns Newsday. Cablevision, for now, also owns the Knicks and Rangers, but they will be spinning off that portion of the business. Cablevision’s core assets are tied to television and cable: Rainbow Media Holdings, digital cable service, providing Internet service, and VOIP. This move is about using Newsday as another value-added component to Cablevision’s range of core offerings. Why? Because Verizon FIOS is steadily chipping away at their customer base.

That seems pretty likely, when I think about it. Still, I wonder a) how much value access to Newsday adds to a television or cable subscription and b) how long Newsday could possibly last if its parent company is making moves that will stave off online readership.

I have a “From the Wikipedia” post I’m hoping to do later today and I don’t want to harp on this since it’s not really about sports, but I find the whole subject massively interesting. I suppose I should, since I work in online journalism.

A man I firmly believe should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame, Sean Forman — the creator of baseball-reference.com — provided a pretty interesting business model for newspapers in the BBTF thread. He’s one of very few people that I’m willing to admit are likely way, way smarter than me, so it’s probably worth reading what he has to say.

Anyway, whatever the reason, the main point of said Newsday post stands: I won’t be able to read Davidoff or Best or Lennon anymore, and that’s a shame.

In the comments for the last post, Chris pointed out a good one that I overlooked. Here’s Metallica’s James Hetfield and Mark McGwire:

And one my father pointed out a really long time ago, which is actually an amazing call. Here are John Kruk and Meat Loaf, and I’m pretty certain they’re the same person:

Mike Cameron’s name has, for whatever reason, popped up as a candidate for the Mets’ open left field slot for next season.

I don’t think it should happen and I don’t think it will, but the rumors have reopened debate amongst my friends over whether Mike Cameron looks just like Seal. You be the judge:

There’s a cursory resemblance, but I don’t think they have very similar faces. Not like Raul Ibanez and Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello, as demonstrated in this 2008 split:

Or like, as Jake Rake recently pointed out, Tim Lincecum and the Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner:

According to press release from Newsday, Newsday is pioneering a new web model which involves charging money for Newsday.

According to me, Newsday is pioneering its way into new realms of dumb.

Here I thought the black background with white font was a bad idea.

I grew up on Long Island and my family subscribed to Newsday. Whenever I put aside dreams of being the President or an NFL linebacker to focus on the more realistic goal of becoming a professional sportswriter, I imagined writing for Newsday.

Now, starting in six days, I will no longer read Newsday, since I am unwilling to pay $20 a month to read Newsday.

The shame is that Ken Davidoff, the best baseball columnist in the New York papers and obvious respecter of me, writes for Newsday. So does Neil Best, the best of the sports media critics in the market and David Lennon, one of the best Mets beat writers.

They’re all good journalists, but they’re not $20 a month good when there’s so much else on the web. It’s essentially like paying for music or video on the Internet. Why bother when there’s so much free stuff out there?

Maybe Newsday really is pioneering a brilliant new era of Web money-making, and maybe they employed a bunch of really smart people who determined that this was a viable business model, but I doubt it. It feels like a last-ditch desperation move by another newspaper in financial straits.

I just don’t imagine making content exclusive is the way to increase awareness and expand the online footprint. It makes some sense when it’s the Wall Street Journal or something which fills a very specific niche and caters to rich people, but not with plain-old Newsday.

I have to guess Newsday will stop charging pretty swiftly, or maybe fold. I don’t know.

It’s a shame and I’ll certainly miss it, but the upside is at least I won’t have nearly so much exposure to Wallace Matthews.

“No man for any considerable period can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.” – Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Why yes, I have heard the sordid details of Steve Phillips’ affair.

Honestly, I feel really bad for his kids, not just because their father has once again been outed as a philanderer, but also because their father is Steve Phillips. That can’t be fun.

Also, I can’t understand why anyone could be surprised to learn that someone so willing to spend time around Steve Phillips would turn out to be criminally insane.

But really, what’s interesting here is one of the details in the young lady’s crazytime letter to Phillips’ poor wife.

It turns out Steve Phillips has “a big birthmark on his crotch right above his penis and another one on his left inner thigh.”

First of all, gross. Second, could this be a clue as to why Steve Phillips hates Carlos Beltran so irrationally and so thoroughly?

Think about it: After “being awesome at baseball,” Carlos Beltran’s most distinguishing characteristic is the massive mole over his right ear. And now we learn that Phillips, too, is riddled with embarrassing birthmarks.

Could it be that Steve Phillips’ is publicly punishing Beltran because he can’t handle his own birthmark-fueled shame? Is Carlos Beltran, in some vague way, like the Hester Prynne to Steve Phillips’ Dimmesdale, forced to carry openly the burden Phillips keeps secret?

And could you imagine a catharsis in which Steve Phillips, finally overcome by guilt, throws open his pants to reveal himself to the world, throwing himself at Beltran’s mercy?

I prefer not to. I’m not insane, and thus am not interested in seeing any more of Steve Phillips than I absolutely must.