Much has been made of the demise of the newspaper: people get their news from Google and Yahoo, their jobs and used tennis rackets from Craigslist. But Gorgeous Francis of Mamaroneck posits another reason why the paper is going the way of the wine cooler.

While Engine Bob shared what it was like to commute 50 years ago, Francis says commuting on the New Haven line just three years ago was a different experience. The morning ride featured the crackle and twitter of people reading the Times and Wall Street Journal (no, never the Journal News, he says).

But today, the sound is gone. They don’t read the paper anymore. They play with their Blackberrys, reading and sending “important” emails and reaching for record scores in Brickbreaker.

On my beloved (OK, beliked) Harlem line, I see plenty of Blackberrys, but plenty of newspapers too. Even the Journal News.