Man, you’d think two (now former) NFL cheerleaders never had sex in a public bathroom before.

But at least Renee Thomas and Angela Keathley are in good company:

- Percent of Americans who’ve engaged in some sort of public sex, according to a 2002 survey: 21

- Percentage of British people who’ve engaged in public sex, according to a 2004 survey: 60

- Percentage of couples who said they’d made love at a party, according to a 2002 survey: 32

- Percentage of couples who said they’d gotten frisky at the movies, according to the same survey: 18

- Year in which George Michael was arrested for lewd behavior in a public restroom: 1998

- Peak chart position of Digital Underground’s Humpty Dance, which includes the lyric, “I once got busy in a Burger King bathroom”: 11

Brilliant touch, invoking the Humpty Dance…

What struck me as the funniest aspect of this whole thing was that they weren’t even in Tampa to work: Like any other travelling team, the Carolina Panthers don’t bring their cheerleading squad on the road. So this was purely extracurricular fun.

Personally, I think the Panthers were nuts to fire the pair. They should build a halftime show around them!

When the New York Times rolled out its TimesSelect subscription service back in September, there was a lot of general bitching from the blogging peanut gallery, while I noted it was probably a successful move.

The numbers are now in, and my hunch proved out: 270,000 total paying customers (half of those online-only, instead of NYT print subscriber add-ons), good for an estimated annualized revenue stream of $4.95 million.

It goes to show: Media consumers will pay for online content, provided it’s distinctive and from an appealing brand. Apple’s iTunes was one good example; the Wall Street Journal’s Web subscriptions was as pertinent example of news product. TimesSelect joins the crowd, and likely will encourage others. They won’t all be successful — not many are likely to cough up dough for the Podunk Press’ columnists — but this establishes a model.