Meet New York's 'Naked Cowboy' By Jeff Pearlman Newsday staff writer Originally published May 15, 2003 The sky is gray and the afternoon is long, and if ever a Monday in New York City has felt interminable, it is today. On the neon financial news crawlers that help light up an otherwise damp Times Square, bleakness rules. UNEMPLOYMENT RATE RISES FROM 5.9% TO 6% ... PLANNED U.S. LAYOFFS INCREASE FROM 85,396 IN MARCH TO ',399 IN APRIL ... 95,000 AMERICAN MANUFACTURING JOBS LOST IN APRIL; BIGGEST DECLINE SINCE JAN. 2002. How then, to explain ... this?