A Long-Island-based suitor with deep pockets, but no newspaper experience, has emerged the surprise winner in the bidding war for Newsday, the Long Island tabloid put up for sale by the debt-ridden Tribune Company.

As the chairman of Madison Square Garden, the company that owns the hapless New York Knicks, James L. Dolan should have already known a lot about losing.

But Dolan, 51, who is also a blues/rock singer, has learned even more about embarrassing defeats during the last few weeks.