I know more about particle physics than finance, but I remember bidness people talking about how even the biggest economic downturns produce winners.

For a batch of reasons, I guess. They sell before the collapse, they get into companies relatively immune to market forces. They hoard precious metals then scoop up bargains as the market hits bottom.

So, connection made.

Will there be winners in the print journalism implosion?

I say yes. There are winners. And some already have won.

Print journos from Generations X and Y.

Some of those kids already have taken over jobs, beats and newsroom titles they couldn’t reasonably aspire to, even a year ago.

Because the Great Newspaper Purges of 2008 seem to be turning into a Boomer Journo holocaust, and Gens X&Y can’t help but benefit, at least short-term.

Yes, I’m one of those vile Boomers. And I can understand how the Gen Xers (generally considered to be people born from 1965-1982) and Gen Yers (starting about 1982) looked at us with contempt, a year ago.

We ran every newsroom of any size. We held nearly all the titles, had nearly all the good beats, wrote nearly all the columns and made most of the money — and showed no signs of ever leaving. We certainly had no plans on dying, death not being something Boomers acknowledge as pertinent to our lives.

“Retirement” didn’t come up a lot, either, because (let’s admit it) it was fun to work in print, especially when you were covering a prominent beat and making good money, as lots of Boomers were.

If I were a “kid” of 40 (the leading edge of Gen X) … I probably was sick and bloody tired of all those fiftysomethings cluttering my career path.

(Warning: Self-indulgent historical reference alert.)

Boomers were a bunch of Queen Victorias, planning on holding power for 60 years, if we could. And Gen Xers were Prince Edward, waiting and waiting and waiting for the old lady to get the hell out of the way and die already so they could be king. Which he eventually was, but for only nine years, because Mom lived so darn long.

(OK, self-indulgent historical reference alert over)

Well, now, things have brightened considerably for Gens X and Y.

Those nasty Boomers? Dropping like flies. Bought out, laid off, some even shunted aside for not being tech savvy … and who is left to pick up the pieces? The kids! Who make so much less money and are so, so ready to get their shot in the sun. Running newsrooms, holding the big beats, becoming players.

I can think of several young(ish) journalists in the L.A. market who have attained sudden prominence because so many of their Boomer compatriots have been scythed down. I wouldn’t think they are hap-hap-happy that print is in free fall, because it hurts them, too. (They make less money, don’t get to travel as much, their stories are shorter and they have to work brutal hours.)

But at least they have a seat at the table.

If/when we get to the bottom of the print disaster, and we look around, a lot of old faces will be gone. Most of them. The “dead wood” in the line of journalistic succession will be cleared away.

For good, our younger compatriots can’t help but think. Because they will be the movers and shakers of whatever is left to move and shake in the print journalism industry.