I find the questioning of why the pilot didn't choose to divert to JFK or SWF in order to avoid hosing a UA hub to be unbelievable. First, the pilot may not have anticipated that the landing would cause any runway damage -- but even this in immaterial and probably never crossed the pilot's mind. Because EWR is a UA hub, the pilot probably has lots of experience landing there. UA doesn't fly at all to SWF or anymore to JFK; so both of these airports would be unknowns (or at least unfamiliars). C'mon guys, if you are doing an emergency divert, it is for safety reasons -- and being familiar with landing at a particular airport is a big boost to safety.