An amazing thing is happening right now in New York City.  It's something that rarely happens in the sports world.  The world of first round draft picks, superstars who made their names in college playing in front of thousands and on national TV, and high priced free agents who have built their reputations over the years into superstardom.

It is so rare when a player in any sport comes out of total oblivion and almost immediately thrusts him or herself into immediate stardom.  That is what is happening right now with a youngster named Jeremy Lin of the New York Knickerbockers.

Before I go any farther, I need to point out that Lin plays for the NEW YORK KNICKS.  I know, I already said that, but it bears repeating.  He is playing in the number one media market in the world.  If the same thing happens and Lin is playing for the Charlotte Bobcats or New Orleans Hornets for example, I doubt there is this much media attention.  Still, it is pretty amazing and impressive.

Jeremy Lin is a point guard who grew up in California.  Despite starring for his high school team and putting up excellent numbers, he was barely recruited by collegiate programs.  His dream of playing for Stanford or UCLA was never to be.  A brilliant kid, he applied to every Ivy league school and Harvard and Brown were the only schools reluctantly willing to give him a scholarship.

In his junior season with the Crimson, Lin was the ONLY player in mens division one basketball to finish in the top ten in his conference in scoring, rebounding, assists, steals, blocked shots, field goal percentage, free throw percentage and three point shooting percentage.  Obviously the kid has a complete game, but playing in the Ivy league, it is easy to be dismissed.  Harvard is not really known as a basketball factory.  In fact, the last player to be drafted by the NBA out of Harvard was Ed Smith in 1954.  Lin was named first team All-Ivy league conference his last two seasons.

Lin was not surprisingly undrafted by the NBA coming out of college.  He signed a free agent contract with his home town Golden State Warriors, and played in the NBA developmental league for the Reno Bighorns, where he was a first team all star selection.  Still, despite the accolades and the good numbers, the Warriors waived Lin the day after the NBA lockout ended on December 9th.  He was signed a few days later by the Houston Rockets, but was waived again on December 24th.  The Knicks then claimed Lin three days later.

This is where the story gets fun. Because of injuries and the ineffectiveness of Knicks guards, Lin came off the bench for the last time and scored 25 points and added 7 assists in a win over New Jersey on February 4th.  He was inserted into the starting lineup two nights later and scored 28 points and 8 assists in another win over Utah.  Since then, Lin has started every game, and the Knicks have won them all.  Lin is averaging 26.8 points per game and eight assists in those five magical games.  He has shot over 52 percent from the floor in four of those five games.

This is a wonderful story.  A victory for underdogs everywhere.  A rare case where the underappreciated finally gets their due.  A shining example of a player making the absolute most of an opportunity that they have been given.  Despite always putting up impressive statistics, and being perhaps the best player on each of his teams, the basketball establishment still saw an average 6'3" guard from Taiwan, who didn't quite fit the mold of a star.  When finally given the chance he had never really received, Lin took it and ran with it like a dachshund with a chew toy.  Now, on the bright lights of Broadway, Jeremy Lin is the biggest thing playing the Garden since Sinatra or Elvis in their primes.

There have been so few examples of this in sports, that I am hard pressed to think of any.  Coming from completely unknown status and rising to immediate super-stardom is nearly impossible in today's sports landscape.  The only one that even comes to mind is in 1999, when Kurt Warner, an unknown quarterback, came out of the Arena league and was named the starting quarterback of the St. Louis Rams when Trent Green suffered a season ending injury in training camp.  You remember what happened of course.  Warner became the leader of "the Greatest Show On Turf" and led the Rams to a 13-3 season and a Super Bowl win.

Storybook stories like that don't happen often in sports, so when one comes along, it amazes and enthralls each of us.  Jeremy Lin is only five games into his, and only time will tell if it continues, or for how long.  NBA teams could figure him out, realize his tendencies, and learn how to shut him down.  Perhaps Lin just had the best five games of his life in one two week period, and will soon come down to earth.  OR, this could be for real, and Jeremy Lin might just be starting something big.  A true star in the Big Apple.  Who could have ever guess a month ago, that the toast of the town would soon be a 23 year old kid from Taiwan?

Knicks fans everywhere are hoping the glass slipper fits quite well for some time.  Underdogs everywhere are hoping so too.

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