What the howl? Jeremy Lin: The latest chapter in a year of underdogs

"Linsanity," "All he does is Lin," and "Let the best man Lin."  

These are just a sampling of the phrases that are populating the airwaves since Jeremy Lin became the latest underdog phenom to break through in the sporting world.

The 23-year-old Asian-American, an alumni of Harvard and a bench warmer before this month, is making headlines after averaging 23.3 points and 7.4 assists through seven games in February.

Because of Lin, the New York Knicks are more relevant now than they have been in a decade, even after the addition of Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire last season.

Like some, I had not heard of the point guard who had been living on a relatives couch while playing for the Knicks until after the rookie went off on the Kobe Bryant led Lakers with a 38-point performance in just his fourth game as a starter.

His emergence comes a month after "The Year of Tebow," came to an end in the NFL playoffs and the talk of "Tebowing" and whether the Broncos quarterback could keep his 4th quarter heroics up was forgotten.

Lin is the latest in a long line of "underdog" stories in the last year:

Trevor Bayne at the Daytona 500, VCU's Final Four run, Japan's women's World Cup team, and the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals.

What's different about  Lin's story: going undrafted, coming off the bench and catching lightning  in a bottle when the team's two biggest stars are out of action, is that he could be here to stay.

While the question of whether Tim Tebow will continue to be a starter into next season won't be answered for some time, Lin has the spot light to himself through at least the end of March barring something unforeseen like an injury.

The NFL draft isn't until April 26 and first game of the MLB regular season is March 28.

With NASCAR being the only other major sport (yes, it is a sport) on the horizon for the next month, America could be a Lin only zone for the sometime.

Many times athletes who come out of the shadows to grab the world's attention are in the lime light for a short time before they either burnout or their story has an anti-climactic finish.

The often-used term for these occasions is "flash-in-the-pan."

Trevor Bayne won only  one Sprint Cup race in 2011 (also winning once in the Nationwide Series),  and VCU lost to North Carolina in the Final Four.

Another recent "15 Minutes of Fame" star was Washington National's pitcher Stephen Strasburg, who debuted in 2010 with a 14 strikeout performance and started  just 12 games before having to undergo Tommy John surgery.

I'm not trying to be a buzz kill when I say this, but while the NBA and New York are enjoying their new star, just remember the honeymoon won't last forever.

If it did, it wouldn't be an under dog story would it?