By David McCollum thecabin.net Copyright 2012 The Cabin. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Often the love of sports and the thrill of competition connects us on a deeper plan than we realize.

What we witness and for whom we cheer offer a reflection of what makes us tick.

We like good stories. We like pretty stories. We like strange stories with a touch of warmth. We like lucky stories.

We love underdog stories.

It’s interesting how three unrelated situations, two people and one animal have gripped our passions the last week.

All connect on different levels.

Incredibly, they all came to a shining moment in New York, which has a way of magnifying glamor.

We’ll start with Kate Upton, a 19-year-old who just a few months ago was sitting in the stands at a Los Angeles Clippers game and was videoed showing folks how to “do the dougie.”

It went viral. One thing led to another. The right people saw it. And Monday, she was unveiled (and uncovered) in New York as the cover model for Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition, a much-hyped (and highly competitive) honor — and the February blossom for teen-age male in high school libraries. Her photograph ended up on the front page of the New York Times. She became the hottest beautiful person in the Big Apple, which is a fertile breeding ground for beautiful people. A quick search of Kate Upton’s name Thursday afternoon brought forth 313 news articles (most with pictures) in the last few days.

What has captured folks’ admiration, besides the obvious, is she didn’t come from the standard purebred model background. She was discovered in the stands at a sporting event. Now, she and New York Jets’ quarterback Mark Sanchez are reportedly an item, which adds intrigue to the connection and the story.

It’s not rags to riches — more like dancing togs to bikinis to little threads to big bucks.

It’s still captivating.

We now move to Maverick, which was an inspiring Cinderella (or “Cinderdoggie”)  story at the Westminster dog show.

The Weimaraner, a champion at many shows, was one of the leading candidates in his breed.

What was different about Maverick was that just a few months ago, he was an abused animal living out of a crate that his owner bought on Craigslist.

He looked anything like a champion. He had been so abused, you could see most of his ribs under his skin. He had chewed his tail raw and his nose had several infections. In about five months, his owner developed him into a champion show dogs, ribs to riches.

He qualified for the Westminster show, the most prestigious in the world, and while he didn’t win a grand prize, he won the hearts of much of the crowd and now has become an icon that rescue dogs are not inferior.

And that brings us to Jeremy Lin, the latest sports sensation, who has literally come out of the basketball scrap heap to have the best seven games in NBA history and to become the sports feel-good story of the year.

In his first five games as an emergency starter for the New York Knicks, Lin schooled five of the best point guards in the world, including Kobe Bryant. He knocked down a buzzer 3 for the win in game 6 and had 13 assists in his seventh start Wednesday night.“Linsanity” as it is called.

Let’s make one thing clear. Lin is not the next Tim Tebow but the unprecedented Jeremy Lin. He and Tebow are similar in some game-winning heroics and their openness about expressing their Christian beliefs.

But there are more differences than similarities.

Tebow was a star pretty much from the beginning, a highly recruited player in Florida who led the University of Florida to a national title, won a Heisman Trophy, was the cover player on a popular video game, was a high draft choice and was a star-in-waiting for the Denver Broncos.

Lin is an Asian American basketball player, not the normal bloodline for a pro basketball star. Even though he was a star for his high school team, he was considered by most college recruiters a Division III player and barely got a glance from any major institution. Harvard, not necessarily a basketball factory, reportedly hesitantly gave him a scholarship. There was nothing in his career at Harvard to foreshadow the latest fireworks.

He was cut by two NBA teams and finally picked up by the Knicks and only because of a desperation need for a point guard because of injuries.

And suddenly, it was like someone with Disney connections had annointed him with pixie dust. He’s become a national sensation, coming along at the perfect time as New Yorkers were yearning for a new miracle man now that Eli Manning’s season has ended.

Madison Square Garden officials reportedly had to iron on makeshift No. 17s (Lin’s number) on Knicks jerseys so they could have souvenir gear available before the game with the Los Angeles Lakers.

You couldn’t intentionally create a scenario where so many elements come together like they have in the mushrooming saga of Lin.

NBA star Steve Nash said in a tweet, “If you love sports, you have to love what Jeremy is doing. Getting an opportunity and exploding.”And that in a nutshell is what tugs at our psyche, invigorates our souls.

It’s our nature to love folks, and animals, who come off the discard pile to do amazing things.

And in rapid-fire fashion, we’ve had examples from a supermodel, a rescue dog and a “rescue” NBA player.

Oh yeh, Phil Mickelson’s surge to victory at Pebble Beach (in which his wife, Amy, who is battling breast cancer) made a special trip to watch, is another sugar-coating to an often-sour world.

A super model, a weimaraner, a lowly regarded basketball player and Phil Mickelson all walk into the spotlight?

Sounds like a strange joke.

The champion weimaraner was rewarded with a cup of soft-serve ice cream.

The rest of us — sports fans or not — are savoring some treats that delight and warm our hearts.

(Sports columnist David McCollum can be reached at 505-1235 or david.mccollum@thecabin.net)