Since today is April 1, it’s time to announce my choice for the Sports Fool of the Year.

This year’s award covers the 12-month period from last year until today. And, as usual, there are plenty of candidates.

The New York Knicks were buffoons last year for tolerating Isiah Thomas as long as they did. They’re contenders again this year for doing likewise with Stephon Marbury.

The Knicks paid him millions of dollars not to step foot on the court. Finally, the franchise dumped him and the Boston Celtics grabbed him.

Maybe the Celtics will be a candidate for 2010 Fool of the Year.

Then there’s the steroids boys, Roger Clemens and Alex Rodriguez.

Clemens called a news conference to say he never did anything wrong, then played a tape recording of a phone conversation that pretty much indicated he did.

The more he denied taking steroids, the more the case seemed to build against him.

A-Rod can’t seem to do anything right. Even while coming clean, he sounded like a fool.

Now he’s injured on top of it. Quite a fall from grace for the baseball golden boy who was supposed to make us forget about Barry Bonds.

Staying with baseball, there’s Hank Steinbrenner and the Los Angeles Dodgers, both candidates for spending foolishly.

Steinbrenner doled out more than $200 million for three players: pitchers C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, and first baseman Mark Teixeira. There’s no recession going on with that team.

With Tampa Bay and Boston in the same division, there might be no playoffs for that team, either. And you can get a season ticket to the Pirates for less money than a box seat to a game in the new Yankee Stadium.

As for the Dodgers, they bid against themselves for Manny Ramirez. Just who were those imaginary teams in the mind of Scott Boras who kept driving up Manny’s price tag?

L.A. fell for it. Hopefully, Manny won’t bail on that city like he did on Boston.

My runner up for Fool of the Year? Alabama left guard Andre Smith.

He was a candidate for No. 1 overall pick in this month’s NFL draft — before he showed up for the NFL Combine out of shape.

Then, he decided to leave the NFL Combine, period. Now, Smith is projected to be a late first-rounder, if that.

Foolish, indeed.

But the winner of Fool of the Year, without a doubt, is, drum roll, please — Plaxico Burress.

The defending Super Bowl Giants were rolling, despite Plaxico missing some playing time early in the year for being, well, foolish.

Then he brings a loaded gun into a bar and accidentally shoots himself.

He’s done for the year, the Giants fall apart and now Burress might be headed for jail time and, possibly, a new team altogether.

Now those are Fool of the Year credentials.

Congratulations, Plaxico.

You earned it.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle.