| Join the Bryan's Bunch |
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| The Palm Beach Post |
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| Davis Cup twins draw the usual - - Sisters who founded a fan club have followed the Bryan brothers since 1993. April 11, 2004 By Jane Musgrave jane_musgrave@pbpost.com |
| Sure, the sellout crowd of roughly 6,000 cheered wildly Saturday for the Davis Cup doubles team of Mike and Bob Bryan. But to Amber Vanderzalm and Tiffany Reuschel, the American flag-waving fans at the Delray Beach Tennis Center are rookies when it comes to rooting for the identical twins, who beat a Swedish doubles team in straight sets Saturday to give the U.S. a 2-1 lead in their quarterfinal match. The sisters from Michigan have been following the Bryan brothers from California since 1993. That was the year that Reuschel, after watching the twins pummel their competition at a juniors tournament in Kalamazoo, calmly turned to her father and said, "Those guys are going to be number one one day." It would be another 10 years before she could utter a gloating "I told you so." In the meantime, the sisters started a Bryan fan club, launched a Bryan Web site and traveled thousands of miles watching the twins climb the world rankings to No. 1, which they reached last year. Both preschool teachers, Vanderzalm and Reuschel have watched the 25-year-old twins play in Cincinnati; New York; Memphis; Washington D.C.; and Lexington, KY. This week, they drove from Michigan. So how many miles have they logged? "You don't want to know," said their mother, Barbara Reuschel, a charter member of the group. "people are pretty baffled by us," said Vanderzalm, 27. After all, she said, it isn't like they're faollowing well-known players such as Andre Agassi or Andy Roddick. "This was a tennis doubles team that no one had ever heard of," she said. Still, their efforts paid off. In August, while wearing their trademark mint-green "Bryan's Bunch," T-shirts, the sisters met the twins at a tournament in Cincinnati. The Bryans liked the T-shirts and the Web site and asked the sisters whether they would make the Web site ---bobandmike.com---their official Internet connection to their fans. So, now the sisters talk to the Bryans regularly. They've met members of their family and get the content for the Web site directly from the source. With a simple mouse click, for instance, computer users can hear not only the Bryan Bros. Band (featuring Bob, Mike, and father Wayne) play Tequila and Fire but also a recording of sometimes band member Roddick singing Ice, Ice Baby. For the most part, their passion is a family affair. Still, Vanderzalm said, her husband doesn't accompany them on trips. "He calls himself a tennis widower," she said. |
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