I Bleed Blue and White

To give up something you enjoy a great deal is definitely tough, but when it’s for another person, especially a loved one, it might be a little easier.  Brian Lynch, former Villanova basketball player and husband to tennis phenom Kim Clijsters, had to give up his basketball career, at least for now, in order for Kim to get back into tennis.  He takes care of daughter Jada, representing the so called “stay at home dad” these days.  Allowing his wife to get back into tennis certainly paid off, as she won the U.S. Open a few weeks ago.  But what has it been like since dropping basketball?  Frank Fitzpatrick, a writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, details how Lynch has dealt with the transition.  Some interesting quotes from the article are below.

On his basketball ability:

I knew I wasn’t good enough for the NBA, but I felt like I was a solid player who might be able to go to Europe.

On the sacrifice he made:

But when Kim got back into tennis, we decided I’d hang it up to care for our daughter and to give Kim a normal family life.

Definitely a true family man Lynch is.  It must have been that much sweeter seeing his wife win the prestigious U.S. Open.  Hopefully, he gets the chance to pick up basketball again, whether it’s as a player or a coach. 

No, I do not believe that. Especially not after Jon Scheyer spent the majority of this beatdown complaining to the refs instead of doing anything of actual significance. But, at least one man believes that the aforementioned Dookie is better than Villanova’s own Corey Fisher. On to the links…

No word on if he was yelling 'rape!'

• Mike DeCourcy of The Sporting News would be the man who inspired this post. Not to mention that he left Greivis Vasquez off the list completely. Sheesh.
• The Philadelphia Inquirer talks with Brian Lynch about his wife’s comeback to win the US Open.
• Jeff Goodman of FoxSports says Jay Wright is his choice for the top recruiter in college hoops. As Goodman points out, Wright probably does the most with the least to sell. Personally, bring home Mike Gilchrist and I’ll agree with Goodman.
• ZagsBlog reports that Memphis wants the SEC first, and the BIG EAST if that doesn’t work out. A Rutgers-to-Big 10 and Memphis-to-BIG EAST scenario is posed. Personally, I wouldn’t miss the them.
• The NCAA Tournament is returning to Philadelphia for the 1st and 2nd rounds in 2013. So you can officially mark 3 BIG EAST games down at The Wachovia Center instead of the usual 5 that year.
• Gary Parrish at CBSSports thinks the National Champion will have one of impact freshman. Considering we have at least 3 that look to play a big role, that bodes well for us.
• Villanova 2011 target Tony Wroten Jr. tore his ACL playing football, and will be out for the basketball season. We’ve still got love for you Tony. Get well soon.
• Curtis Sumpter will be playing for BCM Gravelines in France this year after playing for fellow French team Chorale de Roanne last season.

…In all honesty, I love seeing basketball becoming more popular throughout the world, and I love how both Sumpter and Ray are still playing professionally, and doing quite well…keep it up boys…

Brian Lynch was a bit before my time, but a few friends have been talking about him at the U.S. Open this week. For those of you who don’t know, Lynch married tennis star Kim Clijsters and has been all over the TV this week during his wife’s matches.

For those who do not follow women’s tennis, Lynch changed the landscape will a single question. This is the man who took Clijsters out of professional tennis after their marriage following her winning the U.S. Open in 2005. Yep, that’s right. Brian Lynch has took a tennis star in her prime out of the game for 4 years. Only a Villanova man.

Lynch took his game to Europe after 'Nova.

So if you’ve been missing Brian Lynch, or just want to find out who exactly this man is, turn on CBS this Friday.

• VUHoops is all over the Brian Lynch phenomena by noticing he is #11 on Google Trends. No, seriously. He really is.
• Sticking with the alumnus theme, Mike from VUHoops let us know that former Villanovan Andrew Sullivan is captaining Great Britain at Eurobasket 2009.
• Villanova By The Numbers is looking into Scottie Reynolds’ bid to become the all-time leading scorer at Villanova. He is 623 points shy of Kerry Kittles’ record of 2,243. According to stats-guru greyCat, he would need to average roughly 20 points per game in his final year to hit the mark.
• VUHoops has posted the recap of their Wisdom of Crowds experiment for the guards. It’s an interesting look into things, although like Ed suggests over there, I have a hard time figuring out how the masses figure Reggie Redding’s minutes per game will decrease by nearly 5 minutes.
• Villanova Golf Coach Will Reilly and sophomore Eddie Ryan are helping inner-city youths learn life skills through the game of golf. The pair teamed with the Northeast Philadelphia Boys & Girls Club to create the program.
• Field hockey players Steffi Caniglia and Dana Ramsden were selected to the Big East Honor Roll for their performances over the weekend.
• Goalie Chris Bresnahan was selected the Philadelphia Soccer Six Player of the Week.
• And for the second time in the season’s first three weeks, freshman Heidi Sabatura was named the Big East Rookie of the Week for women’s soccer.