With only two games remaining in the World Cup, one has to wonder what the hell the media is thinking churning out these two headlines today:

Players and Refs Turn Cup Into Field of Screams
Why the United States doesn’t take to soccer

The first one’s from the New York Times. Outside of some glaring statistics, it’s your basic the-players-are-diving-and-it’s-annoying article.

… zero tolerance for the dive — that counterfeit tumble by a player, frequently accompanied by a trip off the field on a stretcher and then a swift, complete, miraculous recovery …With two of 64 matches remaining … a record 336 yellow cards have been handed out. Some people have interpreted the high number as evidence that FIFA’s campaign for fair play backfired. This World Cup has seen a benchmark for red cards, with 27 issued. The previous mark was 22 in 1998.

The second one comes from USA Today and is pure dreck. Hell, when Bill Simmons is writing the same damn thing, you know it’s a tired topic.

Far more interesting topics could have been:

* Zidane’s last stand. We all know he’s retiring, but what’s this guy’s story? Prior to 1998, we’d like to know about him.
* Italy’s defense. In the annals of World Cup history, this may go down as the closest thing resembling the Steel Curtain.
* France’s Ribery. The announcers love him, the guy’s having a whale of a tournament, and people probably should get to know this guy.
* Totti. Tell us more. Especially about his incredibly hot wife, who may just be one of the hottest women on earth.

Players and Refs Turn Cup Into Field of Screams (New York Times)
Why the United States doesn’t take to soccer (USA Today)
Shades of 1990 (World Cup Blog)