Scott (Detroit): What is the best and worst part of your job?

-- From Thursday's ESPN.com chat with U.S. National Team coach Bruce Arena

Yesterday, it all became too much for me.

Driving home to Jersey from Manhattan, as the sun set behind the refinery tanks along the NJ Turnpike, I finally realized enough is enough. Bruce Arena and the U.S. national soccer team are under too much pressure from the soccer-crazed fans and press in this country.

For what seemed like the fourth day in a row, WFAN's all-powerful talk team of Mike Francesa and the "Mad Dog" Chris Russo did nothing but slam Arena for continuing to start David Regis and Tony Sanneh as outside backs. I know Mike and the Mad Dog's topics are dictated entirely by what the callers want to talk about, but c'mon, the Yankees and Mets are both going to be contenders this year -- can't they lay off Arena and the U.S. men for an hour or two and talk baseball?

I guess not. Because one Al from White Plains after another wanted to talk about the U.S. men and the World Cup.

I'm worried. I don't know how the U.S. will be able to perform in South Korea with all the controversy surrounding the goalkeeper position. I mean Mike likes Kasey Keller. Mad Dog likes Brad Friedel. And the Metro fans seem to think Timmy Howard deserves a look. This stuff can absolutely kill a team.

The fans and the media are going to make the U.S.'s job a lot harder than it should be. By the time the World Cup rolls around, there could be real problems. While other national teams are allowed to go about the business of preparing for a World Cup in peace, without having the media critiquing their every move, the U.S. is getting suffocated by coverage.

Really, it's gotten totally out of hand. In New York alone. Daily News columnist Mike Lupica can't seem to move on from the home loss to Honduras. The Post's Wallace Matthews is clearly trying to cause a rift between DaMarcus Beasley and Landon Donovan. Damned tabloids. All they care about is selling newspapers.

The soccer feeding frenzy has gotten so bad that the Yankees, the team I used to cover for the News, are now only covered by a wire reporter. All eight traveling beat writers have now been re-assigned. This week, they've all descended upon Seattle for this weekend's U.S.-Honduras friendly, where they're already wondering how Arena's going to get Clint Mathis and Josh Wolff back from injuries. They're grilling the team doctors and trainers, demanding answers from Arena, trying to provoke the players into saying things they may not want to say.

What a mess.

I was told that Joe Torre, who got used to two-a-day press conferences during spring training, now spends a lot of time surfing the internet, because he's desperate to find out what the fans are saying about him and his team. I also hear Torre's very sympathetic to all the intense scrutiny the U.S. soccer team is facing on a day-to-day basis, because he believes the press stirs up the fans and right now, the U.S. soccer fans appear ready to implode. As you know, they are all hooligans. And a poor showing by the U.S. in this World Cup is going to rock the American sports scene like no one's business. One can only imagine the fallout.

Personally, this has been very tough. I was hoping to get down to Florida to interview Mike Piazza, maybe get out to Arizona to check in on Barry Bonds, but my editors are insisting I track down John Harkes and Eric Wynalda, to see if they will ignite any controversy.

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated thought he'd be spending the month of March covering the NCAA Basketball Tournament, grilling the likes of Bobby Knight ... but no, I hear he's going to be stalking Arena. Sad indeed.

I guess it's the nature of our business. Guess you've got to give the people what they want.

Doesn't have to make me feel any better about it.

And finally, I've got a confession to make. At times, I admit, I draw odd conclusions about Arena and the U.S. team.

I mean, it never seemed like a huge deal when I drew conclusions about Buck Showalter and the Yankees ... when I questioned the lineup and batting order.

Yeah, there were times the manager would tell me I didn't know my ass from my elbow. That I wasn't seeing the whole picture. That I was missing crucial facts. Of course, he also knew I was only doing my job.

But with the U.S. soccer team, it's gotten out of hand. The media and the fans have become the worst part of Arena's job, and it should have never come to that. I don't know how this can be fixed.

Maybe we all need a good reality check.

Jeff Bradley is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at jeff.bradley@espnmag.com.