A hand hovering over the panic button

This big button is staring at me. Back before Garth Lagerwey added four starting level talents, the Dire Days didn't elicit panic. Even 2013 didn't cause me to panic. But now, not knowing what it means, I stare at this red button. There are two matches left in August and the month on the field currently looks barely better than it did in July and late June. The listless performance in Sandy, Utah, was as bad any others during the horrible run that saw Seattle Sounders fall from Shield contenders to a "might make the Playoffs" team.

But what does this button mean?

If I press it, do the Sounders trounce Olimpia and essentially advance in CONCACAF Champions League play? Will slamming my had down on the panic button earn a win against Portland?

No, and no.

And yet, I teeter over that button, because there is a fire missing from the belly of the hydra. Integration of the new parts takes time, but it's time that is disappearing. The old guard needs to heal, but if they're healthy in November and there aren't games it's too late.

Time is short.

The expectations for this team, this soccer-crazed city and this website are higher than anywhere else in the USA (even than LA, but probably because those last two parts and not the first). With multiple players capable of MVP performances and many more that are capable of All Star level years there is no reason that, when mostly healthy, things like the RSL game should happen.

So my hands hover over this button, wondering what happens when I press it. For I am about to press it. My passions that revolve around the game stretch from disassociated to holy god I saw that. Now, a new emotion is close to bursting out. It's a little bit of panic, mixed with anger. I do not like.

There's a simple cure. Sigi and team can provide that on Wednesday and Sunday. Until then I stare at this button, not knowing what it's for and about to press it anyway.