I’m not ready to talk about Gavin. I’m not qualified to talk about Gavin. I don’t want to talk about Gavin.

And yet, here I am: talking about Gavin. I’ll keep this short.

I asked someone about him a few days ago, a long-time Timbers supporter whose opinion I respect. He’s been here since the beginning (yes, 1975) and has seen the club through some difficult times. He remembers Gavin the player and Gavin the USL manager. And he said this:

Gavin’s in his twelfth year with the club. He should be a legend, but he isn’t.

That about sums it up, doesn’t it?

Gavin said some interesting (read:disturbing) things post-match. I can’t really criticize too much when he said there were guys out there who had quit. I’ve said the same over the last several months. Mostly, it just sounded like excuses to me. More damn excuses.

But the question posed on Twitter (you all know how I love Twitter) was this: after all these things Gavin’s said about his players, who among them really wants to play for him?

Well, guess what? They don’t just play for him.

They play for me. They play for us.

We love this team. We will continue to love this team. But we demand better than lackluster performances from a team we know is better than their record. And we demand that our manager answer for his own mistakes and make appropriate adjustments to ensure that they don’t become habits.

The rumor on Twitter is that any anti-Gavin tifo or statements will earn you a stadium ban. I don’t know if this is true but if it is, it will be just one more in a long line of poorly-considered decisions and I expect that the Timbers Army will rise up. We’ve been tested multiple times this season. I see no reason why this will be any different.

In the meantime, I still believe. Time is growing short for this team to turn a corner and make a full-on run into the playoffs. We beat Seattle, right? And San Jose? And SKC? I maintain that the possibility is still there. We just need to find and reclaim the spirit, the spark that will get us there.

Believe beyond reason. It is our calling.

“Love has a way of turning you inside out. Teasing you and leaving you anguished. And then, when it seems that hope and belief is all that’s left, love lifts you higher than ever before, allowing you to glimpse the dream. Never, ever give up. Believe beyond reason.”

That’s a little bit from Obi. Get used to seeing it. It’ll probably get dropped in here whenever I (think we) need a reminder.