Can Terry Emmert Pick a Better Arena Football Name than the Forest Dragons?

We do not think so.

By AARON MESH

Terry Emmert didn't get to buy the Portland Trail Blazers. He'll settle for an Arena Football League franchise to play in the Blazers' building.

Emmert, a Clackamas-based building mover, owns the Portland Chinooks of the International Basketball League—a regional spring league. But as recently as 2006, he was talking with Clyde Drexler about angling for a much larger prize: buying the Trail Blazers from billionaire owner Paul Allen.

That shot missed. But today, Emmert will hold a 2 pm press conference to announce he's been awarded an expansion franchise by the Arena Football League. The team begins play next spring in the Moda Center.

First, Emmert needs a name. He'll be polling Portlanders. But WW would like to offer a humble suggestion:

Bring back the Portland Forest Dragons.

Yes, that was the name of Portland's last Arena Football League franchise, which moved to Oklahoma in 2000.

True, Dwight Jaynes recently described a 40-9 Forest Dragons defeat as "the least entertaining football game—indoors or outdoors—I've ever watched in my life."

Sure, the Portland Business Journal has already mocked the moniker as being chosen "because of all the dragons that live in our forests."

To which we reply: FOREST DRAGONS.

Anyway, Emmert will give potential fans a place to offer names this afternoon. Until then, feel free to try—and fail—slaying the Forest Dragons in our comments.

WWeek 2015

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office. Support WW's journalism today.