The Portland Fire jersey was donned by an unusual guest on Sunday, as the stadium turned pink for the Fire’s new mascot. After months of looking, the franchise unveiled “Rose the Dragon,” the glitter-breathing dragon in a Fire jersey. The unveiling happened at the halftime show during their game against the Washington Mystics at the Moda Center, and fans couldn’t contain their excitement as Portland finally has an official mascot.
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The Fire put up an Instagram post celebrating her unveiling, which was then reposted by Just Women’s Sports, under which fans dropped several comments. In the post, the stadium lights switched to Rose’s pink color scheme as Fire staff lined the court as Fire staff lined up on both sides of the court. Rose made her way onto the court, mirror in hand, admiring herself before waving to fans.
The Fire have created an entire Instagram page in honor of Rose. One of the posts outlines Rose’s preferences and dislikes, elaborating on her personality. The post also included a statement about Rose.
“long before the Portland Fire, there was Rose. Confident, magnetic and effortlessly cool, Rose embodies the spirit of Portland: bold, creative, welcoming and always ready to bring the heat.”
‘Rose The Dragon’s’ design includes rose-inspired scales to go with a rose crown. The Portland Fire even collaborated with the Pantone Color Institute to create a unique color called “Portland Fire”. It is the same color as Rose’s bright pink scales, with Portland and Pantone releasing a collaboration post about it.
Fans can visit Rose during halftime shows at the Portland home games and stadium tours.
The Portland Fire had announced back in June an opening for a mascot- rather, the person behind the mascot. The post offered up to $130 an hour for the job. Since then, speculation has remained high, as fans could only deduce that the next logical step would be the actual mascot unveiling.
The Portland Fire fans now have something other than Fire center Megan Gustafson’s corgi to cheer as the mascot of the team. Gustafson’s corgi has served as an unofficial mascot for the team, adored by the fans and players alike. But neither Rose nor the corgi was the original mascot for the Fire.
Portland’s first mascot, back when they were part of the WNBA from 2000-02, was a fire station Dalmatian called ‘Spot’. ‘Rose the Dragon’ now replaces ‘Spot’ as the official Portland Fire mascot.
However, the mascot’s unveiling could not turn the tide in Portland’s favor as they lost a closely contested game 105-100 against the Mystics. Carla Leite scored 27 points and added eleven assists, and Emily Engstler added another 23 points.
The Fire still came up short as the Mystics held on for the win, as Shakira Austin exploded for 31 points and grabbed ten rebounds, and Kiki Iriafen added another 18 points for the Mystics to close the game in their favor.
The Portland Fire fans remained unfazed and wasted no time in reacting to this exciting new development for the Portland Fire franchise.
The Fans Shower Love on the New Glitter Breathing Dragon
The fans could not contain their excitement after ‘Rose the Dragon’s’ unveiling.
“She’s so cute and already using a purse 👀🥹,” one fan said, while referring to the pink purse that ‘Rose’ was seen carrying along with her.
“I think it’s funny and I love it. Mascots are meant to be silly!,” another fan said, while describing how ‘Rose’ made her way onto the court, flaunting her new Pink look.
“Well, I guess I’m a Portland fan now,” one fan said, perhaps hinting at switching team allegiances due to the mascot’s likeability.
“So happy to see the dragon from shrek is still rocking it,” another fan said, drawing the comparison with the popular animated character from the DreamWorks series ‘Shrek’.
“Her & Ellie need to end up together,” another fan said, referring to the fact that the pairing of ‘Rose the Dragon’ and New York’s Liberty mascot ‘Ellie the Elephant’ would look great together.
“You can’t slay her because she’s the one slaying,” one fan said, capturing the mood of the fans around Rose’s unveiling.
The Fire will look to get back to winning ways as they take on the Dallas Wings, who sit just above them at eighth in the standings, in a must-win game for the playoffs.
Although Portland, with a 15-22 record, is seven games behind the Wings, a loss would officially end their playoff hopes. Seven playoff spots have already been decided, and the eighth one will likely be decided after Portland’s next game.