NBA mascot power rankings, best past and present

21. Blaze the Trail Cat: Portland Trail Blazers

You know you’ve botched your mascot design when fans can’t tell if he actually resembles the thing you say he resembles. At least according to former Portland Mercury columnist Ian Carmel, who has questioned Portland Trail Blazers mascot Blaze the Trail Cat’s feline biology (yes, I realize it’s a costume, but bear with me for a moment).

In Wm. Steven Humphrey’s May 2018 column for the Mercury, he chronicles Carmel’s myriad of “evidence” to buttress Carmel’s theory, as well as his guesses about what Blaze could actually be if not a cat — the guesses range from a goat all the way to Raymond Felton.

Part of the Blazers’ fanbase must agree, as a poll conducted at the end of the piece showed that only 17.7 percent of respondents thought Blaze was a cat, while the rest either said he definitely wasn’t or that he might not be.

Can you blame them? Does Blaze look like a cat? The snout and the ears seem more canine than feline, but that could be blamed on whoever thought that putting flame ears on the side of the mask was a good idea. You know, because they’re the Portland Trail Blazers. They do realize that the team name references the Oregon trail and not an actual flame, right?

Anyway, Blaze seems like a likable enough mascot — with multiple clothing options — but the team should be ashamed for their deception. Just admit that Blaze isn’t a cat. Or, at the very least, make him more cat-like.