Diego bounded around the owner’s box at Providence Park, testing Merritt Paulson’s patience. He turned in excited little circles, stamped his feet, rushed up to a visitor when sandwiches were unwrapped.



“No, this is not for you,” Paulson admonished, sending Diego slumping back to his corner in disappointment. “You’ve gotta settle down.”



The Paulson family pet — and Merritt’s Twitter avatar — wasn’t named after either Diego Chara or Diego Valeri, at least not specifically. The rambunctious three-year-old Australian cattle dog was christened by Merritt’s daughter, he explained. Paulson did concede that the name was almost certainly soccer-inspired, and probably some combination of Portland’s pair of South American stars.



That had to have made it at least a little awkward earlier this fall when the Timbers were embroiled in a contentious contract dispute with Valeri, and it seemed as...