Did no one show her Poodle Poop Park?!?!?

Guess Portland won't have a $50 Million idol to cheer.

How about a Golden Dog to worship?

Not Euro enough?
Didn't they show him the Round at Beaverton? er, never mind.
Didn't he notice that they offer French vanilla creamer at the Rose Q. concessions? And I know they have Stella Artois beer there too....

Or maybe it's because he could get 6 million more there than Portland. Or maybe it's because there is a Turkish diaspora in Toronto. Plus, his wife never even made the trip out here, so I wonder what she is basing that information on.

We go to all the trouble of buying the tram cars in Czechoslovakia, and we still get screwed.

You forgot to include the sexually promiscuous mayor on the list of European superlatives.

Yes, Bill, and all the recent reporting on the "first American streetcar in 50 years" is really about an Oregon factory making the Czech company's design under a licensing agreement.

(That's not to say those local jobs aren't good to have.)

Toronto is a beautiful city. As much as I love Portland, I have to admit it would be laughable to compare it to Toronto - especially with respect to "European-ness".

Memo to Pritchard: Make a deal for Shawn Marion.

As disappointed as we are, I still can't help feeling good for all the caribou and moose partying up in Alaska tonight.

Wait 'til the other shoe drops -- whatever it is. Governor Sanford will be dropping by to congratulate the moose.

Don't get your hopes up yet, but the columnist breaking this story, Adrian Wojnarowski, has been known to base his conclusions on the flimsiest of evidence and isn't always correct.

Me, I'd try to sign Grant Hill to a two-year deal. Hill played in all the Suns' games last year and looked like the same guy who played in Detroit about a decade ago. Yeah, he's missed a lot of games in previous years because of injuries, but because of that, his body hasn't been worn down as much as if he had played 80 games a year. He could school Batum and contribute as a starter or sixth man. The Suns sucked last year, but mostly because Nash's skills declined and Shaq was definitely not the answer.

the columnist breaking this story, Adrian Wojnarowski

It's been confirmed elsewhere.

Wow, he's giving up any hope of winning it all because his wife likes Toronto? What's the Turkish word for, "whipped"?

I understand Mrs. Turkoglu also expressed concern about Portland's unfunded actuarial liabilities.

Not European enough - gag me with a spoon. Geez, this place has gotten so European (to me) that I can hardly stand it. In my mind Portland has lost what once made it great. Wow, just how wimpy does the city have to get to get that woman's stamp of approval. Tell her to come back in the twilight of her husband's career (we seem to like players at that point in their careers anyway), we'll pay him WAY more than he's worth and we'll be much further down the road to being wussifide. European, yuck!!

He would have come here if we had a street named Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Boulevard.

We really need an open air narcotics legal market if we want to compete. And more transit/Amtrak strikes, preferably during long holiday weekends.

Portland: The biggest little city in America.

Soccer! We do not have a dedicated soccer field!

I'm over it already... they should have been going after Trevor Ariza all along anyway. Is it too late to get him to pull a 'Hedo' on Houston? He's got Laker taint on him, but damn, they're going to rue the day they let him go... he's good, and he's only getting better. Love his defense.

Things don't look so great for the Blazers for this free agent class, but $9M is a lot of walking money. Brandon Bass is still a stud and still available. And remember they have a trade exception... some team will find them with lopsided sign-and-trade bait, so that opens up many options we probably don't know about.

Geez, this place has gotten so European (to me) that I can hardly stand it. In my mind Portland has lost what once made it great. Wow, just how wimpy does the city have to get to get that woman's stamp of approval.

Yeah, wimpy like Berlin. Or maybe Sarajevo. Seriously, there were riots and cars burning in the suburbs of Paris just a couple years back, and your characterization of European cities is "wimpy"? It is to laugh.

Frankly, Jack, I think that a couple of the things that set Portland apart from, say, Toronto are the isolation of Portland from any other major cities and the general homogeneity of the population, something that might make a bit of a difference if your name is Turkoglu.

Great, you know this is like throwing doen the gauntlet for Samdy. IF we couls only improt a Turkish community.

I was thinking maybe taxes since Portland has to be one of the highest places in the USA now, but he's going to Toronto which is even worse.

Oh well. this is probably for the good since we can save cap room and Turkoglu was going to be expensive.

I heard that Allen wants to decrease ticket prices, instead of increasing, by five bucks.

These criminals (politicians) just don't get it. The whole bunch of them can suck it. Never trust a man who has never had a real job (do you here me Sam).

Whatever. Obviously the guy was using us to get a better deal elsewhere. Here is where the $15 million Darius Miles salary cap penalty rears its ugly head. D. Miles may go down as one of the worst contracts in franchise history. From what I understand the D. Miles contract was almost entirely the brain child of Paul Allen. Let's pray that K. Pritchard and his posse can work their magic elsewhere.

"Little by little, train by train, we keep discovering this is all one place"

Hey the cosmopolitan, euro-like euphoria that Portland generates should have been sufficient.

IMO there must be something Creepy going on.

Don't worry folks, when Mrs. Turkoglu discovers Toronto is seriously cold from late October until sometime in April; she will wonder why they ever left Orlando.

Maybe the Turkoglu's were also shopping the income tax rates for each city?

It used to be that Canadian teams couldn't compete with the US for free agents on a dollar for dollar basis because of their tax structure.

But with Oregon planning to pull 10.8% out of Hedo's income it is almost a wash with Ontario's 11.16%. And with Canada's top federal income tax at 29% to our 35% maybe Toronto looks like a tax haven compared to Portland.

I know these aren't apples to apples comparisons because the state/province and federal tax codes probably differ in countless ways. But it stands to reason that the Blazers will have to pay a premium for any free agent talent while recruiting people to one of the highest income tax states.

You're absolutely right, which is why Portland needs to keep striving. It's got the aerial tram, and the streetcars, and the quaint street performers. Now all it needs is a collection of animatronic dolls singing "It's A Small World After All," over and over on the quarter-hour.