It appears that the Timbers Army's drawn-out nightmare may be over. Merritt Paulson, at the same time the most beloved and despised man in the Rose City, has negotiated a tentative agreement with Mayor Sam Adams to upgrade PGE Park.

This is big news, if only because it's the first tangible evidence that PGE will be ready in time for the Timbers to enter MLS in 2011. There were some sacrifices on the part of Paulson, though, and the money involved will mean a slightly scaled-back version of the stadium plans will need to be drawn up.

Still, the important thing is that the stadium get done. MLS needs Portland to figure this out, and the deal struck today would seem to be a major step in the right direction.

All the better that the Portland government has done right by its citizens by exercising supreme diligence in getting the deal done. Hopefully this will quiet the critics (silencing them would be impossible, I believe) and still allow for Portland to meet the deadlines needed to have Portland join Vancouver in the league in 2011.