Gazette. Its going to be tough. Well face good teams and Im eager to see how we respond. Weve been playing with confidence but well take things one game at a time.The Canadiens will face an oppon

WATKINS GLEN, NY -- Everyone danced around the subject Friday when Dale Earnhardt Jr. made his first media appearance since he was sidelined from NASCAR competition four weeks ago by a concussion.What? You didnt say the word! he joked.Of course the word the Sprint Cup Series star was referring to was the R-word -- retirement. And given Earnhardts history of concussions, stepping away from competition is something that may be forced upon him sooner rather than later.Traumatic brain injuries are a hot topic in the sports world, and doctors are taking the issue extremely seriously. As Junior said Friday, The doctors wont let me race. This is not my decision, but its the right decision and I trust what my doctors are telling me.But then again, Earnhardt did make the decision to seek out those doctors when he realized that something wasnt right in his head.Thats a brave move in a sport renowned as a bravery contest, where drivers are expected to demonstrate their toughness on and off the track.Dale Jr. had a hell of a role model in that regard. His father Dale Earnhardt was known as Ironhead as much for his ability to shrug off injuries from wrecking as he was for his aggressive racing.By putting himself in the position to be sat down by doctors, Earnhardt Jr. did something his old man would probably have never done, and thats a measure of how far he has stepped out of that hugely intimidating shadow.Of course, Junior also likely never figured he was going to miss at least five races, and in all likelihood, the 2016 Chase for the Sprint Cup. While he is in daily conversation with his doctors, his concussion symptoms are only evaluated every two to four weeks. There is still no guarantee that he will be ready to return to the No. 88 Chevrolet at Michigan International Speedway in late August, or anytime this season.Or at all, for that matter.But Earnhardt insists that just like reporters didnt bring up the R-word in his Friday news conference at Watkins Glen, neither have his doctors. Their full focus is on his recovery and a return to his normal life.That is not the conversation your doctor is going to have with you when he is trying to get you right, Earnhardt said. You are just worrying about getting normal. You go in there and you see your doctor and all you and him talk about and all he cares about is fixing you.He doesnt care about my racing or whatever I do as a profession. He is just trying to fix what is wrong with me. Thats his job -- hes not a counselor or a psychologist.And that is not the conversation you are going to have in the middle of treatment with someone who is suffering or someone who is going through that process, he added. The conversations I have had with him is that he believes we are going to fix it. He believes that he can make me stronger and that I will be able to pick up where I left off.Earnhardt is a man given to curiosity, always learning. He spent a lot of time over the past few years researching his family history, even traveling to Germany to do it.He has studied the many varieties of concussions, picking the brains of his doctors. Even before his latest injury, he pledged to donate his brain to researchers studying chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.Dale Jr. watched his father die in a racing accident, and he seems to have a realistic grasp of his own mortality. That, along with the memory of what he endured when recovering from a concussion that caused him to miss two races in 2012, adds into why he wasnt afraid to speak up this time when he knew something wasnt right.Having the courage to admit something was wrong may ultimately enhance his own legacy.Its really hard, as a driver, to say that youve got a problem because you basically put yourself out there to be pulled out of the car, he said. But man, your quality of life is so important. Your health beyond your driving career is so important. If you plan on having a family, or have a family already, those things are going to be a priority. There are so many reasons to do the right thing and go ahead and get the help you need and get back in the car when youre healthy.I feel like it would be even harder, the younger you are, when youre trying to get a career going and just trying to make a living driving cars, he added. Being in the situation Im in now, having ran for so long, maybe it wasnt as challenging or as hard a decision to make, to make the right choice. But if I was 21 and just getting started or very young, it would be so hard to make that decision.With 26 career Sprint Cup race wins and a 13-year reign as NASCARs Most Popular Driver, Earnhardt can be proud of what he has achieved, even if he never takes another green flag. JR Motorsports is solidly established as a top Xfinity Series team, so Earnhardt will have plenty to keep him occupied in racing when he stops driving.There is little reason to believe that this concussion will force him into retirement, but a Sprint Cup field without its most popular driver is something that Earnhardt, his fan base and NASCAR are eventually going to have to prepare for.Hes almost 42, and while he and team owner Rick Hendrick have talked about extending their contract beyond 2017, the next contract would likely be Earnhardts last.Everyone would like him to be able to go out with a happy retirement tour like Jeff Gordons, but I suspect most folks would rather have Earnhardt step away from racing on his own terms (for the most part) rather than put himself and his competitors in unnecessary danger.Especially Earnhardt himself -- whether or not he is ultimately the one who makes the decision.Custom Nike Baseball Jerseys . 1, meaning problems for the doping controls at both major international sports events next year. The World Anti-Doping Agency provisionally suspended the Moscow Antidoping Center on Sunday, saying its operations must improve or a six-month ban on the facilitys accreditation will be imposed. Custom Nike Cincinnati Reds Jerseys . There are some early surprises in the race for the Hart Trophy, but two of the contenders are the leagues biggest stars over the past decade. There are many more players in contention for the awards than just the three that Ive named, and a good or bad week can easily alter the landscape, but through the first 20 or so games of the NHL season, this is how the awards races look to me. https://www.customjerseysnikebaseball.com/custom-nike-atlanta-braves-jerseys/ . Manuel was offered a position the day he was fired. He accepted earlier this week and the team made the announcement Friday. Custom Nike Los Angeles Dodgers Jerseys . Parker had 26 points and eight assists and San Antonio beat Toronto 112-99 Monday night. "We won that game because of Tony Parkers aggressiveness," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "His juice; his aggression all night long. Custom Nike Miami Marlins Jerseys . 1 position. The Mustangs (6-0), who beat Queens 50-31 last weekend, earned 17 first-place votes and 287 points in voting by the Football Reporters of Canada. Western was last ranked first in the country in October 2011.ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The NHLs best team will seek to exploit a struggling opponent when the Montreal Canadiens meet the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night at the Honda Center.The Canadiens enter the game with 16 wins and 34 points, both league highs. Montreal owned an even better record at this time last season, when the club won its first nine games to set a team record while going 18-4-2 through Nov. 27 of last year.But the loss of goalie Carey Price sabotaged the Canadiens playoff hopes. Price strained his right medial collateral ligament last Nov. 25 against the New York Rangers and missed the rest of the season. As a result, Montreal won only 20 of its final 58 games and finished sixth in the Atlantic Division.This season, however, Price is back among the leagues elite. The 2015 winner of the Hart and Vezina trophies leads the NHL with 13 wins, holds second place with a .947 save percentage and shares third place with a 1.66 goals-against average.Supporting Price on defense is Shea Weber, who came from the Nashville Predators in exchange for P.K. Subban, a former Norris Trophy winner. All Weber has done is amass a league-high seven power-play goals and compile a plus-18 rating, the best among NHL defensemen, while joining Alexei Emelin to form a physically intimidating pairing.Theyre very demanding to play against, Canadiens coach Michel Therrien told the Montreal Gazette.Offensively, center Alex Galchenyuk is on pace to exceed the career highs of 30 goals and 56 points he established last season. Galchenyuk, 22, has nine goals and 22 points in 22 games. Right winger Alexander Radulov returned to the NHL after five seasons in Russsias Kontinental Hockey League and has nine points in his past eight games playing alongside Galchenyuk.dddddddddddd.Tuesday nights game is the second in a five-game road trip, the teams longest this season. Montreal began the excursion with a 2-1 overtime victory against the Detroit Red Wings.Its a trip thats coming at just the right time for us, Therrien told the Gazette. Its going to be tough. Well face good teams and Im eager to see how we respond. Weve been playing with confidence but well take things one game at a time.The Canadiens will face an opponent that remains a work in progress. Anaheim broke a three-game losing streak Saturday night with a 3-2 victory in San Jose.It feels good, Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf told the Orange County Register. Weve got to feel good about ourselves and try and carry that over. Remember that feeling. Remember the work that went into it. Try and carry it over to the next one.Getzlaf also ended a stretch of personal futility by scoring his first goal in 15 games Saturday night. The goal was just Getzlafs second of the season. Right winger Corey Perry has failed to score in 14 successive games. Yet Rickard Rakell owns eight goals and 12 points in 13 games, and fellow Swede Jakob Silfverberg has five goals and 11 points in his past 11 appearances.We havent done enough consistently with the puck to say that were happy or satisfied, Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle told the Register and added that one problem is having everybody on the same page on a play that we have on. ' ' '