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BARCELONA, Spain -- Barcelona says Lionel Messis recovery from a hamstring injury is progressing positively. Messi will travel to his native Argentina on Friday to begin the second phase of his recovery process, under the supervision of the Spanish champions medical staff. Barcelona says Messis recovery "has been positive, as the latest medical scans have revealed." Messi was initially ruled out for six to eight weeks after hurting his left hamstring during a Spanish league game at Real Betis on Nov. 10. It was the Argentina internationals third injury of the season. Miikka Salomaki Predators Jersey . The 19-year-old Swiss centre back will initially have to impress in Uniteds reserve side to earn a spot in the first team. Veseli says "Manchester United has a long history of younger players coming through and hopefully I can follow and do the same. Mattias Ekholm Predators Jersey . Even that couldnt slow them down against the New Orleans Hornets. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook scored 31 points apiece and the Thunder overcame injuries to two key backups to beat New Orleans 101-93 Monday night for their 10th straight home win. http://www.authenticpredatorspro.com/Filip-forsberg-predators-jersey/ . Venable and Jeremy Hermida drove in three runs apiece, and the Padres beat the Colorado Rockies 7-2 on Sunday to snap a nine-game losing streak. Colton Sissons Jersey . -- Zach Johnson is like most players at the World Challenge, not sure whether hes still playing in 2013 or if hes in the middle of the new wraparound season that officially started in October. Ryan Ellis Predators Jersey .C. -- Tony Stewart will not race Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway, the third Sprint Cup race hes skipped since his car struck and killed Kevin Ward Jr.Each week, I watch the coachs copies of the previous games in preparation for the upcoming telecasts to have an understanding of how each team employs their schemes. One week ago, I took a break from watching one of the games and had a chance to check e-mails and look at whats happening in the world. My twitter feed had conversations that had just talked about a shooting in Ottawa. I left my office and went and turned on the television to see what was happening. At the time, reports talked about three separate shootings areas and it was a very scary sight to see that happening in the capital of the country. I watched my film and took my notes the rest of the day glued to the TV, thinking of things more than football. This will happen often to coaches since we seem to be always in the office watching game films. I can remember being in the office for the Argonauts on September 11, 2001 watching with the rest of the coaching staff as my home country came under attack. A couple of years later, the office changed, the colours changed and I was trying to prepare a game plan while watching and hoping family members were safe in New Orleans as Hurricane Katrina plowed through in 2005. Last week reminded me of those difficult times. It lets you know that there is simply more important things than football that happen daily and we should always remember that as players and coaches. After Sept. 11, the CFL had originally decided to play games on the weekend and that was a much discussed topic for the league since all other leagues cancelled games. Our QB Jimmy Kemp spoke to the team a day or two after the events and told his teammates that although he is a team guy, that he would not play the games out of respect for what had happened. It was a difficult decision and Jimmy was and is a stand-up guy; everyone understood where he was coming from. Jimmys decision did not matter as the CFL changed its mind and cancelled games after further thought. I can remember how great Canadians were to the people of the US and did their utmost to help and show respect to the people who were lost on the 11th. I tried to show respect by searching all over Mississauga for a US flag. I finally found a large flag and had it hung up on the backside of our trailers at the Argo facility overlooking the practice fields. I wanted to hhave the Americans on the team who were in another country to have some connection to home they could see.dddddddddddd The hardest part about working in professional sports is that, no matter what is happening, the games and seasons will have to go on eventually. No time was tougher and hit closer to home than when we lost our assistant head coach Richard Harris to a massive heart attack two days before a game in 2011. We had to mourn as well as prepare for a game in little or no time. The games go on and you have to get ready, even though you are in pain and want to take time to console others and help those in need. There was no tougher team meeting than when I had to tell our team the circumstances of Coach Harriss passing the following day. The support from the league and the fans was tremendous and the players honoured Coach Harris by finding a way to defeat the BC Lions after a moving moment of silence before the game in Winnipeg. That is the thing about actually playing the games, it allows us to honour as well as get our mind on things that we are passionate about, if only for a few hours. Last Friday, I believe the CFL was at the forefront of the support for all of Canada as the Redblacks hosted the Montreal Alouettes in Ottawa, the city that had been home to one of the attacks that resulted in the death of Corporal Nathan Cirillo. Everyone was able to have a moment of silence and pay tribute with the CFL to Cirillo and also Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent. As I was preparing to go to the studio, I was watching television coverage of the people who were lined up along the Highway of Heroes to again support Corporal Cirillo. From Ottawa all the way to Hamilton, the great people of Canada came from every town to tribute a fallen soldier who was a complete stranger to most. It was amazing and moving to see people trying to help the families of the fallen in any way possible. Hopefully sports and football can help people in times of struggle to have a release when it is needed. Nathan and Patrice, thank you for your support and your sacrifice and we will do our best to make sure you are not forgotten. I am an American who is very proud of his country, but I can also say that after last week, I am once again reminded of how proud I am to call Canada my home the past 14 years. ' ' '