Proceed with caution: Pavlik?s recovery from alcohol issues a matter of opinion

After 13 months away, Kelly Pavlik climbs back into the ring on Saturday night. He faces Alfons0 Lopez on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley fight.

If you're wondering where he's been, even Pavlik has a tough time talking about it. For that reason, the super middleweight's slaying of his alcohol problem should be handled with kid gloves.

The media takes on Pavlik's return and alcoholism this week unveiled a wide array of opinions.

The Mirror surprised us with this headline:

Kelly Pavlik has won his biggest fight - against alcohol

The Las Vegas Review-Journal went with the angle that Pavlik has seen the light:

'More mature' Pavlik emerges from rehab, pursues world title

A successful comeback makes for a great story, but only if the story is close to completion. Several writers nailed what may be the truth about Pavlik's true state heading into this weekend.

Both the RJ and the Mirror suggested it was Pavlik who finally realized it was time to go to rehab. That's not accurate.

The San Antonio News-Express said:

By the end of 2010, it took family intervention to persuade him to finally get help. He entered the Betty Ford Clinic for alcohol�rehabilitation.

And the Press-Telegram used Pavlik's hometown paper in Youngstown, Oh. to tell us what really happened:

According to Vindy.com, a family intervention involving Pavlik's parents and his wife, Samantha, ensued and he was back at Betty Ford.

Why is that important? Because Pavlik didn't think he had a problem back in November and several media members believe, that even after two stints in rehab, he still doesn't think he was a full-blown alcoholic.

Mark Staniforth from TheSportingLife.com noticed that Pavlik refused to say "alcoholic" during a prefight teleconference.

It remains to be seen whether Pavlik, by his own admission a party animal, has truly beaten his demons. During a conference call this week, he neglected to mention the 'A' word once. He implies his affliction was not so serious.

Some may scoff at that. Maybe words aren't that important. After all, Pavlik's actions should speak loudly. He hasn't had a drink since Nov. 2.

Robert Morales from the Long Beach Press-Telegram disagrees.

He's saying things that seem to indicate he's taking a harder look at his drinking problem this time, but he seems to have somewhat of a difficult time coming to grips with its enormity.

[...] Far be it from yours truly to decide what Pavlik should be thinking. But as a recovering alcoholic who's been off the bottle more than 20 years, one thing is for sure - any bit of denial is bad news for anyone with an alcohol addiction.

Morales was disturbed by Pavlik's answer when he was asked about having a moment of clarity back in October or early November.

"No, not at all," he said. "More or less what it was, just the route that it was going. It wasn't one experience or it wasn't a life threatening experience or anything like that. It was just the point where it came to, `Hey, it's got to stop.'

"It wasn't me getting roughed up or shooting somebody or robbing somebody to get alcohol or vice-versa; it wasn't that extreme. But it came to a point where it was like, `Let's get our head out of our (behind) and move on here."'

Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole thinks Pavlik's in denial and that some in his camp are enabling him.

Morales pointed out manager Cameron Dunkin, who suggested Pavlik mostly misses just hanging out with friends.

"I definitely think he understands he has a problem or he wouldn't be doing what he's doing," Dunkin said. "What he's saying is there are guys that get up in the morning and it just overtakes them. But he doesn't feel like that about alcohol."

"Does he miss going out with his buddies and watching the games (at the local spot)? Yes, that's when he misses alcohol. What Kelly is saying is, it's not like he gets up in the morning and says, `Man, I want a beer.' He knows he can't drink. He says, `I know it's going to ruin my life."'

His co-manager Mike Miller seems to get it a little more.

"He seems to have done a 180 (degree turn)," Miller said. "He's been taking his kids to the movies and to the park. He's being a great�dad.

"But being an alcoholic, the report card is a daily event. It's all about, 'Did I take a drink today?' You don't worry about�tomorrow."

It's hard to find anyone who's not rooting for Pavlik to beat this thing. He's a tremendous fighter and by most accounts, a good guy. Let's just hope Pavlik and his support system have the strength to deal with reality if it ever gets to a point where he's at rock bottom again.

You can watch the Pacquiao-Mosley pay-per-view right here on Yahoo! Sports.

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Ron Weasley went to Wimbledon and sat in the royal box

Harry Potter's best mate was in the royal box on Friday at Wimbledon, watching Andy Roddick, Victoria Azarenka and Andy Murray play on Centre Court. Rupert Grint, who plays Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter films, was joined at the tournament by Oliver Phelps, an actor who plays one of Ron's brothers in the film.

Look at that Weasley stare. Is Ron trying to confound Feliciano Lopez like Hermione confounded Corman McLaggen at quidditch tryouts? Does he wish he had an invisibility cloak to cover up that jacket and those sunglasses he bought from Liz Taylor's estate sale? Or is Ron concentrating really hard to figure out who Ivan Ljubicic reminds him of?

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What?s at stake in semis for Tsonga, Djokovic, Murray and Nadal

Busted Racquet looks at what's on the line for Novak Djokovic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal in Friday's men's semifinal and predicts who will play for the Wimbledon championship this weekend.

Novak Djokovic -- Sometime on Friday, Novak Djokovic will either be the new No. 1 player in the world or a guy who's suddenly in the midst of a terrible slump despite a 46-2 record this year.�Was it only four weeks ago that Djokovic was the hottest tennis player on the planet? You wouldn't know it by the lack of attention thrown his way during Wimbledon. One loss to Roger Federer in the semifinals of the French Open and Djokovic fell out of the conversation. Making his first Wimbledon final puts the Djoker back at the forefront of the game. A loss erases all but the memory of his 43-match winning streak. It's all or nothing for the Serb.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga -- A second appearance in a Grand Slam final and the chance to play spoiler for Novak Djokovic. The two have met seven times in their careers and Tsonga has won five. Djokovic prevailed in the biggest match though, winning the 2008 Australian Open final in four sets.

Rafael Nadal -- His fifth finals appearance since 2006 and a chance to win an 11th Grand Slam, moving closer to Roger Federer's record of 16. Defeating the hometown favorite in the semifinals for the second consecutive year, thus ensuring a healthy anti-Rafa sentiment should he play in Sunday's final. A chance to burnish his credentials as the best all-court player in history.

Andy Murray -- Everything. England's Wimbledon drought is well-documented; it's well known that Fred Perry was the last British man to win at SW19 in 1936. Only slightly less well known is this: the last Brit to make the finals was 1938. If Murray beats Nadal it's like the Miracle on Ice (not so much the miracle part, but the national pride it will elicit). The worry is that there will be a letdown in the final if Murray does pull off the victory. That 1980 hockey team avoided it in the gold medal game. I think Murray does the same.

Predictions: Djokovic d. Tsonga, Murray d. Nadal

[Watching Wimbledon? Let your friends know what you think with IntoNow.]

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Matt O?Donnell works out for Raptors, but is NFL his goal?

The Matt O'Donnell saga has taken another twist. The Saskatchewan Roughriders selected O'Donnell 15th overall in the second round of this year's CFL draft, but he didn't report to training camp and opted instead to try out for the NBA's Boston Celtics earlier this month. That didn't result in a contract, but according to Sportsnet's Arash Madani, O'Donnell's still interested in the NBA, working out for the Toronto Raptors last Thursday. Roughriders' head coach Greg Marshall told reporters Sunday there may be interest in O'Donnell from another NBA team or two, so the chances of him wearing green and white this year appear to be declining rapidly, as CFL training camps and the pre-season schedule are almost over.

O'Donnell's NBA tryouts may not amount to much, though. Sure, he has the size (a 6'11'', 340-pound frame, according to the CFL's site, but he was listed at 6'10'', 329 pounds in their April prospect rankings) and the agility to play left tackle, which makes him an intriguing commodity in basketball as well. There aren't many guys that big who can move, and both football and basketball teams are always on the lookout for those who do fit those qualifications. Keep in mind that arguably the most famous left tackle out there, The Blind Side subject Michael Oher, started as a basketball player, and many other athletes like Antonio Gates have gone back and forth between the two sports. Still, if O'Donnell was really interested in basketball, one would think he'd have followed in the path of Queen's football teammate Scott Stinson, who elected to play basketball for the Gaels as well in his last season and did so quite successfully. Instead, O'Donnell hasn't played competitive basketball since high school (apart from some time in intramurals at Queen's, which I can vouch for as not the highest quality of competition), and NBA sources who have seen him work out are saying, "I can't believe for a minute this guy's ready to play in the NBA."

Of course, plenty of NBA teams are willing to take chances on "project" players who have promising physical attributes but not a lot of refinement to their game. It can take years to turn them into capable pros, if it ever happens, but the pool of available big men with both size and the athleticism to play professional basketball is limited enough that some teams are willing to take a chance on very raw players. That's why O'Donnell has received these tryouts, and that's why he'll probably get a few more; it's also why his chances of cracking the NBA can't be written off entirely. You can teach the details of basketball, but you can't teach the rare combination of raw size and speed, and O'Donnell (seen above against Calgary in the 2009 Vanier Cup) has enough of both to be intriguing from a basketball standpoint.

However, what seems like a far more likely endgame for O'Donnell is attempting to crack the NFL. That same combination of size and speed makes him a perfect left tackle prospect, and unlike basketball, that's something he already has substantial high-level experience at. He earned two All-Canadian selections at Queen's and was part of the Gaels' 2009 Vanier Cup-winning squad. His father, Jim, told The Kingston Whig-Standard that O'Donnell's ideal spot is "probably the NFL right now," and he's represented by Johnathon Hardaway, who helped fellow Kingston native (and Argonauts' 2009 draft pick) Cory Greenwood land a NFL deal with Kansas City (and also presided over the mess with Henoc Muamba's contract). If NBA teams are willing to take a look at O'Donnell thanks to his size and agility, it seems even more likely that NFL teams would be interested. In fact, there were NFL rumours around O'Donnell as early as December, and that would seem likely to still be there.

The quirks of the NFL's ongoing labour dispute mean they can't show that interest at the moment, though, as teams are currently prohibited from signing undrafted free agents. Thus, O'Donnell's NBA workouts may be a convenient stalling tactic in hopes that the NFL lockout ends soon and he can pick up a deal there. It's not like he could sign with the CFL and jump quickly, either; as mentioned in the case of Terrelle Pryor, CFL contracts are now for a minimum of two years with no NFL option window, so if O'Donnell does elect to sign a deal with the Roughriders, he's stuck north of the border for at least two years. If he has NFL options, it only makes sense for him to pursue them; the money's much better even at the start in the NFL, and the chances for a big multi-million dollar payday are there if he finds success.

This doesn't mean the CFL should write O'Donnell off, though, and it doesn't make him a wasted draft pick. The size and speed that make him an attractive prospect in the NFL and NBA apply to three-down football too, and his experience in the Canadian game and ability to be a potentially dominant non-import player at the left tackle slot (often manned by imports) make him a very enticing CFL prospect if he ever elects to go that way. It doesn't seem he's planning to try and crack the CFL this year, but if things don't work out in the NFL or NBA, he may just be available down the road. If he is, Saskatchewan would be silly to pass him up. Sure, O'Donnell hasn't shown a lot of interest in the CFL so far, but that doesn't mean he won't down the road.

It's worth mentioning that many players from the 2011 draft aren't going to be in the CFL this year, instead finishing out their college careers north or south of the border (or in veteran-heavy Roughriders were never likely to start O'Donnell this year anyway. If he does wind up in the NFL, that's probably at least as good if not better for his development, and it's not like his size or speed are going to vanish overnight (unless he gets out of shape, something quite unlikely if he harbours any hopes of playing professionally). The O'Donnell pick has led to plenty of headlines and odd stories for the Roughriders this spring and summer, but its true success or failure probably can't be evaluated until we see where he winds up a few years down the road.

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The Taro Tsujimoto rookie card: Honoring an unreal player

He wasn't the first draft choice to fail to make it to the NHL, but he certainly was the first player to not exist as all.

The legend of Taro Tsujimoto began during the 1974 NHL Draft. During the 11th round, Buffalo Sabres GM Punch Imlach became bored at the Draft's drawn-out process and decided to play a prank ... by inventing a player to select with his pick.

From the Sabres:

Sending a secretary to find some common Japanese names, Imlach soon came up with the imaginary Taro Tsujimoto of the Tokyo Katanas - literally translating to the Tokyo Sabres (Katana is a type of Japanese samurai sword).

When NHL President Clarence Campbell asked Imlach for his selection, he was met with laughter from around the League. International scouting wasn't as prevalent as it is in the NHL now, and drafting a player from Japan wasn't exactly a common practice.

Imlach stayed true to the prank until training camp, when he revealed that the draft pick didn't exist. To this day, however, Tsujimoto's name can still be found in NHL history books when talking about the 1974 Draft.

To honor one of the oddest Draft stories in NHL history, Panini America decided to pay homage to Imlach's made-up pick and create a hockey card for Tsujimoto that's included in their current 2010-11 Score Rookies and Trade set.

"The creative team was looking to come up with something special, something really unique, for this program," said�Al Muir, Panini's Hockey Brand Manager.

"The legend of Tsujimoto is one of those great hockey stories that has been perpetuated not just in Buffalo, but around the game. It's one that gets told to this day in dressing rooms and on bar stools, and that's what made him a natural for this project."

Each box features 99 cards and one in 20 boxes will have the elusive Tsujimoto card that will quickly become a hot commodity among collectors.

The NHL and NHLPA both approved the card, but there's a new mystery: Who is pictured on the card? Muir wasn't spilling the secret of the player in the photo.

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Copa starts with a backheel boner, a Kun golazo and angry Messi

Once the dancing Tron people and creepy mascots got out of the way, Copa America kicked off with Argentina taking on Bolivia. And it didn't exactly go according to plan for the hosts. Bolivia once again proved to be trouble for Argentina, scoring the first goal of the tournament in the 47th minute when Argentina's Banega nudged Brazilian born Edivaldo Rojas Hermoza's backheel just past the near post he was supposed to be protecting.

Argentina's savior from yet another embarrassment came in the form of super sub Kun Aguero, who rocketed a volley into the top of the net in the 75th minute to salvage a 1-1 draw. At that point, Maradona probably jumped out of his chair and shouted, "Meh, he would've had three by now if I was still manager."

And while all of this was happening, Lionel Messi played not with his usual grins and giggles, but with a scowl. An angry, man-on-fire type scowl that showed that he's on a mission to win a trophy for Argentina and finally get everyone off his back about his form for the national team. It also said "I will beat you with a Lego sword if you come near me" -- a mistake one Bolivian player made in the first half...

Lionel Messi getting pushy and going forehead to forehead with Ronald Raldes? Yes. This is serious business for Messi. He's out for blood and trophies. And Lego playsets.

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Filipinos and boxing fans go wild as Pacquiao arrives in Vegas

Fight week is officially underway in Las Vegas with Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley making their ceremonial entrances at the MGM Grand on Tuesday. Hundreds of fans crowded the hotel's lobby to get a glimpse of the fighters.

Bob Arum, who's brought Pacman back to Sin City after two fights in Dallas, said big fights belong in what some people call the Fight Capital of the World.

[Order Pacquiao-Mosley fight]

The turn was impressive but it was a bit one-sided. See if you can find the lone Mosley fan in the photo below.

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You can watch the Pacquiao-Mosley pay-per-view right here on Yahoo! Sports.

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