For our May 8 edition, we’re not even talking about the fact that it feels like these playoffs have been going on forever and we’re not even halfway done with them.

No. This time it’s because a person who is part of one team’s ownership group is the lead man in an ownership group trying to purchase the Phoenix Coyotes. Even better, Greg Jamison, the man we’re talking about here, serves on the board of the San Jose Sharks — who play in the same division as the Coyotes!

Has this league never heard of something called a conflict of interest? How can you own pieces of two companies that are competing against each other?

Granted, the NHL can’t be picky with buyers. They’ve had plenty of tentative owners come along during their two-plus seasons of running the team and every one of them has fallen through. So, this isn’t a certainty to go through. But the fact that a deal like this can be struck is just plain sad for the ice hockey league.

So, once again, the NHL is a joke.

*This isn’t even mentioning that Bell Canada now owns parts of the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens — two teams I’m sure any person would be happy to invest in.*

So who were this year’s athletes and teams that stood out?

-It’s fairly obvious for anyone to see that soccer is the sport is the highest paying team sport. Out of the teams with the top 10 average weekly pay, seven were European soccer clubs. Helped by the fact that there will never be a salary cap in such a global game, most of the teams also increased over last year’s numbers. Barcelona’s average salaries went up 10% to almost $8.7 million a year. Manchester City’s average salary went up an astounding 26%, moving them from 10^th to third overall.

-Despite Barcelona having the highest average salaries, super-duperstar Lionel Messi isn’t the highest-paid Argentine. That title belongs to Sergio Aguero, who transferred to City during the summer. He’ll pull down a cool $16.6 million this year.

-Think a soccer player is England’s top paid athlete? Will guess again. It’s actually boxer David Haye, who remarkably made more than $24 million for one fight with Wladimir Klitschko. Simply stunning.

-Spain’s top paid athlete isn’t a footballer either, it’s F-1’s Fernando Alonso, who made a mind-boggling $40 million in 2011. Even more astounding is that the F-1 champion Sebastien Vettel wasn’t Germany’s top earner, losing out to Dirk Nowitzki at $19 million.

-But if you thought that was outstanding, Italy’s highest-paid athlete races on two wheels. Valentino Rossi, a Moto GP racer for Ducati made $20 million to top that country’s chart.

-Then there’s the sad state of Canada’s athletes, being topped by Jason Bay’s albatross of a contract. At least Joey Votto, a more respectable player will top this list soon.

-The NFL’s highest paid player wasn’t anybody you would expect it to be. Not a pretty boy QB like Tom Brady, not a diva receiver like Megatron and not a star running back like Adrian Peterson. It was Charles Johnson, who thanks to a massive signing bonus and front-loaded deal, made $34 million from the Carolina Panthers last year.

-Have you ever wondered how much fringe sport stars make compared to their mainstream brethren? Well look no further. Sean Rash made $140K in bowling prizes, Phil Taylor made nearly a million in darts. Joey Chestnut won $205K in Major League Eating, a quarter as much as Emmanuel Mutai made in distance running prizes ($815K). The lowest top dog made only $50,400, but also got a truck for his troubles; it was Dallas Seavey, winning of the Iditarod.

“I don’t want to sneak into the playoffs in eighth place and then get smoked in the first round.”

So, what exactly has happened in the first round of the current playoffs? Well one No. 8 seed has already advanced, beating the Presidents’ Trophy award-winning Vancouver Canucks. The eighth seed in the East, the Ottawa Senators, are also one win away from advancing.

Does that sound like sneaking in and going out quietly and quickly?

The NHL playoffs are unlike those in any other sport. All it takes is a hot goalie, a lucky bounce or two or a single opportune call and any team can win. Upsets happen every year yet people are suckered into loading up on top seed players in their playoff pools. How those Canucks and Penguins working out for you now, Kurt Larson?

As long as you have a ticket to the show, you have a chance to win it all, Burkie. Do you even watch the playoffs during the spring, or are you too busy working on your golf swing already?

-The Canucks, who face the Kings, will always have some goaltending questions until either A) Roberto Luongo comes through in the clutch or B) Luongo is traded away and then Cory Schneider comes through in the clutch. They were the best regular-season team in the NHL and it will be a disappointment if they don’t make it at least back to the Cup final. That said, L.A. is just good enough to give them a decent run for their money.

-The Red Wings, for all their experience, are going to have a tough time with the Predators. Nashville usually surprises in the playoffs and have the defence that it takes to make a run. Combine that with the fact that these two are division rivals and quite familiar with each other and this one should be a stellar seven-game series.

-The Flyers and Penguins hate each other, which means this one will be feisty. The Penguins are the favourite to win it all with Sidney Crosby back, but Philly beat the Pens every time they went to Pittsburgh this season. Anything can happen here, but the one thing for sure to expect is a physical series from start to finish.

-The Washington Capitals haven’t looked this bad in the years, but with Alex Ovechkin still in town, they’re still dangerous. The Bruins will be favoured and Washington will be riding a minor-league goalie thanks to injuries, but don’t expect them to roll over. If they do, I would expect a lot of changes in the U.S. capital.

-The No. 3 seed in each conference are ripe for upsets. Both Florida and Phoenix had lower point totals than their first-round opponents – New Jersey and Chicago, respectively. So while the division winners will have home-ice advantage, they don’t have the talent advantage. Especially with Jonathan Toews coming back for the Blackhawks and Martin Brodeur anchoring the Devils, expect some upsets.

-There probably won’t be more than one Canadian team left after the first round, seeing how the Ottawa Senators are stuck facing the first-seeded Rangers. There best they can wish for is hoping that Henrik Lundqvist has a bad night and maybe the Sens can steal a game. Advancing is out of the question.

As a quick refresher, with the NFL’s CBA lapsed, the league agreed to have an uncapped season, meaning that teams could spend whatever they wanted on salary during that season. Well, the Cowboys and Redskins were smart enough to realize that if they paid their guys with a lot of up-front money they would have more cap space to work with in the future once a new CBA was put in place.

How that broke any rule – when essentially there were none in place – is a mystery to me.

Well, if there’s one thing billionaires hate it’s when they’re made fools of by other billionaires. So the rest of the league obviously didn’t like the idea that those two NFC East rivals were smarter than the rest them.

So, the league clamped down a mere two days before free agency started and took away cap room from both squads, giving the cash out to 28 of the other 30 teams. How is that fair?

There two teams have been preparing plans for free agency for months and now have been hit with these sanctions? How can they adequately adjust in time?

Sure, Pierre Garcon has tweeted that he’s joining the Redskins, but nothing solid has come down. Don’t you think that team was prepared to pursue a couple of good free agents to place around their soon-to-be QB of the future, RG3?

This whole incident reminds me of the NHL’s idiotic cap system and the problems it has caused. For years it was incredibly easy to circumvent by simply tacking on meaningless seasons to the ends of large contracts that would bring down the average value per season – also known as the player’s cap number.

The NHL finally wised up when they vetoed Ilya Kovalchuk’s deal last summer, but the damage was done.

Those were two brilliant example of how smart teams can work to bend rules in their favour. Now, because everyone was too daft to follow their lead, the Cowboys and Redskins have been unfairly punished.

There might finally e something for the two rivals’ fan bases to unite about. You know, other than their hatred of the New York Giants.

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