UP AT 6: BRIAN'S SONG, SOON TO BEGIN

As you were awestruck to learn that Zooey Deschanel sings, too ...

• The Anaheim Ducks need to bow out of the playoffs as soon as possible (they won last night to avoid the ignominy of a sweep). For one, they have to be out before Scott Niedermayer can grow out his playoff beard; two, the Toronto media have to start beating the Brian Burke drum. (Actually, they're well underway.)
  
• The good news for Boston Bruins fans: Montreal Canadiens fans will never get away with taking over your arena again. The bad news: They won't get a chance to again this spring.
• Has anyone else noticed that a lot of the line-of-camera board advertising at NHL arenas in the U.S. comes from Canadian companies?
  
  There were ads for a Montreal radio station, CKAC 730 AM, on the boards in Boston during the past two Canadiens-Bruins games. Boston is the 11th-largest metropolis in the U.S. and it's a regional economic hub, yet it ends up having to sell signage to an out-of-town radio station? It does raise questions about where the NHL is headed in the States.
  
  It's bad enough the Canadian NHL teams' revenues are keeping the league afloat, but Canadian companies too? (If that is the case.)
  
• Ratings for the Raptors are up; interest in the term is up, so taking Jack Armstrong off the airwaves in Canada makes total sense. As requested by a couple friends, here's the link where you can tell MLSE how shortsighted it is to not retain The Coach on Raptors NBA TV next season. (The Star's Doug Smith had more on his blog yesterday.)
  
  Armstrong would presumably also be SOL since Sportsnet dropped its NBA package even though it had the largest increase for its Raptors ratings among the three Canadian sports networks.
• You might remember the story from a while back about the all-boys school in Kansas that forfeited a basketball game rather than have a woman referee. They might have trouble doing that again without really screwing up the boys' sports experience.
• Last, but not least: The recent news with Carl Eller (got in a scuffle with the cops) and Herschel Walker (had several personalities, but could only run out of the I-formation)begs the question of whether anyone well-adjusted has actually played for the Minnesota Vikings.
  
  Alan Page. There's one.

(Thanks to John Bower for the tip on the board ads.)