flames v. southstars: pre-game (aka: the benefit of the doubt)

i have had a very mellow day and have given myself a little time to reflect on the flames' absolute incapability to slam dunk a win outside the 'dome. this reflection is also known as "resigning oneself to suckage," and i have thus come to the realization that perhaps i've been too harsh... i've come up with some options in minutely plausable explanations for the things jim playfair has a propensity to do with extreme regularity (much to my agony):

AMONTE PLAYING TOO OFTEN & IN CLUTCH TIMES
-kyle presumes tony's got photos that jimmy wants him to bury. the ol' "give me ice time or i go public with the pics" ploy.
-amonte has "family" in the boston mob and jim's got gambling debts
-tony wants to play, and jimmy (the ol' softie) thinks he looks like a sad, homeless puppydog when he gets benched
-sutter bet playfair $100 bucks that amonte wouldn't score again this year. jimmy needs the dough for a new tie

IRREGULAR AND CONSTANT LINE SHUFFLING
-"henhen" is the punchline of lombo's joke about playfair's wife, and jimmy found out about it after matty's second shift last night
-iggy threw a hissy fit, after conroy went out injured, and proclaimed that he would not play back-to-back shifts with anyone else (to honour the fallen centreman)
-sutter bet playfair $100 bucks he couldn't get iggy to score without tanguay, langkow, huselius or lombardi on the ice

i was gonna go on and on with my imaginings but i have a dinner date. which, for those of you following along on the shift chart, means i will not be watching, listening or otherwise paying attention to the flames play the stars. even though i would totally love to listen to the star-spangled banner, as it makes my heart warm to hear those dallas folks yell "STARS" the two times the word appears in the anthem... gooood bless 'em...

good luck, boys.