Anglesmith
Setting up the play?
Like I said were running in circles here, were not going to see eye to eye, I don't swallow what the media feeds me if it doesn't jive with reality. You want to believe that badly the Flames are contenders because some talking head said so, by all means, you're welcome to it. Does that mean I don't think the Flames can win a Cup, of course not, Smith could play out of his mind, Hamonic could rebound, Brodie could find his game again, Sam could have a breakout season, Jags could play great, Johnny could play consistent. . Our team is full of if's, i'll call them contenders when they put some things together, not just on paper. I'm done arguing semantics of what "evidence" and "contender" mean.
I haven't said I think the Flames are contenders, though. I'm just debating your principle of hard denying it based on a mantra that you can only be a contender if you were already a contender.
Anyway, I'm hedging. I don't think the Flames are quite there yet. I think there are a lot of teams better. But I wouldn't be surprised if they prove me wrong. We're just all better off keeping expectations down.