I'm exactly as old as the Flames: we both arrived in 1980, a lot of my best memories are the 80's glory-years and surprisingly few of them are in-game.
Red Rooster Flames cards around 1986-87 - Red Rooster was a convenience store, I remember there was one at the bottom of Edgemont Boulevard, I think there's a Circle K there now. They would do a set of hockey cards that was just the roster of the Flames.
Lanny McDonald's 500th goal I was actually at the game and was in the best seats I'd ever sat in. Right behind the net, about five rows up. He scored on a wrap-around against the Islanders. Of course, it was at the other end of the ice. But we all went crazy.
Some random game against the Habs This happened sometime between 89 and 92. Just a HNIC against the Canadiens, right before the game started I remember commenting that "5-3 just sounds like the score of a hockey game." Lo and behold, late in the 3rd the Flames are up 4-3 and Nieuwendyk pops an empty netter.
The Parade It was grey, wet, chilly, just an absolutely disgusting day. I remember horse-drawn wagons, fire engines, and making eye-contact with Jim Peplinksi.
Dressing up as Mike Vernon Halloween in the late 80s, I'm not sure which one. Those brown cooper road-hockey goalie pads, my hockey helmet, and a red Vernon jersey. God I wish I still had that jersey. I have no idea what happened to it.
The Flaming C on my wall My mom painted a Flaming C on my wall, probably about 3-feet across. She did an awesome job, measured and drew everything out, it was exact and perfect, even colour-matched by the guys at the paint store.
Hot Stove Lounge Listening to this on the radio after Flames games. Lying in bed with headphones plugged into a digital clock-radio. As a kid I wasn't entirely sure what a 'hot-stove' was. I pictured a group of guys sitting around in like a wooden cabin with one of those big black old-timey stoves heating the place. I legitimately thought that was where they were broadcasting from.
The Flames breaking my fever So this one I don't actually remember, but I've had the story related to me. When I was 6 I got a really, really bad case of chicken pox. I missed about two weeks of school; it was so bad the doctor actually made a house-call. For several days I was pretty much catatonic with fever. One evening my mother poked her head into my room and announced "The Flames won." I, the story goes, weakly but determinedly raised my fist and gave a small fist-pump, and this was the sign to my mom I was on the mend.
Like a lot of Calgary teenagers, I fell out of love with the Flames in the mid 90's. I decided I was a Felix Potvin fan and actually owned a Potvin Leafs jersey (you did embarrassing stuff too in your teen years, admit it). I got back into the Flames when I went off to Victoria for University and started making friends with Canucks fans, the scum. One of my best friends and I made a standing bet in about 2000-2001 that anytime the Flames and Canucks met in a playoff series, we'd bet a jersey on the outcome.
In 20 years I'm up 2-0.
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