World Wide Flames Fans!

[AC]

From Reddit: Friends and I wanted to show the Flames support out here in Japan.

[expatflame]

Born and raised in Calgary till I was 10. Watched my first (and only) live Flames game when I was 7.

Moved to the East coast when I was 10. The year I moved out East, they won the cup Continued to live in east coast and got ridiculed as I was possibly the only Flames fan amongst Leafs, Habs and Bruins fans.

As my name suggests, moved overseas, shortly after university and started out just listening to every Flames game on the Fan 960 until I could finally watch live games in 2008. Discovered CP in 2004. Now living in my 6th country in 14 years, I've left a trail of Flames paraphernailia along the way in the hopes of starting a new movement of international Flames fans.

[drewtastic]

Awesome sharing from our international members, and I've enjoyed reading every post!!

I'm a born and raised Calgarian, but my parents are not. My parents moved here in the 1970s and my Dad (a native Winnipegger) cheered for the Leafs, as he grew up in the "(Not So) Original Six" era. His heroes were guys like Horton and Armstrong.

By the 70s, with Leaf ownership alienating fans through Leaf mediocrity and management run-ins with star players, Dad became disillusioned with the team. When Imlach (and Ballard) traded Lanny to the Rockies, Dad (like many Leafs fans) had enough and turned on the Leafs. That was around 1979...

1980--Atlanta moves to Calgary. My folks had been here at least 4 years already. Dad lost interest in the Leafs, but the Flames were kind of a novelty, being the "new kid on the block". He had passing interest, but was not super engaged. That changed in 1981 when Lanny McDonald became a Flame.

It was this converted my Dad into a Flames' fan, and, by influence, me, as I grew up. All I remember growing up was that my Dad was a Flames fan. If not for Lanny's arrival and my Dad's conversion, I could have been a <shudder> Leafs fan.

When I was little, I loved John Tonelli, and later, Carey Wilson. In 1989 (when I was ~10 years old), I remember running outside of my house with my sister to wave Flames signs as cars honked after GM 6 in Montreal (Dad screamed especially loud when Lanny scored). As I progressed through Jr. and Sr. high, people knew me as a devout Flames fan--something that my students now recognize.

This year's team epitomizes (for me) what it means to be a Flames fan. The effort and attitude is contagious. I am excited for the future and am so proud of what they've achieved this year. I cannot imagine supporting any other club.

(Oh, and Dad now has a #7 Brodie jersey, partly in reverence to his preference for defencemen, and partly as an homage to his hero, Horton.)

[JohnnyB]

Born and grew up in Calgary. Been in China for nearly ten years.

[FlameZilla]

When I was 2 we moved to Calgary from that grey wasteland up Highway 2. Apparently I insisted that my entire family convert & become Flames fans. In 1985 that must have been a tough pill to swallow, Gretzky etc, but they all eventually did convert & by the time we won the Cup I had been to my first couple of games. I can remember a playoff game versus the Kings, which may have been in 1988 because they still had the gold & purple jerseys.
My dad took me to 4 or 5 games a year & by the time I stumbled upon CP in '99 I was pretty obsessed. Those were dark times for the Flames, especially once Theo left, but I always believed a new golden age would be upon us once Dan Tkaczuk & Rico Fata were on the first line
I left Calgary for university in the US when I was 17. I had to watch every game of the 04 cup run on ESPN & I couldn't believe what I was seeing on the TV. The way the whole city seemed to get behind the Flames was just unreal. I could tell it was an electric atmosphere at the Dome & I didn't even need Barry Melrose to tell me that 17th Ave was going crazy. To say I was home sick would be an understatement. The puck was in, by the way. Clear as ####ing daylight.
I've lived in the UK (London) for 10 years now. In this day & age I feel more informed about the Flames & NHL than ever because of all the internet coverage. I can watch any game I like with the Gamecenter Live app & all the best sports news & reaction is posted on Twitter within seconds. We're not at the mercy of the Score or TSN for Flames related news anymore. It's a great time to be a Flames fan, anywhere in the world.

[NiklasSundblad]

Native Calgarian, but watching from Aalborg Denmark, and in 2016 from Gothenburg Sweden,

[JD]

Because this is cool, I made a google map with all the locations mentioned here flagged. A couple rules had to be made:
1) Only the location currently resided in counts
2) Members that haven't checked into this thread don't count

A few people were pretty non-specific (ie, Arabian Gulf region, Southern California) so I made some assumptions, but so far, pretty cool! We're spread around pretty nicely.

Still no members from South America or Antarctica so we have a ways to go to fulfill all the continents.

Keep 'em coming! Here's the map:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?m...M.kne8SvxXt2UM

[da_nige]

If you want to be more specific I'm from Lanark in Scotland(halfway between Glasgow and Edinburgh). I just said Scotland originally.

[normtwofinger]

Born and raised in Calgary. Have been living in rainforest jungle in Costa Rica for the last 5 years. But Calgary will always be home for me.

[Trailer Fire]

Originally Posted by FireGilbert

It's cool all the different ways people became Flames fans.

I was born in everyone's favourite place, Trail BC, and moved to Calgary as a kid. It was a pretty good decision by my parents or else I may have become a Nucks fan. I almost instantly became a Flames fan and regularly stayed up past my bed time listening to Peter Maher on the radio. The 1993, 94, and 95 playoffs were all particularly memorable and heart breaking.

After 20 years in Calgary I ended up moving to Brisbane, Australia and am still a huge fan. This is the first time they have made the playoffs since I left town and I was starting to get worried I had jinxed the team. Thankfully, that was not the case, Go Flames Go!

Born and raised in Rossland. Lived there for 18 years, moved to Calgary for a few years, then moved back to Trail. Two years ago I moved to Montrose and getting out of Trail was the best decision I ever made. I've been a Flames fan my whole life, save a few years I rooted for the Aves because of Patrick Roy.

[Quis_Separabit]

Originally Posted by Trailer Fire

Born and raised in Rossland. Lived there for 18 years, moved to Calgary for a few years, then moved back to Trail. Two years ago I moved to Montrose and getting out of Trail was the best decision I ever made. I've been a Flames fan my whole life, save a few years I rooted for the Aves because of Patrick Roy.

My girlfriend is from trail. Do you know the Coe family?

[Funkhouser]

Born and raised in Cowtown, a fan due to geography.

I remember cheering at the cars all lunch hour the day after we won the cup at our elementary school. I also remember going to practices at Father David Bauer during the early 90s and getting to meet Gary Roberts, Tim Hunter (the nicest guy). I remember meeting Denis Gauthier before he had made the team and telling him I was a big fan - he was pretty impressed to have fans at such a stage in his career (we both had acne). Ended up going to school with Lanny's daughter and got to know him quite well, what a legend.

Interest waned during the young-gun era and as girls/alcohol too priority. Moved to Montreal in January 2004, and watched in amazement as the team and the city exploded in the playoffs. Have followed them pretty heavily since and I spend way too much time on CP. Proudly support the Flames in QC and have got my 3-yr old son on-board as well.

[FlatLandFlamesFan]

Immigrated from Sri Lanka at 1 , lived most of my life in Alberta (North and South) living in Prince Albert,Sk for the last 15 yrs.

My first exposure to the Flames was when my dad's friend took him to a game in the Corral in 83(?) and he brought me back a program.
I remember Lanny , and Wili Plett grabbing my attention immediately. Still have my Lanny commemorative Dollar coin around somewhere.
Moved north (Slave Lake) and had to suffer through the plague that was the Oilers dynasty .
Parents bought me my first new skates , Some Gretzky Bauers (I think) used the box with his pic as target practice for my friends BB gun LOL.

Remember vividly the final cup game being stuck working at Petro-can , no one was getting gas in southern Alberta that day .
When Peter Maher shouted out in those final moments I ran around the gas pumps screaming like a mad man!
Still brings a tear to my eye

[woob]

Originally Posted by JD

Because this is cool, I made a google map with all the locations mentioned here flagged. A couple rules had to be made:
1) Only the location currently resided in counts
2) Members that haven't checked into this thread don't count

A few people were pretty non-specific (ie, Arabian Gulf region, Southern California) so I made some assumptions, but so far, pretty cool! We're spread around pretty nicely.

Still no members from South America or Antarctica so we have a ways to go to fulfill all the continents.

Keep 'em coming! Here's the map:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?m...M.kne8SvxXt2UM

That's awesome! Can I reference this in the opening post? Will the URL stay static or does it change as you update it?

[Funkhouser]

nm - double post

[VaporTrail]

Born, raised and living in Gdynia, Poland. Flames fan since 1994.
Hardly a poster, habitual reader.

Cheers!

[saskflames69]

Born in Prince Albert. Moved to Saskatoon as a preschooler. Been stuck here ever since. Contemplated moving to Calgary or Edmonton for school last year but ultimately chose to freeload it at home for the time being.

Became a hockey fan around 2002, for a while my favorite team was the Predators because they had the nicest jerseys on NHL 2003 for PS2.

Then Todd Bertuzzi was my favorite player (therefore making me a Canuck fan) for about two months until he paralyzed Steve Moore. Then I began to cheer for the Flames because Iggy was on the cover of the game that got me into hockey. Sure enough, we played Vancouver in the first round, something special happened and I've been a Flames fan ever since.

Then came the lockout of 2004-05 which really tormented an 8 year old sk69's craving for hockey. So I started following the WHL. My PA Raiders went to the Eastern conference finals that year before losing to those stupid Manitoba Wheat Kings.

Since then, the only thing that has come even close to the magical playoff runs of 2004 and 2005 is this year's Flames team. Something tells me this is just the beginning.

I look forward to the days where everyone will assume that I am just another Flames bandwagoner, and I will tell them about the times where I would stay home to watch Tom Kostopolous and Blake Comeau put out a half-assed 2-1 SOL effort against the Phoenix Coyotes on a Thursday night in the middle of February because I love this team so ####ing much.

[KiwiFlame]

Born and bred in New Zealand, stumbled across a couple of NZ teams playing when out on the piss one night. It was awesome.

Started following the NHL this year and chose the flames cause they were Canadian, not from a major city and weren't a bandwagon sorta team. Apparently I picked the right year to start supporting them.

It's been emotional.

[carom]

Born in Calgary, moved to Toronto when I was young and missed the Olympics and the Stanley cup . Moved back to Calgary and in the early 90's and lived there for almost 10 years before going to university in London, Ontario. Missed the whole cup run of '04 because I was in summer school and had to watch most of it surrounded by leafs fans. Luckily I had a buddy who was also from Calgary and we watched most of the games together and would start bonfires to cheer the team on. I remember that year when I got home to Calgary it was a Wednesday and game 7 was on Monday. I wanted to party and all my friends said they had to stay home and save money until stampede because they had been out every second night watching the games and at the Red Mile during the run. Moved back to Calgary after school and got to many many games because of people selling tickets here on CP (thanks to all of you) and even a few of our last couple first round playoff games. I have been living in London, UK since 2012. I probably don't spend as much time on CP as I did when I lived in Calgary, but still probably more time than I should. I have gone from absolutely hating afternoon games (remember going to an afternoon game against the preds when I was in Calgary) to afternoon games now being the first thing I look for when the schedule comes out!

Always been a flames fan, but it definitely grew stronger living in Ontario surrounded by leafs fans. Being surrounded by leafs fans is almost as bad as when I lived in Grande Prairie for 6 months for work right after the oilers cup run

I would love to one day get together and watch a game with other flames fans here in London. Maybe I can convince the pub across the way to let me plug my HDMI cable into their TV for an afternoon game next season.

[Trailer Fire]

Originally Posted by Quis_Separabit

My girlfriend is from trail. Do you know the Coe family?

I believe Cameron is the same age as my wife. I used to party with him back in the day. I'm pretty sure he has a sister, but I can't remember her name. Jenna Coe seems to roll off the tongue nicely, but I can't be 100% certain.

Wait, yeah, Jenna used to work at Celgar. I'm pretty sure she is either the same age as me, or a year older.

Those are the Coe's I knows.