@mattys posted:growing up in Hawaii, I didn't have too much access to big time sports and big moments (my youth coach rode the pine for Chaminade when they played Virginia but I wasn't there for it) but two "great for me but not for thee" moments stand out.
1982 Rainbow Classic tournament: before there was the Maui Invitational there was the Rainbow Classic. It was the premier winter college basketball tournament after the Great Alaska Shootout and they used to draw big time teams. as a kid on winter break, we were able to roll up at 9 AM, but a cheap ticket and watch hoops all day (16 teams, iirc so 8 games a day). 1982 didn't have any particularly memorable moments, from a historic standpoint (although Wayman Tisdale throwing down a 2 handed tomahawk right in front of me while sitting courtside under the basket is firmly etched in my mind) but the field that year had Jordan and Perkins from UNC and a year removed from winning it all, the aforementioned Tisdale as well as Byron Scott with Arizona State. there were also a number of other future NBA players in the field (Jon Sunvold and Steve Stipanovich from Missouri among others). It was a great year to be a sports crazy kid in Hawaii)
the second is fun for me. I was living and working in the SF area and my dodgers were in town. 1995, I think. I was doing shift work and working midnights so I was able to walk up to Candlestick, buy a cheap ticket and move my way down to field level (the Stick drew zero fans on the best of days and even less during midweek day games), even when my beloved (and hated by everyone else there) Dodgers were in town. Thus, I was front row when Raul Mondesi flattened Kurt Mainwaring and sparked a benches clearing brawl. if IG or YouTube had been around then, everyone would have known about it.
Nice. I always thought Tisdale would be, in the NBA, what Jordan turned out to be.