Last week my cousin told me her kid was playing in this Montana basketball tournament, but I live in freaking New Jersey. Figured I’d stream it online – how hard could it be? Boy was I wrong.
The First Disaster Attempt
I googled “watch Montana basketball online” Friday morning. Holy crap – instant information overload. Saw like twelve sites claiming they streamed the tournament. Tried clicking one that looked legit, whole screen turned into casino ads. Another one wanted my credit card for “free trial.” Noped outta there fast.
Phone Call Rescue Mission
Called my cousin in panic mode when tipoff was 90 minutes away. She laughed and said “check the MHSA website dummy.” Turns out Montana has this high school association that runs everything. Her exact words: “Their site looks like 1995 threw up but it actually works.”
Here’s how it finally worked:
- Created account on their clunky sports portal
- Paid $12 for tournament pass (took forever to find the payment button)
- Checked game schedule – streams only started 15 mins before each game
Game Time Chaos
Logged in Saturday morning for the semifinals. Spent ten minutes refreshing before the dang stream appeared. Video quality was kinda potato but at least I recognized my nephew’s jersey number. Forgot Montana’s timezone though – totally missed the first quarter cause I calculated time difference backwards. Smooth.
What actually worked:
- Using my phone as hotspot when home WiFi choked
- Muting that awful buzzer sound blasting through laptop speakers
- Watching replays later when stream dropped during clutch plays
Final Takedowns
The championship Sunday night? Stream froze right as overtime started. Nearly threw my coffee mug. Had to switch to my ancient tablet that somehow loaded faster. My cat started chewing the charging cable during last free throws. Typical.
Key takeaways:
- Go straight to official sources even if they look ancient
- Bookmark the dang schedule with timezone conversion
- Always have backup devices ready like you’re prepping for war
Watched my nephew’s team lose by three points. At least I could text him “good game” live while he was sulking on the bench. Worth the twelve bucks just for that moment.