Ralph Diffey and his sister, Carol Clement, watch from the comfort of her living room as the NBC Tiger girls basketball team takes on the Omaha Nation team. NBC won 36-33.
When yoy can't be there, cheer on Tigers from afar
by Mary Le Arneal
Published 2/25/26
When life interferes with your sports watching plans, there is a way you can still be there. On your television at home.
Live streaming started in the early 1990s when it was just used for gaming. As time moves on, so did streaming. Now the televisions you buy have the YouTube app built in so you don’t have to purchase any extra equipment to get or receive streaming.
Now most schools offer live streaming of their events. In the upper right hand corner of the North Bend Central website, nbtigers.org, is a link titled “Away Game Stream Links.” It will take to a list of links to almost 368 websites – one for each high school in Nebraska. Clicking on NBC’s link will take you to the school’s YouTube channel with videos of ball games, school board meetings, programs and all sorts of NBC events.
Ralph Diffey was a regular at NBC basketball games, but recently he fell and broke his right arm just below the shoulder while cleaning out his garage. It is painful and very inconvenient.
His absence at games was noticed.
“At home games,” NBC principal Brenda Petersen said, “I sit by the student section and Ralph and Dave Saalfeld have been sitting by us all season. I know he loves coming to games as he has been coming as long as I remember.”
The break has been a real inconvenience for Diffey. He hated to miss seeing his favorite team play. He has been staying with his sister, Carol Clement, since his injury and she had a Roku TV allowing her to stream. The problem was she didn’t know how to work it. On Feb. 10 she called up to the high school to see if someone could help them connect. Whitney Armstrong tried to help them. Then she called on principal Brenda Petersen to see if she could help. Finally Petersen just said she would go to Clement’s house after school to help them. Petersen and daughter Reese went over to the Clement house.
“I walked Carol and Ralph through the process,” Petersen said. “I found (NBC) YouTube channel so anytime they go to search it will pop up for them. I showed them how you can see past events. Ralph was excited!”
Diffey is a calm watcher with a few hoops and hollers. Clement is a nervous fan who has to get up and walk around when the game gets tight.
Then everything changed up. Thursday’s game was not on Omaha Nation’s YouTube page, the school hosting the NBC girls’ subdistrict. The game was broadcast on the page of KWTN radio station. With a little helpd, Diffey and Clement found it and got to watch the girls game against Omaha Nation and then that night the boys play Ft. Calhoun in their last regular season game. Clement thought it the streamed games were wonderful.
“I’d sooner go to the game,” Diffey said.
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