Dear Canary Mugume

Okall Ariel aka Th3 Doctor of Namuwongo Blazers lays up against Tony Drileba of City Oil

Dear Canary Mugume

Yesterday the most trending tweet in Uganda was "Book me a seat"

It reminded me of my high school days when we would have wars over the booking of seats

Canary, yesterday evening was a joyous evening at the MTN Lugogo indoor arena

The National Basketball League was coming to an end 

I was amazed by how University girls managed to carry their 8th trophy beating the reigning champions

Yesterday evening the street chicken roasters in Namuwongo took a break to witness their boys play against the Cafe Javas boys

It was an uptown girl versus downtown girl kind of game

Canary, when my neighbor sneezed, we could barely catch our breath for the next couple of minutes

The day's guest of honor was choked behind trophies and had to tilt his head at angles to watch all the action

The windows, which are the only source of fresh air, were fully booked out as seats

Canary, the fans were sweating more than the players

The games were scheduled to start at 7:00 pm, but by 4:00 pm, all seats had a bag or water bottle on them

By 5:00 pm, the courtside was fully stacked like bees in a hive

I saw the Women's Commissioner sweating from continuously requesting the fans to keep their feet away from the court

Canary, the athletes, delayed executing plays because they were falling among the fans 

This is probably one of the reasons Namuwongo lost

The men's game was scheduled to start at 9:00 pm 

But it started 30 minutes late

Now look here, Canary, athletes are great timekeepers, and you know that

The game was delayed because the fans were adamant about leaving the seats for the City Oiler's technical team

The bouncers, the police, and the Federation leaders all came to convince the fans to move

But where did they want the fans to go?

The capacity of the arena is 800 fans, but Canary, in yesterday's games, had over 1500 fans in attendance.

A chair was shared by two or three fans depending on one's size

Canary, the referees, barely had running space by the sidelines; they occupied the athletes' space on the field

This reminds me, Joan came at 6:00 pm and was offered a seat in the gardens outside the arena to watch the games on NBS Sport

Instead, Joan should have saved her transport money and bought internet data to live stream the game from home

But even NBS Sport was finding it tough to capture the game as there was no space for camera rotation

I couldn't access the bathrooms as I had to jump over fellow fans 

The thought of using poorly maintained facilities scared me off as well

Canary, I felt like I was watching Lebron  yesterday

Deng blocked Enabu on the board

Okall thwarted Drileba

Azurlibe dunked!

For a second, I saw Kobe in these players

It is the beauty of sports

But I couldn't celebrate all these good plays

I was crammed among the fans

Any movement caused discomfort to my neighbors

Furthermore, my chair lost its nuts

Standing up to celebrate could cost me a seat

Probably John could pick it as I cheered a play well executed

The heavens know how much the Federation tried

They brought those Mukwano-made plastic chairs along the courtside

They hired bouncers to ensure the athletes didn't get any disturbances

They put a tablecloth at the guest of honor's table

They served the guest of honor, Castle Lite, in glass buckets

The FIBA referee Commissioner was available fully clad in a suit

I was scared he would run out of breath as the tie was tightly tied, and there was barely any circulation of air

The Federation tried

Canary, the size of State high school gym in the USA is the size of our National arena

For a gym that serves a State is serving a Nation

We use four residential-sized doors to enter and exit

The ceiling is wrapped in bedsheets to absorb the heat and create an ambiance

The VIP section has just an inch of leg space added

Canary 

Yesterday the most sent message amongst the elites of Uganda was "Book me a Seat"

Canary you should have been there!