By Kampala Sun reporter
LIGHTS out basketball fans, every Friday, for the next eight Fridays! It’s time to celebrate the game that we all love. We do love this game because in the whirlwind of emotional celebration, we become one; corporates and students, thugs and the thugged, celebrities and the ordinary men, women and men, players and fans.

We also love this game because in it, fans, players and coaches have found love (lolest). So to Friday Night Lights out, take a slam dunk! This year, the annual basketball fanfare at YMCA brings comic relief as political, entertainment and social celebrities, ‘green’ about the rules of engagement, pay homage to the game with their oncourt guest appearances. And to that, The Kampala Sun takes a 360 degree slam dunk!

The rules: four teams, each headed by a professional basketball player, will vie for cash prizes every Friday night when lights are out. If the introduction of naïve celebrity figures on the teams is going to provide intrigue and comedy, the opening day, two  Fridays ago, was a worthwhile preamble of what is to come in the eight-week long basketball extravaganza.

Diehard buddies/ partners in social crime Judith Heard and Sue Ochola turned up for Team LK4 with fancied Heard being on the starting five. Never mind that she touched the ball four times over the two halves! Ochola didn’t do any better. She touched the ball once! Good going girls.

The rules were rocket science as Heard raced with the ball from one court to another leaving everyone in utter amusement. Without asking for timeout, Ochola run on court to give Heard a congratulatory hug for “travelling” with the ball! Ochola’s crime didn’t stop at storming the court without permission; she wore a high waist black belt on a red sleeveless t-shirt with tightly fitting party shorts.

Meanwhile, who turns up for a night of basketball in a suit? Only Patrick ‘Salvador’ Idringi can do that. But not even he can be exonerated. Dude turned up in a black shoe, shiny dark suit and a black shirt. A fan joked: “Whose set of teeth and eyes are ‘walking’ on court?” Alright, whatever, that was us thinking.

This week, Erias Lukwago is on court. Should be fun. See you on court.