Fans play hooky to watch Lobo game

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - A mild case of Lobo fever spread throughout Albuquerque Thursday afflicting many who packed a downtown bar as they played hooky to watch the Lobos play in Las Vegas.

“It’s one of those days when you wish you could make your restaurant five times bigger,” Coaches Sports Grill Owner Ernie Blackstone said.

A crowd of almost 200 packed Blackstone's establishment on Central Avenue. They were the lucky ones.

It’s become a pretty tough task to net a seat to watch the Lobos play, no matter where that seat may be.

Blackstone had to turn many customers away nearly two hours before the Lobos even walked onto the court in Las Vegas to tangle with Air Force in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Conference tournament..

“We're already filled up we're at standing room only,” Blackstone said.

Blackstone said he had been preparing Thursday’s game months in advance. However, back then he didn’t expect the majority of the restaurant to be reserved days before the big game.

“Four months ago we didn't know the Lobos were going to be No. 8 in the country and drawing this much interest,” Blackstone said.

The major interest adds up to more fans willing to do just about anything to watch the Lobos pull in another win.

“We took off today, especially for today,” Anthony Motto said. “It was snowing outside.  You can't really paint outside so we came to watch the Lobos instead.”

It was a little bit easier for Motto to swing that excuse since he’s the boss of his own painting company.

Some others told us they were supposed to be at work but were able to pull off a fake cough and sniffle when they called in sick Thursday morning.

Then you have the few brave souls that hope their boss has a forgiving heart.

“We’ve been on lunch for a little over an hour, so hopefully our boss doesn't see this,” Shire McKenzie said.

McKenzie and her co-workers squeezed into Coaches on Thursday and gave up a cozy meal somewhere else to eat standing up and watch the Lobo’s game. “We're holding our plates because there is no place to put them,” McKenzie said.