Mikes as far as the eye could see

A sea of Mike Francesa look-alikes — some looking more like the WFAN DJ than others — gathered on Super Bowl Weekend.

Courtesy Michael Estrada

Bill Buchanan, Mike extraordinaire.

Courtesy Michael Estrada

Hundreds gathered to show their love for WFAN sports host Mike Francesa.

Courtesy Michael Estrada

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In the weeks before the Super Bowl, the metropolitan area prepared for a media onslaught, a massive influx of tourists, and crowds of fans in Times Square outfitted in blue and orange jerseys. Few knew, however, that the day before the game, the Upper East Side would be crawling with Mike Francesa look-alikes.

“FrancesaCon” was the first of what co-founder — and Rockville Centre native — Michael Leboff hopes will be an annual charitable event celebrating Francesca, a former co-host of the popular sports radio program “Mike and the Mad Dog.” Although Francesa himself, who can now be heard on the WFAN program “Mike’s On: Francesa on the FAN,” did not attend the inaugural FrancesaCon, Leboff says he has high hopes for next year.

“He kind of gave it his blessing,” Leboff said, grinning. “He said he was going to come next year.”

Leboff, along with fellow Rockville Centre residents Ryan Feltham and Sean Bogue, and New Jerseyan Ronald Haraka, are the co-founders of Handsome Wolf Creative, an event-planning, consulting and digital marketing startup. The group grew up listening to “Mike and the Mad Dog,” and knew well the popularity of its over-the-top host in his native New York. After a post on Next Impulse Sports touting the idea of a Francesa convention went viral, Leboff & Co. decided to turn the idea into reality.

“We knew these people would show up, because Mongos are nuts — that’s what they call them,” said Leboff, using the popular term for Francesa fanatics. “They’re crazy. They love Francesa.”

The event was billed as a bar crawl, and as early as 10 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 1, fans looking more or less like Francesca, sporting gray wigs, round-framed sunglasses and fake headsets, showed up in droves at Saloon NYC to celebrate their idol. Not even the event coordinators, however, knew just how big it would get. By mid-afternoon, hundreds of people had joined the party, and on the way from one bar to the next, the parade of Francesas grew ever larger. Leboff estimated that more than 600 people took part — a vast majority of them young men.

“There were, like, 15, 20 girls,” Leboff laughed.

“Maybe more,” Feltham added.