Tina Smith: A Bills Mafia girl living in a Barbie world

Tina Smith: A Bills Mafia girl living in a Barbie world

 

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The Barbie doll and Lee Evans jersey that started it all for superfan Tina Smith. (Kevin Hayes / Spectrum News)

Tina Smith: A Bills Mafia girl living in a Barbie world

 

BUFFALO, N.Y. — The first Barbie doll came out in March 1959. The first Buffalo Bills game would come just about a year after that. Tina Smith’s story doesn’t start quite back as far as Mattel or Ralph Wilson Jr.

“We were on our way to Alaska for orders. We stopped by to see family in Batavia and both of my grandmothers were such big Bills fans. I was like, ‘oh my gosh, I have a team now,'” said Smith.

The longtime military family woman has been back in the 716 for some time and has brought inspiration with red, white and blue — some pink, but almost not by choice.

“When I was unpacking the house here, unpacking all my Bills stuff, I pulled out that jersey,” she remembered. “They come with this little cardboard suction cup cutout thing that you put the jersey on. And I’m not really sure what you’re supposed to do with the suction cup, but I was like, ‘I need to put that on a Barbie.'”

The collection grows year in and year out, on display for the season with attention to detail like the players have to their playbooks.

“They’re definitely different. The wing hat. Oh, ketchup and mustard with the bowling ball,” she noted. “You could sit and look at them and still not notice everything. And then you come back and you’ll notice different things.”

In creating this unique collection, Smith has not just thrifty, she has been practical.

“What I ended up doing with this collection, I ordered a lot of used Barbies on eBay, cleaned them up. A lot of them needed their hair removed. So a lot of them have yarn hair,” she said.

A collection of Barbies, Kens and others represent the wide array of the Bills Mafia.

I love that our city is, when you walk down the street during the tailgates and you see every walk of life, we’re not all like crazy jumping through tables like, over-drinking crazy people. I mean, we’re some of us have a weird, you know, Barbie thing,” she said.

Just as much, if not more, of a community thing than a football thing.

Smith says only one of the dolls is modeled directly after a real-life member of the Bills Mafia, but you certainly see inspiration from all over the fan base there.

The collection will be on display this season at the Totally Buffalo Store in Amherst.