There are Bills superfans who everyone knows by name: Pinto Ron, Mama J, the late, great Pancho Billa.
Then there are the thousands of lesser known but perhaps equally fervent fans, like James and Mhairi Bittler of Lake View, whose 800 square feet of basement is wholly committed to their favorite team.
During the week, James is a high school teacher and Mhairi works in insurance. But on fall and winter weekends, they are devoted members of Bills Mafia.
They tailgate with friends in the same spot for every home game, hours before heading into the stadium. And they invite around 50 people to their home for every away game, hosting anywhere from 10-30 people in this sacred basement space. It includes five screens and Bills memorabilia that James has lovingly collected for years—often via magical moments that seem to be on repeat.
It started with the first Bills jersey James ever received, back when he worked at Best Buy; Stefon Diggs was a regular customer and one day, after chatting about the game, Diggs went out to his car and returned with the signed gift.
James, who grew up in Ohio, moved to Buffalo with his family at age 15. He became a devout Bills fan after attending his first game in the early 2000s, when a flurry of snow unleashed in the stadium as the crowd sang “Let it snow” in unison, and Jim Kelly made an appearance on field to hype up the fans.
Another time, James wore his Micah Hyde jersey to a Bills/Jets game at the Meadowlands. As he and Mhairi cheered the team off the field from their seats near the tunnel, Hyde spotted him, stopped and pointed; James ripped off his jersey, asked the crowd for a sharpie, and threw it to Hyde, who signed and tossed it back.
These jerseys and others—including a signed Josh Allen jersey that James “got cheap, before Josh Allen was Josh Allen”—are professionally framed and adorn the Bills basement, among other special Buffalo pieces.
Recently, the couple commissioned a professional muralist, Lizzie Rossi, to provide the finishing touch: a basement stairwell painted in a pattern very familiar to Bills Mafia. Mhairi had seen the artist’s work on Instagram (@ehr.designs) and booked her before she even had a chance to run it by James.
“It’s the perfect entrance into the space,” says Mhairi. It finishes off a room that also includes a lightshow of red, white and blue bulbs that sync to the tune to “Mr. Brightside,” launched with the push of a button.
It took Lizzie two days this past summer to complete the stairwell project, which she painted fully by hand—no sketch or projection needed. The finished space looks more like wallpaper in its precision and is the cherry on top of a room that defines this couple’s number one passion.
“Some couples like hiking,” says James. “We love the Bills.”
