Tennessee Volunteers fan checkerboards father’s grave (Video)
By John Buhler
A man from East Tennessee checkers his father’s gravesite before every major rivalry game the Tennessee Volunteers football team plays.
College football is a way of life in the Southeastern United States. For many, it’s a lifelong commitment to one team in particular. For some, it extends even beyond the living years. One man from East Tennessee has decided to decorate his late father’s grave in the spirit of Tennessee Volunteers football before every major rivalry game.
Jamie Beckler has made it a ritual to checker his late father Rickey Beckler’s grave site with Tennessee orange and white. It usually takes Beckler an hour and a half to properly honor his father and Tennessee football with this impressive visual display.
Tennessee has one of its biggest rivalry games on Saturday, as the Volunteers host their Alabama Crimson Tide at Neyland Stadium. The Third Saturday in October is one of the greatest cross-divisional rivalries in all of college football.
This rivalry is one of long winning and losing streaks for both SEC institutions. Alabama has won the last nine meetings in this annual rivalry. This is the first time in years that both Alabama and Tennessee will be ranked in the top 10 of the AP Top 25 Poll. Tennessee comes in at No. 9 and Alabama is the No. 1 team in the nation entering Week 7.
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The winner of this game will have to feel pretty good about its standing in the upper echelon of the SEC. There is a decent chance that these rivals might me in Atlanta for the 2016 SEC Championship Game.